I have been writing. I know it doesn't look like it here, but I have been faithful (well, at least 95%) to my pledge to write every day. The grade school memory exercise was fun and revealed some things about myself I didn't realize until I wrote some things down.
Here's an excerpt from my fifth grade entry:
"Like every kid this age, I felt old and wizened and strutted the halls like everyone should jump out of my way. Wisdom dripped from my 10-year-old fingertips. I remember fifth grade as being a year when friendships meant a lot to me. And impressing friends. I seemed to have hung out with boys, however, more than girls at this age. I found boys to be a lot more funny than girls. Or maybe I found my friendships with girls to be a lot more stressful. I never fully recovered from the pain of comparing myself to my kindergarten friend who could read better than me, and by this time, she had found another friend which effectively made me a third wheel. And did I mention that new friend’s mother was my fifth grade teacher? Oiy."
And oddly enough, looking at my children's stories, I'm equally comfortable writing for girls and boys in my younger fiction, but as my books aim toward an older audience, I find it more comfortable to write from a boy's point-of-view. I had trouble figuring out the mind of other girls growing up, and so I don't feel comfortable writing for girls now. Hopefully that will change as I reflect on my own childhood experiences. Probably also doesn't hurt that I have a girly girl for a daughter. She'll educate me, for sure.
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