Finding the child within you when writing

If you’re a writer you should be a kid.

A kid? Really?

That’s right.

Think about it.

When you were a kid the world was alive with possibilities. Everything was new, exciting, like going to the carnival or the circus.

You wanted to see everything and do everything.

It was a great feeling, one of euphoria, of rapturous delight even.

You might not have always gotten what you wanted, but you felt sure that someday, somehow, that horse you wanted to ride, that boat out there on the water you were dying to hop aboard, that shiny new toy in the store window that beckoned you, would eventually be yours.

As a kid, you’re full of optimism, of delicious expectations.

Of course, we don’t remain children.

We grow older, more realistic, even cynical, resigning ourselves to being adults and the responsibilities that come with being a mature, hardworking member of society.

Not that that’s a bad thing but growing up can put a real crimp in our childhood imaginations that lifted us throughout our young lives.

Sometime, when you have nothing better to do, turn off the television, put away the cell phone, and close your eyes and think back to those days of your childhood.

Remember those moments, those experiences, when you felt particularly alive. What were you doing or what happened to you that has remained with you for so many years?

Maybe you carry fine memories of long, lazy days at your grandfather’s farm, simply hanging out on the big wrap-around front porch with a perspiring glass of lemonade and gazing through the sunlight at the horses prancing about in the meadow. You fondly recall exploring the big old barn and jumping in the hay and its rich smell as you rolled about in it.

Do you remember the first fish you caught? Your best holiday memory?

The memories can be bittersweet or even painful too.

How about that first day of school when you were dropped off into a new world, a scary world away from home and the loving embrace of your family for the first time.

The point is not to write about scenes from your childhood, although you can certainly do that and come up with some fine stories, but to remember what it was like to be a kid, full of wonder and passion.

Use that wonder, that passion in your own writing.

You’ll be on the right track to successfully writing a book.