Nov 24 2008
It Touched Me
My daughter did something today she’s never done before. She read some of my fiction. Oh, not the children’s stories or poems I wrote for her when she was a small girl and read to her aloud. She read a short story, one I wrote when I was not much older than she is now.
Big deal, you might be thinking. Most kids support their parent’s creative endeavors. What’s so special? Well, and those of you with teenagers back me up, teenagers are different. My daughter and I are both avid readers, but she’d rather walk through fire than read a book I recommended. I’m a square and I don’t understand how kids are today (believe me, she’s told me). We both like reading speculative, fiction, involving magic or the supernatural, but she couldn’t like anything I like. We both like a sense of humor, but we couldn’t like the same books. I was OK with that (well, sort of).
But I couldn’t get her to read the work I do, the stories or novels I write. I’d print it out, she’d “lose” it or be distracted and it would evaporate. So I gave up.
Then, my friend, sister and I started a writer’s forum. My daughter, who writes dark but very gifted poetry, wanted to join and get reviews on her own work. I said she could, but she had to read everyone else’s work and give her honest opinion. I would do the same on this forum.
She agreed.
And so, yesterday, she read a story. And she told me it touched her, it nearly made her cry, that it meant something to her. Her comment, posted in the forum, made it clear that she got what I was trying to convey, that it had truly touched her. She asked me to print it out so she could show her friends. She told me I needed to get it published. She drew me an illustration for it.
If I never get published again as a fiction writer or sell my novels, I will still have been a success.
If I become a great writer and fulfill my every dream in that regard, it won’t mean more to me than that one statement from my daughter: “It touched me.”
Oh, and by the way, since today I insist on spreading hope, here’s today’s Sinfest.
Awww. That’s the sweetest thing. I have the most difficult time getting my husband to read my blog daily. My daughter is a LONG way off from reading anything I write. I would have been so touched that she was touched.
On another note–YES, our similarities are scary. LOL
Davida
No one likes it better than when somebody is affected by her work…and you had a very special somebody who felt it…
I cannot imagine how wonderful you must feel right now…
That really is a special moment, Steph. And it’s great that she wants to participate in a forum and receive feedback and critique, as well.