And the prize goes to…first readers
“I have homework.” My son greeted me outside his classroom yesterday. No “Hello mum”, just “I have homework”.
Sounds about right? Well, yes and no.
My son is four-years-old. He started school this week – a very big milestone for our household.
The prospect of trying to get Master Four to sit still for more than a nanosecond and focus on homework made me shudder.
Did I mention he is four?
Anyway, my horror subsided when he pointed out that his homework was to read his ‘book’.
Master Four proudly held up said book; a stapled four-page booklet with coloured in pictures and accompanying words that he had carefully traced.
The book went like this:
“I am a boy. I am a girl. I am a dog. I am a snake.”
Hey not exactly Man Booker Prize material, but it’s pretty darn cool when your son reads to you with a level of enthusiasm and pride that I immediately matched.
It reminded me of just how truly magical reading is and why I want to write.
On days like this when I’m juggling school drop-offs and pick-ups, my “day job”, updating blog posts, organising lunches and dinners, and everything else that pops up in between, the last thing I feel like doing is sitting down to write or edit.
Or more accurately, I might want to, but my brain is so fried that the words just don’t seem to come together.
On days like this, coming up with “I am a boy. I am a girl. I am a dog. I am a snake” would be something worth celebrating.
Fortunately, every day isn’t like this. There are magic moments when you realise your son is ‘reading’ for the first time.
I want more of those moments. I want to create moments of magic for others when they read my books.
So while today my fingers are so heavy with fatigue they threaten to collapse on the keyboard, tomorrow the magic will be back.
In the meantime I’ll just have to settle for: “I am a mother. I am a wife. I am a businesswoman. AND. I am a writer.”
To stay in the know about my writing projects and to receive regular writing tips and content like this, sign up here.
I'm the author of the Kyprian Prophecy Series, as well as a Speaker, Content Creator and Marketer. I love telling stories whether they're for the business world or works of fiction. When I'm not working as a Content Marketer, I write speculative fiction, fantasy and fabulism for the young and young at heart.
Latest posts by Kylie Fennell (see all)