become a writer

But I am putting any non-scientific writing on hold till I finish some projects right now. I have done the thing I really wanted to do….that is, typed up Mom’s poetry. The other things will wait until I’ve got my work situation changed for the better….

Must have been more tired than I thought!

First, Ruth, thanks so much for the tip. That site is chock full of info!

What I was going to say is that the book is about a perfectly normal human mama who gives birth to a little fairy girl with beautiful wings—and a tendency to get sick. It describes the mother’s protectiveness—and then the girl’s protectiveness, when bad things begin to happen to the mother. The mom realizes one day that she is holding on too tight and that her girl is in danger of sacrificing her “specialness” to take care of the mama. Fortunately, mama recognizes the problem and explains to her girl that it’s ok to fly away.

I have a question. I wrote a book for my daughter when she was about 6, just for her. I wondered…how do you know if something could be published?

The book is about parental protectiveness and letting go. It was an allegory both for her and for me, and would be appropriate for parents and children dealing with a child’s illness. My girl had been terribly sick for a long time, but her asthma was beginning to stabilize, and I was slow to realize that I didn’t need to be so protective any more. In her delightfully insightful way, she had to push me a bit to get me to realize I was interfering with her independence—which is developmentally necessary for every child, ill or not.

The book was my way of apologizing, with a little humor along the way. She laughed when I gave it to her, and still asks me to read it to her at 11. I do some professional work in this area, and one of the striking things is that I have not been able to find a single book, meant to be read to children with medical disorders, that deals with the problem of parental protectiveness and children’s natural desire for independence. But I have absolutely no idea how that world of books works—I only know scientific writers. Any ideas how I could (1) find out if it is reasonable to submit, and (2) how and where one would submit it? Thanks!

The book is about a little fairy girl who had a series of bad things

I was thinking about my goal of having adventures, wondering what an adventure would be. And I thought about all the things I want to write, the non-scientific writing that is. I am so walled in by the scientific method, that I feel a strong drive to explore that which is creative, mystical, uncertain. I want emotion and movement. I want creativity. I want to tell my story, or maybe my stories, to make a narrative of what happens when the ground beneath your feet falls away and yet you are still standing.

I’ve been telling myself for at least 5 years that this is what I would do when I retire, but to heck with that. I want to start now, here. I want to submit some things for publication.

What DO I want to write about? I want to tell the story of my mother’s 1960s life, punctuated by her fierce poems of frustration. I want to write about my father’s addiction, but even more, I want to write about his heroism as a quiet man in the civil rights movement, doing the right thing. I want to narrate what I’ve learned, that flawed people are capable of great heroism and strength. I want to write about how it feels to be told you have cancer. I would like sometimes just to laugh about the improbable quirks of life, like the time my little brother, mother, and I came home from a family vacation in a hearse.

I wonder if that is possible? It would give me such a feeling of accomplishment to tell the truth with humor and grace, to own my life without a mask of anonymity.

I wonder if that is possible?