365 questions

This year, I will have completely filled a journal for my son.  It's a record of firsts, events and memorable quotes from the first 8 years of his life.  Along with the thousands of photos that I've taken of him over the years, the journal provides a glimpse back at his life and how much he's grown and changed.  I found this Q&A book recently which is another way of capturing a glimpse of your child's thoughts over the years.  It's a fun way to find out how quirky your kid's imagination can be, or it can be a conversation starter.  Some of the questions may also reveal things that bother your child that they may too afraid to mention.  

My son and I sat down together to answer some of the questions.  The challenge is not to guide the answer but let it flow freely from him.  Today's question was: "Have you ever told a lie?  If so, what was it?"  My son's answer: "No.  When I wrote 'no', that was a lie."  Clever...

642 Things to Write About

So, it's been 2 years since I last posted to my blog.  I fell off the writer bandwagon...  With work and "real life" commitments (motherhood being the biggest one), the only way I felt I could juggle everything was to stifle my creativity.  I have kept a notebook and written down the occasional story idea, and I keep a journal, but to dedicate any part of my day to creative writing just seemed like a luxury I couldn't afford.  Maybe I still can't... yet... but I'm going to try to keep writing.

Step 1: As an early birthday present, I bought myself:

On any given day, if I don't feel like I can afford to let my mind stray too far from reality, at least I can take a quick break and let this book present the initial idea.  I can still get my writing fix, but there's only so much space for each answer, so I know I can't let my mind wander for too long.  (Of course, after writing my first answer, I felt cheated by the small box in which I was allowed to write!)

The first question in the book: "What can happen in a second?"

In one second, a seagull can fly by, night can turn to day, an orchestra can crescendo to a forte.  A friend can give a hug, or I can give my son a kiss.  I can savour a piece of chocolate, or finish creating a masterpiece.