Childhood Dreams Fullfilled

When I was a kid (and truth be known even now), I wanted to grow up and be a writer.  I wanted to write the "Great American Novel."  The older I get, the more realistic I become thinking that I just don't have the talent or the guts to act on that dream.  I have written one novel on my own that only one other person has read and will ever read.  I have rewritten an entire novel because I just thought the story would have been so much better if the protagonist wasn't a moron.  On a regular basis, I rewrite bits and pieces of novels that I've read because I really didn't like the way they happened in the actual stories.

But I've never had anything published...that is until this week.

I had parent-teacher conferences last week.  It's odd being on the other side of the desk.  My children are liked by their teachers.  They are generally well-behaved in school, are making progress with the curricula and only one of them (and not the one you would expect) shows any signs of anxiety.  Anna's conference included some of the specialists who see her over the course of the week.  They showed me all these books that her lead teacher made for Anna.  The books outlined her school day.  There was even one that was about how she shouldn't cry when people coughed or sneezed.  They told me how she loved to read the books so much that not only does she force the teachers to read them too her repeatedly, but also how during "choice activity" time, she goes and "reads" the books over and over again.

So I figured I'd give it a try.  I wrote a book called Sunday Brunch at Grandma's.  It was a riveting tale about how we would all go to Grandma's house to eat brunch.  I used clip art to add pictures.  She loved it.  We read it at least four times before we left.  She had it memorized in a blink and she "read" even more.  Then we had to bring it with us.  Anna was fine with the actual outing itself.  When my father-in-law coughed when we were leaving, she made a face as if she was going to cry, but she didn't actually do it.

Based on my success with Sunday Brunch, I wrote another book.  This one was about a surprise trip the kids and I took to Mystic Aquarium with my bff Kristie and her girls.  Same deal.  We read it about three or four times in a row.  During that time, she memorized it, and then proceeded to "read" it herself several times.  We read it together in the morning before we left, and she "read" it in the car several times.  By the time we got to the aquarium, she was yelling, "Where's Brooke and Lexie?  Where's Mama's friend Kristie?  We're going to see fish!"  I wish I could say that there were no meltdowns during the day.  There were, but the good news was that the meltdowns had nothing to do with anxiety and everything to do with not getting her way.  She and Lexie hit it off (not surprising as Kristie and I truly believe they are the same kid).  She's still asking for Brooke and Lexie five days later.

Flushed with my success with the first two, I wrote a book about Anna's morning routine.  This one is a slight upgrade from the others.  This one has a mix of clip art and actual pictures of Anna doing various things.  I wrote it tonight and we have read it about four or five times.  We'll see how that works with the morning routine.  It's pretty tough in the mornings around here sometimes.  Hopefully this will make it better.

I even wrote Jack a book, too.  This one is about how nervous he gets before school when he gets there too early.  And he read it aloud, almost, all by himself.

So I am a four times published author now.  I'm so proud.  Of course, the publisher is my tired old printer.  And of course, my only audience is my children.  But...