Saturday, August 27, 2011

Writing with the kids


So I'm writing a story with my kids. It's not just any story, it's THE story.

It's magical.

It's whimsical.

It's outer-space and out-of-this-world. It's no-limits and no-holds-barred.

It is a ninja monkey who is NOT a monkey, he is a primate by God, and he kicks your ass if you call him a goddamned monkey.

It is the Ultimate Banana. It is zombies and space ships and everything we want it to be plus an extra heaping of upside-down spray-it-right-in-your-mouth nitrogen pressurized bottle of whipped cream.

It is a leather-bound notebook and a stack of pictures drawn on wide-rule notebook paper, a conversation in the car, a deep study in the boy's room beneath the ceiling fan click-clicking.

It is wonderful.

It doesn't say ass or goddamned, though. It's a kid's book. Keep it clean.

The point is I'm sharing my writing experience with my children. I share it with my family. I share it with my relatives and my co-workers. I believe that if not now, then maybe later, when people describe me, they won't say, Eric was a Chemical Engineer from UT Austin, a quality engineer, a process/product/device/test engineer, or a programmer, or a mathematical samurai, or a short white guy with a big nose.

They'll say, Eric was a writer and a story-teller and was incredibly good-looking.

It was his blue eyes, the women will say, and they'll wish I wasn't dead and secretly hope I will come back and seduce them into an army of undead concubines.

My kids will remember the stories we wrote and told and tell the ones we never wrote.

My son said about the story we're writing, Daddy, do you think we'll be millionaires?

Probably not, I said. I made $85 bucks on my last story. That's the sum total of my career in writing.

Sweet! my son said. We can be hundredaires.

Do you share with your family? How will they describe you? Will you be a hundredaire author?


- Eric

6 comments:

Theresa Milstein said...

I like that your kids are involved. Don't sell yourself short. Maybe you'll be thousandaires.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Incredibly good looking? Eric, go for it - hope they say you were damned sexy!

Jemi Fraser said...

Love it! Sharing it with the kids is a fabulous idea - what awesome memories you're creating :)

Joshua McCune said...

Hundredaires, millionaires, as long as you're happy, it's all good.

Wine and Words said...

It's not your eyes that make you good looking...nor is it your mouth. It is what comes out of it!

And to share such a gift with your children, is a beautiful legacy (and I hate how trite and smushy that sounds!)

Unknown said...

You make me smile. I love that you are co-writing with the kiddos--and about a primate with attitude too!

My dad told long, imaginative, wonderfully involved stories when we were kids. It's one of my favorite memories of time with him. Just a guess, but I think the same may hold true for your kids.