Have a dream? Take advice from an 11-year-old

Nell Luter Floyd Clarion-Ledger correspondent

To anyone who dreams of writing a book, Sydney Thaxton of Raymond has this bit of advice: Just do it.

At age 11, Sydney, a fifth grader at Jackson Academy, is the author of “Dusk,” a 46-page paperback that tells the story of a girl searching for a friend and finding one in a dog named Dusk.

She spent two months off and on last fall writing the book. “I didn’t have a specific time (to write), but I wrote when I felt like I could,” she said.

Sydney’s parents, Amy and Anthony Thaxton, said they encourage Sydney’s creative endeavors and that of her brother by purposefully giving them time to fill.

“We are careful not to over schedule them but to say, ‘Let’s pick one or two things that you like to do,’” Amy Thaxton said. “Sydney fills that space with reading and writing.”

Anthony Thaxton, an artist and TV producer, and Amy Thaxton, a former English teacher, also support the artistic endeavors of their son, Bryant, 16, a junior at JA who composes music, plays tuba in the band and was chosen first chair tuba in the Mississippi Lions All-State Band for 2017.

Anthony Thaxton said his children are always busy painting or creating something.

“Creativity is a lot of times messy,” he said. “You have to be OKAY with that. And you have to remember that to be creative you need time to think.”

Creativity does require time for one to think, to dream of what can be and to problem solve, said Ann Homer Cook of Ridgeland, a life coach.

Taking time to think and daydream isn’t always easy, however, because it is counter to what our society teaches, she said.

“As Americans, we are driven. We are competitive in so many ways and that takes a lot of time,” she said.

Moderation is always a good rule to keep life in balance no matter one’s age, Cook said.

“A lot of parents are very tired,” she said. “Just having a family, keeping house and rearing children is tiring. We add lots of expectations with lots of activities.”

While writing is one of Sydney’s favorite pursuits, she also has several others. She plays on an intramural basketball team at school, runs a mile and a half five days a week after school as part of the JA Running Club and enjoys swimming and drawing. She dreams of becoming a veterinarian or zoo keeper and having a bear cub to care for.

Sydney also likes to play with her family’s Golden retriever named Luna, who was purchased with proceeds from her book along with help from her brother and parents.

“She is very playful, extremely intelligent and scared of thunderstorms,” she said of Luna.

Sydney purposefully chose to include a dog in her story as she thought it would be a way to help the main character, Phoenix Rose, deal with sadness. “Dogs help you get over stuff,” she said.

Sydney used her Labrador retriever named Big Girl as the inspiration for the story’s dog named Dusk, and also for the cover of the book. (Unfortunately, Big Girl was run over about a week before last Christmas and just before the book came out.)

Sydney earlier this year shared her love of reading and writing and read from her book during a book signing at JA. She donated to the school library a share of the day’s proceeds that will be used to buy books.

“Dusk,” designed and produced by the Thaxton family business, Thaxton Studios, is available online from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million.

Sydney, who likes to read all fiction genres from adventure to supernatural, encourages budding writers to tell their story.

“Don’t worry about how colorful it is and don’t compare it to another author like J.K. Rowling,” she said. “It’s your story. It doesn’t matter if it’s better or worse. You can always change it.”

A bit of practical advice for young authors: Use a large font size when you’re typing your story on a computer so you’ll feel like you’ve written more. “It’s encouraging,” she said.

Fifth grade English teacher Grace Simmons said Sydney is the first student she has taught who has a book for sale.

“We are very, very proud of her, and I think she has inspired all my other students to take a more dedicated look at their writing,” she said.