Countdown Wednesday

Spring has finally sprung around here, so Mom took me to the park. Today, we will count down what we learned there.

What I Learned at the Park

3. Cigars are delicious. At the baseball field, I found a cigar butt. It was all crushed and stepped on, but I liked it anyway. Mom said the word, “Don’t you dare eat that.” She says that a lot. I sat and guarded the cigar for a little while, and I managed to lick it once or twice when she wasn’t looking.

2.  Bats smell good.  There was a dead bat behind one of the benches. I sniffed him and wanted to sit with him (taste him), but Mom said the word, “Get away! Get away! Get away!” She says that a lot, too.

1. Flowers are pretty. We saw some little flowers that looked like stars. They were pretty, but they got even prettier when Mom added me to the picture.

 

What Mom Learned at the Park

3. Pick and choose.  The dead bat, crushed cigar, and yellow flowers reminded Mom of her idea list on her phone. Some of the ideas are dried up and petrified, some stink, and some look like stars. She tries to always pick an idea that seems like a star.

2. Sit with the stars. When Mom starts a new story, with a star idea, she mind-writes with it for a while. She needs to add lots of good stuff to the idea till it becomes a story. She added ME to the star flowers at the park, but she doesn’t add me to all of her stories. I wish she would….

1. Get away. After a story is finished, Mom has to get away from it for a while. She doesn’t think about it or look at it or work on it for a week or two.  After she’s away long enough, she can see the story more clearly – what’s good, what needs work, and what stinks.

If I stay away from the park for a week or two, maybe I can go back and see what stinks.  Yay! I can’t wait!

 

ABC

One of Mom’s newest manuscripts is an alphabet book named The Naughty Dog ABC Book. 

It is NOT about me.

It’s about dogs that are naughty.

Not me!

Lots of publishers don’t like ABC books. Mom looked around and saw that Charlesbridge, The Creative Company, and Capstone still kind of like them, though. So when The Naughty Dog ABC Book is ready, that’s where she’ll send it.

These three lines are not in the book, but I think they should be.  They are about me.

A is for Action – which is the opposite of this!

…And this.

B is for Ballerina – wearing the tutu makes me want to twirl! (with a couple of Cheerios to keep my core strength up…)

C is for Cupcake – that’s me!

Happy Ending

Mom loves a happy ending. When she writes a story, she makes sure there’s a problem, and then her characters try to solve it, but they always face obstacles trying to get it done. Mom struggles with the conflict in her stories. She says, “I don’t like trouble.” and “Why can’t things just go smoothly?” and “GET DOWN!!”

I LOVE trouble. Sometimes I surf the top of the piano to see if there’s anything for me to play with or eat. Mom said, “You’re going to get a spankin’!” I thought she said, “You’re going to get some bacon.” I ran into the kitchen so fast, I crashed into the cabinet. No bacon. Why does life have to be so difficult?

At the end of Mom’s stories, the conflict is gone, the obstacles are overcome, and the problems are solved. I love a happy ending.

Action

Stories need a lot of talking.  Mom calls it Die-A-Log.  That word makes no sense to me.  I understand Bite-A-Log and Trip-Over-A-Log.  I do that a lot.  But Die-A-Log is puzzling. Even Dye-A-Log seems colorful, but silly.  But Mom likes it and she puts lots of it in her stories.

Today, she decided to put more action in between the Die-A-Log.  She said, “Talking is good, but too much talking is bad.” and “What we need here is some action!”

ACTION?!  That’s my specialty!  So I jumped on the chair, slid across the floor, flipped the rug over, bounced on the couch, pushed a pillow onto the floor, crashed into the door, shook my stuffed fish, leapt over my bed, and somehow ended up tangled in the table legs.

Mom said, “Can’t you sit still for five minutes?”

What happened to less talk / more action? Huh?

Just in case, I’ll have my action face ready.