A Quickish Sum Up of Me

This is a quickish sum up of my life. It started 13 years ago. Where or when I can’t recall off the top of my head. Rapid City is as close as you’ll get. I’ve lived in the same house my whole life. My mom home schools us and gives us skills in gardening, as she herself learns them. So, she learns one day, she tells us ten minutes later. If not we have a pretty good line, Mom mentions to someone on phone, Julie over hears, she tells us the half conversation with adjustments where she thinks they are needed, we all say something the next day and feel completely stupid when Mom corrects us. As I said, pretty good line but not perfect.

Where was I? Oh, yes. A quick sum up. Right, changing that, a longish sum up. Four years ago I started writing, most of which wasn’t good at all. More than a little proud I read it to my family. I’m extremely glad I can’t go back and listen in. At this early in life you don’t know you have such a thing as a passion. I just liked the idea of making up my own stories as I had in my head for so long, only on paper.

Before this, sorry, I’m skipping again, I had come up with plays. They were REALLY bad plays and so ridiculous if I could go back I’d probably die of embarrassment. I’m not going to mention any so as not to embarrass me or my accomplices.

Two years ago I was inspired by Brian Jacques, the author of the Redwall series and others. I just had go for it again. So taking a notebook and a few pencils, for the next two months I wrote by hand a rough draft. A REALLY rough draft. It turned out to be 250 pages, which for a eleven year old is really good.

Then I started typing it out. I have never been a fast typist but I was determined. So, I spent the next year typing, changing, going over it, fixing problems, changing whole sections, nearly giving up and starting over, getting encouraged by me Aunt Miriam and starting the process again. Before the end of September, the year marker, I had read through it 26 times and could practically quote it by heart.

Then I started the second one and the prequel. I didn’t tell anyone at first, well, besides Missy, because I was afraid they’d say I needed more time on the first one. I was so bored of that book I never wanted to read it again in my whole life, even though I was proud I’d done it.

I wrote these next two books without nearly so much trouble. I’d gotten my “feel”, as they say. Don’t ask me who “they” are because I don’t know. They just do. Missy and I, both liked the prequel the best so far and I made up my mind that besides punctuation and spelling errors I want nothing changed.

By now it was February and I had started once more going over my first book. Here was three more read-throughs. My mind was screaming at me, “You know this by heart!” Obviously it didn’t understand that this was my book and it had to be as close to perfect as I could get it so my Mom could read it.

Brief pause to collect my thoughts and ideas and I started the third and the fourth books. This is where I am still at. The third at 77 pages and the fourth at 11. I’m still coming up with scenes in my head even if not the whole thing. I can not take all the credit for these books because we have spent many nights while making dinner, me, Missy and Rose, making up sayings, scenes, characters and predicaments. We have laughed a great deal over these and come up with some of the best scenes. The plots for these books were mainly mine but the third is an exception where in Missy helped one evening.

Sorry about that, it isn’t a quick sum up, is it? Well, I had quite a bit to say. Anyway, there was a lot more. Such as trips with cousins, building tepees with double cousins, camping with cousins, ridiculous plays involving hillbillies with cousins…you get the point. We do a lot with our cousins that is worth telling but for now I’ll let you go.