The bell ringer
val⋅ue noun, verb, -ued, -u⋅ing.
import or meaning; force; significance: the value of a word.
A large faction of the children’s writers and illustrators world is gathering in L.A. this weekend. Well bully for them. I am at home. I’m working on my WIP, editing an ms, facebooking and celebrating my husband’s birthday this weekend. So my weekend has value too.
But, do my words? Oh my gosh, I’ve been asking myself this SO much lately. Do the words that I’ve slaved and sweated over. The words I’ve shared trustingly with my critters. Do those words have value? Hmmm. I simply can’t answer this question.
Based on the definition above, I might be able to believe they do. Certainly each word in the four novels I’ve completed have import and meaning to me. I’ve slaved over them and carefully chosen those that stay and those which replace the original words. I feel a force of emotion and action when I read through the stories. New Being and The Weaver are both stories about acceptance, though for slightly different ages and tastes. Save the Lemmings is about adapting to what life hands you and Super Villain Academy is about being awesome. Finally, there is a definable significance in the lesson or moral of each story. I should be quite content with that.
Okay, I admit, I’m not! The whole ‘being published’ thing is SO alluring! It isn’t because I want fame. Save the Lemmings touches on that! It is because I want to resonate. Think of Quasimodo in the bell tower. I want the echo of the message to ring within the age group I’m targeting with each novel. I’ve read some of my published shorts in classrooms and there is nothing that thrills me more than to see a flicker or glimmer in a child’s eye when a story resonates. It makes them sit straight, or their hand shoot in the air. Sometimes they just look at the floor and away from me but I know they are figuring something out. Perhaps it is an answer to a question they’ve carried deep in their solar plexus thinking it was indigestion. Maybe, just maybe, it gives them a new resource in life. Whatever it is, it is special and it is something they will pull out again when they need it most.
Maybe I can answer the question I posed in the earlier paragraph. The value of my words will not fully be realized until any child looking for an escape hatch from reality can pick up my book and read and enjoy. If they tuck away a little lesson or anecdote while they read, so much the better. If they simply like the crazy blue gnome-elf, well that is fine too.
import or meaning; force; significance: the value of a word.
A large faction of the children’s writers and illustrators world is gathering in L.A. this weekend. Well bully for them. I am at home. I’m working on my WIP, editing an ms, facebooking and celebrating my husband’s birthday this weekend. So my weekend has value too.
But, do my words? Oh my gosh, I’ve been asking myself this SO much lately. Do the words that I’ve slaved and sweated over. The words I’ve shared trustingly with my critters. Do those words have value? Hmmm. I simply can’t answer this question.
Based on the definition above, I might be able to believe they do. Certainly each word in the four novels I’ve completed have import and meaning to me. I’ve slaved over them and carefully chosen those that stay and those which replace the original words. I feel a force of emotion and action when I read through the stories. New Being and The Weaver are both stories about acceptance, though for slightly different ages and tastes. Save the Lemmings is about adapting to what life hands you and Super Villain Academy is about being awesome. Finally, there is a definable significance in the lesson or moral of each story. I should be quite content with that.
Okay, I admit, I’m not! The whole ‘being published’ thing is SO alluring! It isn’t because I want fame. Save the Lemmings touches on that! It is because I want to resonate. Think of Quasimodo in the bell tower. I want the echo of the message to ring within the age group I’m targeting with each novel. I’ve read some of my published shorts in classrooms and there is nothing that thrills me more than to see a flicker or glimmer in a child’s eye when a story resonates. It makes them sit straight, or their hand shoot in the air. Sometimes they just look at the floor and away from me but I know they are figuring something out. Perhaps it is an answer to a question they’ve carried deep in their solar plexus thinking it was indigestion. Maybe, just maybe, it gives them a new resource in life. Whatever it is, it is special and it is something they will pull out again when they need it most.
Maybe I can answer the question I posed in the earlier paragraph. The value of my words will not fully be realized until any child looking for an escape hatch from reality can pick up my book and read and enjoy. If they tuck away a little lesson or anecdote while they read, so much the better. If they simply like the crazy blue gnome-elf, well that is fine too.