So I don’t plan to use this blog to tell you endless stories about how funny my kids are (not that I don’t have the content!) But two recent Tom and Lucy episodes got me thinking about writing and being an author…and they might even make you chuckle. So today I just have to share…
The other night Tom and I were laying in his bed reading before he went to sleep. We have read together every night since he was a toddler and we share a true love of books. (To her credit, Lucy loves books too.) Anyway, on this particular night Tom had picked a nonfiction book about being an astronaut he’d recently selected at Half Price Books using the dollars he’d earned from their summer reading program. Now I will admit I’d rather read a fiction book any day but Tom has always been drawn to nonfiction (especially if is involves emergency vehicles, sharks, dinosaurs and now outer space.) He has an awesome hunger for knowledge.
OK get to the point already right?! So we read for a few minutes and then Tom stops me and says, “The person who wrote this book must have been an astronaut huh?!” I said well maybe, but that is the wonderful thing about writing. You don’t have to be an astronaut to write about space. You get to do research and become an expert on that topic to help you write. He thought for a second and then said “well I’m going to go to space and write a book.” “Oh, how cool,” I replied like a good mom. “That’s a neat idea to write a book while you are in space.” Tom quickly corrected me. “No mom. I’m not going to write it in space. I’ll need gravity so I can hold on to my pencil.” Of course, what was I thinking!
Rewind a few weeks to an ordinary afternoon at our house. I was upstairs doing laundry or cleaning up the toy room or some other thankless mom task when I realized that my little friend Lucy was awfully quiet downstairs. That of course always means trouble. So I headed downstairs to check things out. When I turned the corner into my “office” (otherwise known as our living room) there was innocent little Lucy with a black pen in hand and an amazing assortment of artwork/writing all over the wall next to my desk and on the fabric of my desk chair. Busted!
Luckily we got all the pen markings off the chair. But I still haven’t cleaned the pen off the wall yet (it’s just over my shoulder as I type.) Maybe part of me likes the idea that my two-year-old is eager to be creative.
I can see, in their own ways, that my quest to become a children’s book author is inspiring my own kids. Even if it means I have some touch up painting to do!
