My kid's a typical third grader: know-it-all, selfish, into lip gloss (for a tomboy, that's down right scary!) and she's discovered the phone. Right now, she's into Littlest Petshop online. She'll call her friend G, or G will call her and they play on the computer with the phone on speaker. . . for at least an hour or longer. Yeah, we had to teach her all about call waiting.
Anyway, she surprised me the other day when she came home from school. It wasn't a big surprise, but touching nonetheless. When we walked to school that morning, we were talking about the book her teacher was reading to the class. The book was called Hank Zipzer and the kidlet kept telling me how funny the book was and that I needed to read it.
Well, she checked it out of the school library for me. I was touched. . . until the next day she asked whether or not I had finished reading it. Uh, I'm a fast reader, but no, sweetie, I haven't even started it!
The kidlet has been supportive of my writing. She and the hubster helped me brainstorm all my Peter the fly easy readers, nine of them--I couldn't even generate the tiniest bit of interest with those queries. She read and loved my FAERIE story--a long picture book or beginning chapter book. I never queried this one. Oh, I think it has potential, but I need to rework it again. And finally, my gnome story. She's upset that I can't get anyone in the biz to show any interest in this story. Oh, I had a couple of agents request it, but overall they didn't like the character--trust me, I asked. Heck, I'm upset, too! But knowing that she and my hubster are behind me with my writing makes it easier to swallow those rejections.
So what's a writer to do?
Well, write, of course. But I'll wait until after the holidays and the house is quiet again before I tackle #2 middle grade story.
Until then, I'll be reading;
Soul Magic by Jen Lyon
Hank Zipzer--The Tale of Two Tails by Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver
Timeline by Michael Crichton (again, because he's a damn good writer!)
Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg by Gail Carson Levine (a Tinkerbelle story)
Fasten Your Seatbelt by Brian Skotko and Susan P Levine (research about Down Syndrome sibs for FF my #2 MG story)
and two historical Christmas romance anthologies
Oh, and I know someone who is getting A LOT of books for Christmas and I just might read them, too!
So, for now, I'll sign off with. . .
Read On! :-)
Margaret, you have a lucky daughter. And you're a lucky mom!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Edie! I feel blest. . . except when she does the exasperated, "Mo-om!" :-)
ReplyDeleteJust wait until she turns into a teenager. The MOM, gets worse. lol My daughter turns 14 tomorrow. I can't even beleive it.
ReplyDeleteYou're very lucky to have your family behind you. I know some who don't have that support.
I do--and I don't--have familial support, Kira. The type of support that I want isn't the type I get. I'd love to have my hubster be someone I could brainstorm with, to solve story problems with, but I don't. I still get the funny looks and the 'you're so strange' under his breath.
ReplyDeleteI'm resigned to that.