And so it ends...

My endeavor of to write a children’s book in five weeks while simultaneously maintaining all my other responsibilities…success or failure? Well anyone who has written a children’s book will be the first to say “You can’t write an entire children’s book in five weeks, even if it is the only thing you are doing.” I hear you! I didn’t expect to have an award winning book ready for submission at the end of the class but I did anticipate having something drafted and in progress. So for this goal…I failed.

This was confirmed in class during the "feedback" time. Our assignment was to submit a piece of writing a child would read. The piece I submitted is written from the point of view of the teacher (which is against the rules of children’s book writing – a lesson learned in the past month) yet it was written for children and since I had nothing to submit ~ I used it to meet the professor’s deadline so I would have something to share.

After the feedback ~ I should have not submitted anything and stayed home. As stated in earlier posts I have contemplated if I writing a children’s book is in my future. If this evening’s feedback is a predictor of this…it has been confirmed – I will not be writing for children! Yet if I apply the strategies and skill sets taught in class, there is hope. And maybe one day I will attempt to write a children’s book for children.

Until then...I’ll hold the smiles, giggles, and joy of my students as I read the book aloud to them at the end of the school year forever in my mind. To know they still visit me from first grade to say “Mrs. Buske, ___ can’t tie her shoes. She needs you as a toe truck driver.” This is why I write and teach ~ to touch lives. While my “Toe-Truck Driver” story won’t be published ~ it is a success!

BUT I did learn a lot about children’s book writing and some of the ins and outs that will improve my writing and writing for children and not about them. I have pages and pages of notes, handouts and emails to trigger my memory. I have made new writing friends and enjoyed an evening out to improve my overall craft to write. I may not have a children’s book written but I do have oodles of ideas spinning in my head and new techniques and strategies ready to be utilized. Someday…maybe a children’s book…for now…watch out adults! I am writing to and for you.

Thanks to the River’s End Bookstore on the corner of State Route 104 (Bridge Street) and West 1st Street in Oswego – you are always a warm and welcoming host. I look forward to having my first book signing at your bookstore someday.