Tonight is an incomplete entry. I had an idea for another children's book, and although I have the idea in my head, I just really can't seem to make it take form. I'm posting the little bit that I have below. I like what I have, but worry that it's prosiac. I've had various endings and plots for it in my mind the entire day today, but none of them have flowed or fit quite like I was hoping. So I may never finish this one, but I felt like it was a good, valid exercise just the same because it helped me to focus in on one of my greatest stumbling blocks on the road to becoming an honest-to-goodness writer. That stumbling block is this: I worry that I don't have any good stories to tell.
There, I said it. Let's face it, we have enough mediocre stories. I walk through the aisles of Barnes and Noble and think "Good grief! Someone poured their hearts and souls into all these books--who in the world is going to read them? Are they even worth the time?" I worry that my imagination is too rusty, or my style of writing inflated and annoying. And I very deeply, passionately DON'T want to write a forgettable, unimaginative story. If I only write one book in my lifetime, I want it to be a book that I am proud I wrote. Even if no one in the world ever reads it. Even if it ends up on the Clearance Clearance table. I want it to be a mirror of my true, best self.
That's what I'm thinking about tonight.
Jingle
This is the story of a little bell. A very small, unimportant bell. But being very small and unimportant did not stop the bell from doing one very big, very important thing.
On the day that bell first opened his eyes and looked about at the great world around him, he saw many wonderful things. He saw sunshine sparkling on new fallen snow, a red bird high in the branch of a gray tree, and shiny green leaves on a holly bush. These things were magnificent and made him feel very big inside--as big as the whole world.
Looking down at himself, he thought "I am a very little bell compared to this great big world." Suddenly, he felt very small inside.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
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3 comments:
It seems you and I stumble upon the same block, Becca.
I enjoyed the bit of Jingle, though. Keep running with it if it's something you feel passionate about. If not, I know there's more up that sleeve of yours. ;)
You're right about the story. I think I can't get around a little bell having been "born". Perhaps some storyline about how Jingle came to be, and how he became self aware, would launch him into our little hearts, and your story onto a firmer foundation. As for your wonderings about what you have to offer, and if there is room for it- you never know what you can do until you try, and as I have said to so many aspiring young people- "the cream always rises to the top." Keep your confidence up, keep writing- you'll accomplish much, be surprised some, and learn wonderful things. Denise
Write it all the way through. You'll feel better when you have.
I stumbled on your blog from The Meanest Mom . . . and I am inspired by your quest to write every day for a year. I am new to blogging, but I have found in it a wonderful outlet for my itchy fingers. Thank you for sharing. And I love your style!
(32G. See my blog for the bra post. I feel your pain, sister.)
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