Lauren Hill was born in Jackson, Mississippi. She is sixteen years old and currently resides with her parents and older brother in Pearl, Mississippi.
Lauren Hill
Lauren enjoys creative writing including fictional short stories with inspirational outcomes, meaningful poetry, and beautiful essays. Lauren enjoys writing about important issues present in the world today. One of her stories has been published in mississippimatters.info
She wrote a collection of short stories called Standing Up with the Well Writers Guild, started by Joe Maxwell. To learn more about young writers publishing their own stories with the Well Writers Guild, Joe and Lauren signed books at Lemuria on June 11 and talked about their experience publishing together.
Joe Maxwell explains about the Guild: “The Well Writers Guild identifies talented young writers in the Jackson area and helps them advance their creative skills while enjoying peer interaction and experiencing the thrill of being published. Other youth have their “select” groups commensurate with with their high level of talent; young writers deserve this too.”
Maxwell continues, “Right now we’re mentoring 16 young people at my offices and in groups formed at the request of the Madison Public Library. After one year, our growth is truly humbling.”
Angie Thomas, author of The New York Times-bestselling young adult novel The Hate U Give, says “I wish I had had the chance to be a part of a group such as The Well Writers Guild! …. Joe Maxwell taught me in college writing classes and gave me great encouragement to pursue my goals. I still lean on Joe for advice and encouragement, and I am excited to support The Well Writers Guild on several levels.”
Tell me a little bit about your collection of short stories, called Standing Up.
Well, there are five short stories, all centered around important themes. The first story, “Standing Up,” is about bullying; the second story, “It’s All About Faith,” is about believing and having faith during difficult times, and the third story, “Every Step of the Way,” is focused on friendship and teenagers struggling to do the right thing, despite peer pressure. The fourth story is a personal memoir of mine, and it is about learning to resist fitting in if it means hurting others. The last story is centered around online safety and the consequences of making bad choices online.
You write about bullying, faith, changes in friendship, and making tough decisions at the risk of losing friends. What do you hope your readers will take-away from these kinds of stories?
Each story has its distinct theme that I want readers to be able to extract from them. However, the main point I really want to communicate is that doing what is right is the best choice to make in any situation.
What would you say to other young writers like yourself?
Never doubt yourself. With enough hard work and determination, you can accomplish anything, no matter how hard you may think the task is. You can do anything you put your mind to.
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