Right after Dad’s funeral this past winter, my sweet daughter was trying to decide if she wanted to enter the Reading Rainbow contest or not.  She said she didn’t think she could write one with a 350-word limit. (She is a novelist at heart).   So, the last weekend came before the Monday deadline, and she decided to give it a go.  Rather than cut down and edit one of her longer stories, she decided to start fresh.  She wrote the story on Saturday, did the illustrations on Sunday, and we sent it.  Therein lies the lesson: Start fresh and just do it!

I got a letter in the mail today (sorry, no picture yet) stating that her story has been chosen as FIRST PLACE for South Dakota’s Third Grade! I cried.  I am so very proud of her.  She works so hard, and she has a heart of gold.  

You can read the stories that placed  here. They are a riot!  Hers is the one called the LONGEST PIGTAIL.  

After sending her story, I found this great information for helping kids write. It is, of course, full of basics that I am sure we can all benefit from reviewing once in a while.  Click here for that link.

Signing off for now. Today was just jam-packed…even got to shoot BB Guns at the Scout meeting tonite.  My little guy could LIVE outside, I swear. Oh what the heck, let’s end it with a little cheese: a little lesson from a second grader to top it off: Set your sights and pull the trigger. 

*Added afterthoughts Friday 4/18:  I was just thinking about the lessons above and how refreshing it is that kids can inspire us.  I love that each one of us is born with talents and tendencies, love and hope.  This child-like faith in ourselves and in others is simply wonderful.  A serendipity to all this is how these talents and desires can truly shape us as individuals.  I knew from a very young age that I loved art and words and books, line and color and stories…ah! just standing in the pencil/crayon and paper aisle at the grocery store as a kid made my heart beat wildly.  And I know that the same kinds of things inspire my sweet daughter.  She has always loved words and drawing.  One of her favorite things to do is go to her Word Document files on the computer and work on her stories.  And my son, he likes words and art too, but his true tendencies, talents, and passion is for things like skateboarding (wow! you should see him!), basketball, climbing, breakdancing (he can spin on his head!), shooting BB guns, cooking and eating! You can just tell how happy each child is when they are doing things they LOVE.  I hope for them, that they can always follow their heart.  I am truly grateful that I get to do what I love and get paid for it.  What a bonus! Life is so good.

xoxox,

tomatogirl

**another P.S.  I should just make a new entry, but all this is so related! I have been chatting a bit with the talented Kathy Weller, and her recent post is one that strikes a tender chord with me.  I am guessing there are countless artists out there who are also writers at heart.  More on this can of worms later :)  Have a super weekend, all!