Well, I wrote my first song when I was eight. It was when I was in what I thought was the best friendship I had ever had. From it, I got inspired to write the song Best Friends. I produced the song with my piano teacher but when we were almost done, it was summer break. When the break ended we had both kind of forgotten about the song. After that I didn't write another song. Pieces of a song would come to me ocasionally but I never did anything with them. However when I was eleven I went to karaoke with my friends and they sang You Belong With Me by Taylor Swift. I had no idea who Taylor Swift was. Anyway, the song got stuck in my head and I later looked it up. From there I was sucked down the rabbit hole that is Taylor Swift. That inspired me to write.
Honestly? Everything. Anytime something happens to me or to people around me I write a song about it. A lot of the time I don't finish that song.
I also get inspiration in the strangest places. Like one day I was out skiing all day and I got these lyrics stuck in my head with this really catchy melody. I skied ahead of my brothers and Dad, took off my glove, pulled my phone out of my pocket, and recorded a voice memo of it. As the day continued I kept getting more pieces of the song until I had an entire song in like five or six voice memos. However I still haven't put them together...
Yes! Absolutely! For my writing it is Shannon Messenger and Rick Riordan. I love their work so much. I also admire Lisa McMann and Chris Cholfer.
For music it is Taylor Swift. I also look up to my songwriting teacher, Paulina Jayne. I admire singer-songwriters Sloan Treacy, Gracie Abrams, and Chappell Roan, as well as Sabrina Carpenter.
I play acoustic guitar and piano. I learned piano when I was eight or nine and have continued to practice it. I learned guitar in September 2024 via Simply Guitar and finished the whole program in about a month. In January, 2025, I started taking guitar lessons with my songwriting teacher Paulina.
That is really difficult. It is normally the one I have most recently written. For a while, from late November 2024 to mid Febuary 2025 my favorite song was Best Friends. I loved it so much and I loved performing it live.
In mid Febuary I became addicted to playing Strangers live. It is such a fun song. I really love all my songs.
Though I can say this, in all my songs, the outro is my favorite bit. The Lyla outro lyrics are just so perfect and I love how the Best Friends outro slows down then speeds up. The way the Soul Sisters outro fades out is gorgeous and all the other outros are so brilliant too.
That is a very complicated question because the answer is always different.
Yes, I have written or co-written all the songs I release.
That is a really long answer but luckily I am writing a book about it! It's called, The Making of a Song. There is no official release date yet but it is coming. Probbably. I'm a little busy right now.
In the actual writing it is Paulina (though she and I edit them after I write them) but after the writing when it comes to notating the melody, finding a tempo, etc it is definitely my mom.
Unfortunately no, I've decided to take a break on producing my music so I can make more of an effort to perform live.
I write fantasy which has always been my favorite genre. My books have lots of magic and adventure with death and battles and more.
Rick Riordan for sure. His writing is amazing and I could never dream of writing that well. His humor is impecible and I'm laughing multiple times a page. I love how he makes me mad and happy and sad and all at the same time. (Even if he does hold the record for the evilest cliffhanger ever at the end of The Mark of Athena).
My second favorite author is definitely Shannon Messenger.
It's different for every book. The first book I wrote took me only two months to finish it (it was 60,000 words back then).
My second book I started in like late Jan to early Feb 2024 and as of Feb 2025 I still haven't finished it (it is currently like 50,000 words).
The other book I wrote I started it in September 2024 and finished it Jan 2025. It is maybe 42,000 words.
I used to read like all the time. Like I could read the 400 page KotLC books in one night. I was a master of rereading though, I almost never read new books and I love rereading and noticing new things.
These days however, I don't read as much because of how busy I am with my writing and my music. I really wish I could read more though.
I don't really have one. If I feel like writing, I can write for hours on end. If not, I can sometimes write no more than two sentences.
I also don't try to force it. If there's no spark when I sit down to write, I'll just get up and do something else.
Hmmm, I'm not sure I have one. I really enjoy finally reaching the end of the book, but the beginings are definitely the easiest.
A lot of things. I love to swim and hang out with my friends. Every morning, when I wake up I go straight to check my messages because that is when everyone is texting.
I like to read when I have time and I knit sometimes. I'll often multitask like I'll listen to an audiobook and do a coloring page.
Sometimes I'll do Aerial Silks from the mast of the boat. I enjoy playing games like Catan Junior, Ticket to Ride, Sleeping Queens, and Exploding Kittens.
I love baking and I make cookies several days a week. I have fun cooking and my specialties are soups and stews (especially beef and bean chili).
I don't watch a lot of movies, and I play even less video games. Almost all the time I spend on devices is working. I am also not allowed on social media.
Write. Just Write. I think people are right when they tell you to just write. Make sure you can play an instrument if you're going to be a musician. Write your songs and practice performing them. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice. Practice.
If you want to be an author just write your book. Write it until it's done. Just finish the first draft, and then you can edit it. As I tell my friend who is insisting on rewriting her whole book: you can rewrite the whole book later. When you're done you need to edit it. Get your friends to read it. Delete and add entire chapters. Do whatever. Just don't do that until AFTER you finish draft 1.
I hate math. HATE it. I don't enjoy hiking (unless it is with friends) or going on walks. There's more but I can't seem to think of it right now...
I don't have much schoolwork is the answer. I'm homeschooled and I pretty much only have two subjects. I have a math curriculum (ugg. That has to be the one subject) and I do Duolingo (I am very passionate about it. I was a top 1% learner in 2024 and top 2% in 2023).
On most days that takes me about thirty minutes so I have the rest of the day to work and do what I want.
Strangers. Absolutely. I don't know why but it is such a fun song to play, and I love the buildup, the strumming, the energy and everything really.
That's really difficult. I love bean and cheese burritos. I find most soups really good. I am I way over obsessed with the Tesco white sourdough loaf. I also love my chocolate chip cookies and my favorite ice cream is mint chocolate chip.
I would want to control water. There is not even a doubt on my mind.
Purple! Turqoise! Silver!