Do you remember when the writing bug got you?
My grandchildren are victims, and I'm thrilled.
I was with three of them a couple of weeks ago while their parents were out on a date. The two boys were eager for me to read their most recent creations. The five-year-old, Benjamin, had dictated his fifty-word story about a hero and a monster as the seven-year-old, James, typed it for him. (Now, that’s writer support.) Then James typed his debut novel's chapter 1 for himself.
“What’s your book about?” I asked him.
“It’s a mystery.”
“What’s the mystery?”
“The family is going camping, but the kids don’t know where they’re going camping.”
As I read it out loud, I could see the first chapter had a lot of packing and camping paraphernalia
in it. But sure enough, the kids in the family didn’t know their destination.
“What’s going to happen next?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Ah, a panster! Meanwhile, his ten-year-old sister, Connie, writes about horses, her current passion. They are all writing "what they know," but if their interest in writing continues, I imagine they will incorporate what they learn about life as they experience it. Most writers do. Or maybe they'll incorporate what they think is someone else’s experience.
Ah, a panster! Meanwhile, his ten-year-old sister, Connie, writes about horses, her current passion. They are all writing "what they know," but if their interest in writing continues, I imagine they will incorporate what they learn about life as they experience it. Most writers do. Or maybe they'll incorporate what they think is someone else’s experience.
“What do you think your parents do when they go on a
date?” I asked the three of them as they munched popcorn.
“They go to movies and eat all the chocolate they want."
“And they kiss!”
Today I read a story my other granddaughter wrote on a tiny piece of paper and left behind in her parents' van. Ellie's imagination, it seems, had been in full play. "I live in texas," her first-person story began. She lives in Indiana. "The texas flag looks like this." She'd inserted a drawing, which for all I know may be accurate. She finished with, "I am part of the rocking rangers. I am 13." She's seven, and I'm not sure what the rocking rangers are. But as far as I'm concerned, she's rocking with the writing bug and I love it! Meanwhile, her brother, Simon, almost five, is impressed with printed books because they "don't have scribbles" like the ones he sees in his own handwritten creations.
Scribble away, my boy. Scribble away!
When did the writing bug get you?
Jean Kavich Bloom is a freelance editor and writer for Christian publishers and ministries 
(Bloom in Words Editorial Services), with nearly thirty years' experience in the book publishing world. Her personal blog is Bloom in Words too, where she sometimes posts articles about the writing life. She is also a contributor to The Glorious Table, a blog for women of all ages. Her published books are Bible Promises for God's Precious Princess and Bible Promises for God's Treasured Boy. She and her husband, Cal, have three children and five grandchildren.
photo credits: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=147906&picture=children-on-a-hammock; http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=177876&picture=paper-and-a-pencil
My granddaughters have the writing bug, too, and there isn't anything as much fun as discussing the stories in our imagination. I am looking forward to their book signings!
ReplyDeleteI can't remember when the writing bug actually bit me but I do know I was writing poems in 4th grade and plays in 5th grade and started winning writing contests by that time. In my teens I loved going to my grandmother's and putting a typewriter on a TV tray and closing myself up for hours writing. I really thought I was living large in those days with my little writing cave. I kept a diary and journal and would climb a favorite tree overlooking a creek and write for hours. Thing is, I'd love to still do that today!
So climb a tree! :)
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