Playing Catch-Up
I think about updating this blog all the time. Really, I do. I have whole posts all planned out in my mind, even the titles all chosen . . . and then somehow there's a giant black hole in between thinking about it and the actual execution. This month, of course, that black hole involved 2 sick kids and a sick husband and copy edits on Sunrise. Oh, and a snowstorm that knocked out our heat and power. So maybe I have a little more excuse than usual. But anyway, I am now playing catch up. This week (really really I swear) I'll have some new posts and announcements up. But today's post is taken, because I promised my 4 year old I would put up a story she told me on my blog.
A little backstory–way back before Twilight of Avalon was even published, I wrote my very first blog post EVER about Bella's first story ever. I mean, the first original story she made up on her own. Bella awhile back overheard me talking to a friend about this story and how I'd blogged about it, and ever since she's been asking me if I'll 'put another of her stories on my web page'. I'm not entirely sure that at 4 she has any idea what that means, but she's very excited about the idea. So, fast forward to today, when she and I are at a weekly storytelling/improv class that we take together. Bella loves the acting and the dancing and the art. But then every week it comes time to sit down and write a story together and . . . she digs in her heels. Why? I have no idea. Does it feel too much like work? Is she distracted by the other kids? I don't know. So this week, I told her, "Bella, if you tell me a story to write down, I'll put it on my blog!"
Yep, mama of the year that I am, when all else fails, I go for bribery. However, in this case, I am kind of glad I did, because otherwise I might have missed out on this gem of a Bella story, which I will set down verbatim as she dictated it to me. As you can see, she has shifted genres from her first story and is now going for a fairy tale/horror/crime/police procedural/family drama blend.
Bella's story:
Once upon a time there lived an old castle. There lived an old ghost who didn't like people to come inside or outside his bedroom door. Then a naughty boy came inside his bedroom and asked if he could have a chance to write. Then another little girl who was naughtier than the boy came in and asked for a chance to build a wall. Finally, the ghost hit her. (He's an old ghost, remember). The girl fled out of that home and the ghost chased her. Then the ghost finally catched (sic) up to her and threw a net over her head!
(Interjection from me, when Bella showed signs of wandering off to play with the stickers here: You can't just leave the poor girl there with a net over her head! What happened next?)
Bella again:
(Imagine a 4 year old eye roll here).
Well, she could see through the net. The firemen couldn't come because there was another fire. She called her mommy and daddy, but they couldn't come because they weren't home. Then she was in prison for A WHOLE YEAR. Her mommy and daddy got her after a whole year in prison. And she said– well, she didn't say anything because she felt foolish.
And that's it–word for word the story as Bella dictated it to me. It's so amazing for me to read her first story at barely two and then see what a difference there is between 2 and 4. And is it me, or is the poor kid doomed to be another writer for sure?
