Alexis Dawes

A few days ago I mentioned in my blog post that I’d started teaching my daughter to read when she was 3-years old. Now at the age of 5, she’s reading books for 7-year olds without having to point to the words.

Around two months ago I began teaching her how to write and send letters to her grandparents. (Snail mail letters, not e-mail.)

Then two weeks ago I decided to up the ante a little bit, and she started writing a story called The Underwater Sea Man.

That story is now 5 pages long - (5 pages of handwriting practice paper… the ones with the big lines).

Initially she was excited about writing the story. But on the first day when she realized she’d have to sound out a lot of words that she didn’t know, she wanted to give up.

Instead I helped her along. And yesterday as she finished reading everything that she’d written so far, she SQUEALED with delight.

She said – and I quote verbatim:

“Mommy I’m so-o-o-o proud of myself!”

Plans for the second and third Underwater Sea Man book are already in the works. All hail the active imagination!

You Can’t Shove - but You Can Show

As a parent I feel as though I’d be doing a great disservice to the fruits of my labor if I didn’t expose her to the writing world.

Writing – after all – is much more than ebooks. Being able to write well opens doors in so many different ways.

For example, when my grandmother got placed into a shoddy nursing home, I wrote an epic complaint letter to the governor of New York. Someone from his staff replied personally – within days. The problems were rectified almost immediately.

And even though I did horribly on my SATs, and barely made it out of high school, I still eeked my way into New York University. It was an homage to my writing because I cracked that entrance essay out of the park. (Although I never ended up graduating from NYU.)

That’s why when my daughter began asking what I was doing on the computer, I broke down the publishing process into bite-sized morsels that she could understand.

I explained how and why people buy my ebooks. We talked about writing stories that painted a magical picture for the reader. (Which is how The Underwater Sea Man was born.) I even showed her how to check my orders for the day.

My goal is to help her mentally grasp the Empire State Building sized power that mere lines and curves on a page can wield.

If she becomes a writer – awesome.

If she doesn’t become a writer – awesome.

The gifts bestowed now can never be taken away. They will be given sunlight and water and they will grow. And they will benefit her in ways I can’t even fathom right now.

So while you’re helping others with your words of wisdom, don’t forget to plant the seeds of writing possibility into the younger ones around you.

You can’t just be somebody who writes.

Be a parent who shows the excitement of reading and writing.