It’s no secret: sometimes adults think too much. We worry, we obsess, we procrastinate, we use every excuse in the book to avoid doing something—even when we genuinely want to do it.

Sometimes I miss being a kid. I miss that sense of life’s grand adventure, dreams of “when I grow up” and imagining the house I would live in with my best friend, where we’re so rich that our walls are literally papered with money. (OK, maybe that was just me.) When you are a kid—at least for the lucky folks—life hasn’t treated you to the disappointments and heartbreaks of real life. You know things are unfair, but you don’t yet have a lock on just how unfair they are.

If only we could regain that youthful optimism, that can-do spirit, that wonderful freedom from staring into the the abyss and seeing our own seemingly inconsequential existence. The awareness of how many other writers and authors are better, smarter, more talented, more motivated, more . . . well, more everything.

Well, now the kids are starting to prove that anything adults can do, kids can do, too. And, my dearest writerly friends, they are going out and kicking our collective asses in the process.

Ritaj Hussain Alhazmi, a twelve-year-old girl in Saudi Arabia, just became the youngest person in the world to publish a book series. She earned herself a place in Guinness World Records by publishing her three-book series. Treasure of the Lost Sea (2019), Portal of the Hidden World (2020), and Beyond the Future World (2020) are children’s books that she sells in her online store as well as through online retailers. She is already working on her fourth book titled The Passage to the Unknown.

“I started writing at the age of six while I was accompanied by my family to study abroad,” Alhazmi told Times Now News. The books, which are written in English, came about because the author wanted to write for children in her age group.

“My father asked me if I would like to one day be an author and have my books on a bookstore’s shelves,” she says on her website. “I was pleased with the idea. The real reason that motivated me to write was that I found out that most of the books were targeted at those a lot older or younger than me. That was the main thing that pushed me towards writing. From the day I set my eyes on reading, I’ve discovered what I wanted to be when I was a bit older. I wanted to connect myself to the world by reading, writing, sharing ideas, insights, and opinions.”

And Alhazmi isn’t the only kid diving for a world record. A five-year-old child from the UK named Bella J Dark holds the Guinness Record for being the youngest person to publish a book.

Obviously most writers and authors don’t have the opportunity to hit that sort of massive media frenzy. Even if we tried, we would be angling for first over-thirty-year-old introvert who writes in their jammies with jam from breakfast toast on their shirt or first person to write an entire novel while in a state of semimeltdown.

But the achievements of these young authors and publishers is a reminder that you don’t actually have to have an MFA from a prestigious school to write, publish, and sell books. You don’t need a massive marketing budget, or to spend ten years hiding the manuscript in a desktop file afraid to look at it. (Again, maybe just me.) And you certainly don’t need to amass a major following on social media.

These kids are a reminder of what’s important: write your books and get them out there.

It’s true that most of us don’t have parents encouraging us every step of the way while also giving us a roof over our heads and food on the table. Most of us have to worry about how to make a living and in some cases support our own families and encourage the dreams of our own kids, even if it’s just trying to break the record for most marshmallows stuffed in one human mouth.

But when things are holding you back—all those worries, all those fears, all those horrible nagging doubts—maybe it actually helps to think about these kids. Sure, they’ve accomplished things, some more than any of us after a decade or three as writers and authors. But what is important is the message of their accomplishments.

Your book doesn’t need to be perfect. It doesn’t need to be the best. It doesn’t need to carry the heavy burden of your expectations.

It just has to be yours.

“My message towards everyone—especially my age—dream big, do it now, don’t wait later,” writes Alhazmi. “As I said before, ideas come and go, so do opportunities.”

And that is one big lesson we can learn from the kids.

Hannah Guy lives in Toronto and is a professional writer and copywriter who specializes in books, books, and more books. Follow her on Twitter at @hannorg.