Chatting With Lexi: On Writing
As she gets older, Lexi has decided she wants to be more like us, not that she wants to copy us, but that she admires what we do. In an essay she wrote for school she talked about how exciting it would be to be a librarian (like her mother). Then she has been talking about getting more songs on her iPod — Bruno Mars, Ne-Yo, and other popular singers — instead of just the KidzBop songs that used to populate her musical world, which is reminiscent of me and my love of different types of music. She even keeps asking me about when we’ll be able to get out and play some tennis since she knows its an important sport to me, and she wants to have that connection with me.
While it’s exciting to watch her grow older and discover more aspects of herself that she wants to explore, it’s also a little sad that the little girl who loved her stuffed rabbit and dog so much is gone, replaced by a young lady who sounds more and more like us, but also more and more like a future version of herself every day. But I’m embracing it because that’s what should happen. In the bath last night, she showed me more of that young woman she’s growing up to be, when she chatted with me about my number one passion: writing.
Lexi: Dad, how do I get to be a writer?
Me: You just write.
Lexi: No! I mean like you. I want to write a book.
Me: That takes a lot of hard work and commitment.
Lexi: Well, not exactly like you. I mean, I want it to be for, like, a 7-year old.
Me: It still takes a lot to write any book, even one for younger kids.
Lexi: How come?
Me: Because you have to keep in mind the age group, the words they should know and ones they won’t.
Lexi: So, if I just think about words I know, it will be okay for 7-year olds?
Me: It depends on the kid, but your editor will be able to help you figure that out.
Lexi: But I want to write it this weekend. I don’t have an editor.
Me: Lex, it’s not going to go that quickly, to get a book written in a couple of days and just publish it.
Lexi: Why not? I already have a lot of good ideas. Continue reading “Chatting With Lexi: On Writing”
Checked Out: Week 23
Just so you know, I did in fact finish Allegiant and the best thing I can say about it is that the writing was as good as the first two books in the series. That’s the best thing about it, which really isn’t much when there are tons of writers out there fashioning good prose. … Continue reading Checked Out: Week 23
A Series of One-Act Plays: Twisted
Setting: A large chain grocery store in a poor part of a minor city. It is early afternoon on a late spring day, where the heat outside has forced most shoppers to wear shorts. The scene opens at the checkout lanes. Three of the lanes are staffed, but there are lines at all three. A … Continue reading A Series of One-Act Plays: Twisted
Favorite Mistake
“Did you know when you go it’s the perfect ending to the bad day I’ve gotten used to spending? When you go all I know is you’re my favorite mistake.” -Sheryl Crow
I’ve made enough mistakes in my life to choke a horse. If you could lay them end to end they would be longer than a reclining Statue of Liberty. Sometimes I made so many mistakes in a row that I honestly couldn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel. In fact, I would get so frustrated from making so many mistakes that I would be careless and make more mistakes. Some of my mistakes have been huge ones, and others have been relatively inconsequential, but every single one of them has been preventable. In fact, that’s in the very definition of the word…
mistake: an error in action, calculation, opinion, or judgment caused by poor reasoning, carelessness, insufficient knowledge, etc.
I particularly like that part about insufficient knowledge because it doesn’t mean that smart people don’t make mistakes. Even smart people are smart in certain areas and not so much in others. For example, Albert Einstein, pretty smart… in theories and mathematical equations. Put him on the street in Harlem and see how many mistakes he makes. See what kind of trouble he gets into because he doesn’t understand the lingo, the nature of the streets.
Some of my mistakes have fit into this paradigm very nicely and neatly, like the time I got on the wrong subway in Boston. I know the subway like the back of my hand, but the subway I’m familiar with is the Philly one, and Boston’s is just different enough, and the area just different enough, that I got lost for a good hour before finding my stop. Another time I made the mistake of asking a woman when she was due, and… she wasn’t pregnant. I call it foot-in-mouth disease, but that’s another mistake I created because I didn’t know. Continue reading “Favorite Mistake”
A Glance
Such strong words A hazarded glance Rife with meaning Denigration implied An easy mark Tilted off-center Straightened for show Like binding ties In a fitful dance Perfect expectation Of lost days Spent in shadow Where we stumble Where we fall In jilted lines That spread wide Then collapse In misunderstanding That loving hate Like liquid … Continue reading A Glance
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