Well known author, Tara West took the time to visit with the UIL Writing team and talk about the life of a writer. Ms. West has written many books including: Curse of the Ice Dragon, Witch Flame, and the Whisper series that includes six different books.

“She talked a lot about the process of writing and how she got her books published when she was with a publishing house, and when she decided to publish her own,” sophomore Frances Duncan said.

Ms. West informed the students of many things, she taught them how to write, gave them pointers on how to keep the story interesting and showed them how to publish their own books and stories online.

“I feel like she helped me a lot and taught me how to become an author,” senior Allison Bowman said. “I hope to get my stories uploaded online soon.”

West talked to the students about all the plot lines in the books she has written, published and what inspired her characters. Each of her characters are inspired by people she knows in her daily life such as the three best friends in her Whisper series are her and her two best friends.

“She helped me give my characters more depth,” junior Maya Zenon said. “I was really interested in the way she sold her books through the internet instead of going through a publishing house.”

Ms. West has a motto that she repeated to the students multiple times, “Keep writing no matter what!” She gave the students inspirational speeches to remind them not to stop writing ever even if the story is bad at first because it can always get better each time you write.

“Never stop writing, if you don’t like what you have written use it as a learning experience,” author Tara West said.

Sophomore English teacher, Kate Fowler attended this workshop as well, she knows Mrs. West and assisted with questions and problems that the students might have.

“I think she has given them more incentive than I ever could. I have never tried to write a story or publish my own book,” Ms. Fowler said.

Ms. West wrote five books last year and two books this year without a publisher. She has reached her goal of writing six books. Being as talented as she is, Ms. West plans on writing many more books and continuing her Whisper series.