Happy Wednesday, everybody! I woke up early today with some writing on my mind and some new info to share with you. Nine months or so ago, if you’d have asked me about writing becoming my predominant activity of choice in the course of a day, I’d probably have said that writing is enjoyable but I don’t think I could make a living out of it. Fast forward to May 2019 and ask me now. I must say that writing pretty much preoccupies all the other hours outside of my family and spiritual devotion time, household responsibilities, and rest and relaxation (not getting much of this at the moment). So, it’s fair to say that writing has somehow organically interwoven itself into the very fabric of my being. I’m living while writing.
And here’s the news… inspired by another school year coming to an end: I will be starting a summer series of blog posts featuring writing (of course) and how it can naturally be incorporated into your daily routine. Now, let me bring in what the “end of the school year” has to do with my new-found revelation. Without question, my summer schedule will naturally change because I’ll have human companionship with me continuously throughout the day. Although my grown children will either be working outside or inside of the home during the summer (and don’t need much of mom’s time anyway), I’ll have Little Man (my youngest child) with me throughout the day and some attention is required for him. Little Man would also claim that he’s pretty self-sufficient as well and won’t need as much of my time if I’d just let him play video games, watch tv, and play outside all day. But, that ain’t gonna happen. Hence, the commencement of the summer routine is soon-to-be in effect and will, undoubtedly, involve a lot of writing on Little Man’s part (unbeknownst to him). He’s headed for a rude awakening, indeed.
It’s not that Little Man doesn’t write (because he does a lot of writing for school). It’s that he has other activities that are higher on his list of “desirables” and priorities than writing. And come on, we’re talking about summertime. What young child wholeheartedly looks forward to doing anything that slightly resembles school work during his or her downtime in the summer? Well, I can only answer for my household and my answer is “not my child”. So, I’ll have my work cut out for me, because Little Man will have some homeschooling going on this summer and writing will be one of the focus areas. My mother-in-law reminded me the other day that making learning fun is important for child development. Children like entertainment and Little Man is no exception to this no-brainer. Therefore, my challenge is to make writing fun for him and I’ve actually come up with a few ideas for writing topics to break the ice (guess you can call this my summer ice bucket challenge… without involving the cold and wet stuff). Little Man can write about…
- his favorite activity (inside or outside of the home)
- his best day ever
- what his most delicious meal is or would look like
- his favorite superhero or someone who he admires
- if he could have any super power, what would it be and how would he use it
- what motivates/inspires him
- where he would like to go on vacation or his favorite vacation memory (a classic writing activity)
- what he wants to be when he grows up (another classic writing activity)
- what he would do with his money if he was rich
- a day in the life of Little Man (journaling)
You know I’m wordy and could go on, but I just listed 10 writing topics to give you an idea of what kinds of engaging discussions we (parents) can use to get our youngsters to write. Maybe you could even try some of them (or your own creative ideas) in your household and let me know how it goes. Furthermore, I have some great ideas on how to motivate youngsters to get to writing in the first place. (It can be quite the process for those children who really have no interest in writing at all). But, I’ll save those little nuggets for the upcoming series, entitled “Life Writing”. Not only will I house my writing experiences with Little Man at this location, but I’ll also share with you what things I‘m personally doing to incorporate writing into my everyday living. Of course, one of those things is writing my book, and the journey continues. I’m shooting for a tentative book launch date of the end of June or early July. You know I’ll keep you posted; but until then, please keep trekking with me as I take you along with me on The Road to Authorship. If you haven’t had a chance to see my list of the writing lessons I’ve learned thus far on this journey, you’ll want to take a look at the prior post. And I can say with a fair amount of certainty that this list will continue to grow. Stay tuned…
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