A Young Poet's Dream Come True

Not all of us are good writers. And even the good writers are not always creative. Even for a creative writer, it is often difficult to convey the exact feeling or thought into words that others can understand. The field of creative writing is also probably the one in which is most difficult to succeed.

But Maya Ganesan a resident of Redmond, Washington has no such problems. Maya is gifted enough to write what she feels and "the thoughts just flow" to her. She has recently published her first book of poems “Apologies to an apple”. She is only 11 years old and she is not apologizing for that!

Maya started writing poems at the tender age of 4 even before she started reading. She writes whenever inspiration strikes her – she can be in the middle of a class at school or riding a bike. She has been known to write anytime on anything that she can lay her hands on – scraps of paper, napkins, and even her calculator. She would then race to her computer and type it down as soon as she reaches home. Maya’s potential was discovered last spring when she was accepted into Lakeside, a private school in Seattle. She did not attend that school but went to the gifted program in Odle Middle School in Bellevue instead. Her parents found that she was very keen on publishing her own book of poems. An art teacher in Duvall introduced her to poet Katherine Grace Bond who offered to mentor Maya. With just a few coaching lessons from the writer who taught her how to edit poems, Maya was well on her way to publishing her book. After tha, there was no stopping her.

Maya described the process that she went through to achieve her goal. She spent a few months writing  about 75 poems, and worked hard on editing and perfecting them.She chose the title, and then selected only 44 of her poems to be featured in her book – "adding any more would have spoilt the effect", explains Maya, "And I wanted the poems to suit the whimsical title I had chosen for the book". Maya then worked with the designer for a unique cover for her book, contacted publishers all on her own. Parents just watched her proudly from the sidelines. There were many occasions in which she had to sacrifice her sleep, often sleeping late after midnight, juggling school homework and working on her book. Maya adds proudly that it was all well worth it.

What does writing a poem mean to Maya?

"Writing a poem is taking something that is normal that anyone would take for granted, making it different and bringing it to a spotlight to make people notice it in a way they have never done before."

What does Maya say to anyone that would like to follow her footsteps and like to publish?

"Write, write, keep writing", is her advice. "There is always a way for anyone who is chasing a dream to achieve it. Work hard and you will succeed!"

 What is next on Maya’s list, now that she has published her book?

Maya is experimenting on different genres of poetry and testing the boundaries of poetry rules. She might even write a story.

Maya has organized giveaways for her book, donated her books to a library that serves underprivileged children. Maya has also been reading her poetry to the community, including to a reading class that was held at the Redmond Senior Center, Soulfood Books and to elementary students, whom she hopes to inspire.

I Can Bond congratulates Maya on her success and wishing you good luck on her future endeavors.

Well done, Maya!

Maya Ganesan’s book "Apologies to an Apple" costs $10.00 and a copy of her book can be purchased at http://www.mayaganesan.com