Turn your life into a dream and make your dream come true
Hello, my name is Arianna Alessandra Yantas Huamán, and I would like to tell you a little bit about myself. I could start by saying that I´m a 12-year-old girl who loves books, but to be honest, I never imagined, even in my wildest dreams, that I would become a writer and motivate other kids to write.
As far as I can remember, my parents have always read books to me. They even say they would read short stories for me when I was in my mom´s belly, and eventually it became a habit. I was so interested in books that there is actually a picture of me, then a 2-year-old, gazing at the illustrations of one of my favorite books. When I was 7, I started writing short stories about my pets. I recall that my rabbit used my doggy Pancho as a slide. It was amazing to see how he never growled at her or seemed to be upset. Quite the opposite, actually ––they became best friends. They were pretty funny together.
In 2020, when I was 10, everybody was in quarantine due to COVID-19. We were worried about the pandemic and were separated from our loved ones. To many, the pandemic was the end of their dreams. To me, fortunately, it was the beginning of the realization of a great dream.
One day, in my virtual class of Geometry, my teacher said:
“Guys, we are going to do something different today.”
We were excited, thinking that we were going to do craftwork, but that wasn´t it.
“We are going to create stories with geometric shapes,” she said.
The teacher assigned each student a geometric shape. I had to work with convex and concave ones. That´s how the story of Juan Convex came up. He is a special kid from the city of Figuretropolis.
The inspiration to write my books comes from anecdotes with school friends and family. My stories always talk about their lives. Convex, for instance, was inspired by the life of one of the best friends I had when I was 9. Another one of my stories, Abracadabra, is about the curious fact that I play cards with my dog Princesa.
I´m also inspired by music. The music I listen to often influences the story. They say that a melody has the power to take you back to old memories and even to change your emotions from sadness to happiness.
My dreams also play a part, of course. My grandmother has always told me that I dream all night or that I don´t sleep. Apparently, when I was little, I would spend all morning telling her my dreams. I remember walking after her to finish telling her my stories. My third book, which will be out soon, is inspired by a dream I had two years ago.
My motivation to write comes from the low reading rate in Peru, my country. Only 0.86% of Peruvians read one book a year. I feel this figure is a great driving force for me because I can at least do my bit to our society and perhaps help improve those numbers eventually. I´m one of those tenacious people who will not take no for an answer. As they say, “when a door closes, a window will open.”
As you may have realized, I came upon this journey unexpectedly. I had always thought that only adults could write. Now I believe that writing knows no age limit. “Age is only important if you are a cheese or a wine,” as a saying goes.
Being a young writer takes a lot of effort, discipline, and sacrifice. However, knowing that I can inspire other youngsters to read, write or even pursue their dreams makes me work with a lot of enthusiasm.
Each and every one of us has a story to tell. Dare to tell it and never stop dreaming. Sometimes they ask who am I. Perhaps a few years ago I would have not been able to answer the question. Now I realize ––I´m a writer.
