Half Way to Hemingway

This weekend, Aaron took the kids with him when he ran errands. Everyone got to pick out a treat at the store. Emma and Carys bought candy...Cooper bought a composition notebook and a pack of pens. When I asked him why he wanted school supplies in May, he answered, "Mom, I need a place to write down all my stories."

Be still, my heart.

He wrote his first story this weekend. Along the way we had very serious conversations about writing - the process, the subject matter, editing, revising, the works:

"Mom, I want my book to be a collection of animal adventure stories - what's a good name for a squirrel?"
"How about Gerald?"
"I was thinking Robert."

After composing two sentences, cross-legged on the floor of the laundry room while I folded laundry, he furrowed his brow and said, "Mom, do you ever get stuck when you're writing your blog? Like you can't think of what comes next?" I said, "All the time! It's called writer's block." He sighed deeply and said, "Well, that's what I've got right now."

He brought a draft to me and asked me to look for mistakes. He seemed very bothered by the spelling errors, until I reminded him that every writer made mistakes and editing was part of the process. The mom in me was delighted at the innocent creativity of his first adventure story. The English teacher in me was thrilled to find that he had correctly punctuated his dialogue.

He put the finishing touches on the piece on Sunday. I told him I would make sure his very first story got published...so here it is. The photos are for authenticity and to showcase his beautiful penmanship that would put some of my juniors on notice; the transcript is so he can have the pleasure of seeing his creation come to life in glorious Times New Roman.

Robert and the Hundred Nuts!

One day a squirrel named Robert was on a mission to find 100 nuts in one day. If he does not, the squirrel tribe will not have enough food for the winter. So at 5:00am he started to look.

He took with him: one bag and a long pole to get the hard to reach ones. Almost instantly he found 10 in his back yard then found 5 in a tree. "I'm off to a great start!" said Robert. Robert climbed a giant tree and used the long pole to knock 25 down. "I am doing awsome," said Robert as 6 more fell down.

He found 6 in the sand and 4 in the dirt. "That's 10 more," said Robert "44 to go!" He looked at his watch. "Oh no it is 1:00pm!" he said.

Robert ran and found 3 stuck in a tree. Then got 10 from shaking a tree. Robert found 20 in the woods. He got 5 floating in a river. Then got 5 from a hole in a tree. He looked down his watch read 10:00. NOOOO! he sat down by a tree and cryed. "I only needed 1 more!" he sobbed.

All the suddenly something hit his head. He looked. A nut! He ran back as fast as his legs could carry him. He made sure no nuts fell out of his bag..

When he got back, he showed them to the chief "You have done well," said the chief. "Thank you." Robert said.

1 Year Later

"We are not going to have enough food!" said the chief of the squirrel tribe. "Robert, can you find 100 nuts today?"