Start now. Don't just talk about wanting to write. Don't wish you could write. Start writing!
Read. Read lots. Read the comics, your favorite magazine, fiction and non-fiction. Read about ancient cities, space travel, leaf-cutter ants, pirates, sports figures, prehistoric animals, tide pools, constellations, inventions . . .
Track your reading. Write down book titles and rate each book with stars from * (so-so) to **** (fabulous). Make brief notes to help you remember the characters and plot. (See the ideas above.)
Visit your local library often. Spark your curiosity by attending extra programs, author visits, travelogues, special events.
Notice what section of the library pulls you-Science? Music? Biography? History? Mystery? Science Fiction? Nonfiction? Sports? Cooking? Some people lean toward fiction. Some lean toward non-fiction. Some like a mix.
Send stories, articles, poems, and jokes to children's magazines. (Your teacher or a children's librarian can help you find addresses.)
Give your story a twist (a surprise ending). Read Eve Bunting's The Wednesday Surprise to learn how that works.
Collect words! Be curious about words and their meanings. Invent words-especially "sound" words: SKLORK!
Avoid clichés (tired, worn-out phrases: right as rain, sly as a fox, dark as night . . .).
Write a story, edit it, hone it, then turn it into a book by stapling or sewing pages together and adding a decorated cover.
Catch your ideas. Always keep a small notebook with you-ideas are all around. The trick is remembering them! Write them down!
Write letters-send pictures and poems and jokes and riddles to your grandparents, friends who have moved away, old neighbors.
Send letters to the editor of your local newspaper.
Enter contests-ask your children's librarian for names of magazines that accept work by writers your age.
Be curious about the world around you.
If you're a young writer,
 Read
Practice
Persist
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Start now. Don't just talk about wanting to draw well. Don't wish you were an artist. Start sketching!
Notice details in print: color, fonts, point size, balance, design, perspective, mood, form, line, things that draw your eye, various art techniques.
Try many art media: clay, chalk, charcoal, paint, collage, printing, paper folding, fingerpainting, colored pencils, sidewalk art . . .
Use recycled paper for your practice.
Take a sketchbook with you around your neighborhood, on field trips, or while traveling-draw what you see. You'll remember much more about where you went and what you did. Date your drawings. You'll be amazed at how your skills change.
Study the artwork in children's books.
Sketch from nature.
Copy different cartoon styles.
Take classes.
When you're really happy with a piece, and it feels right, send your artwork to children's magazines. (Your teacher or a children's librarian can help you find addresses.)
Display your art in your hometown. (There's nowhere to do it? Start a Kids' Art Display! Try your library, stores, doctor's offices, parks, bus stops . . .)
Visit art museums.
Study the work of artists from different centuries.
Enter contests -ask your children's librarian for names of magazines that accept work by artists your age.
If you like to write and draw, you could be like Maurice Sendak, Jan Brett, Rosemary Wells, Stephen Kellogg, and other famous author-illustrators.
Replicate pictures from books or cartoons-it's great practice to study the shading, brush strokes, proportion, and lines.
Be curious about the world around you.
If you're a young artist,
Draw
Practice
Persist
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