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Authorial Anxieties

  • Apr. 26th, 2008 at 9:08 PM
Kids
My daughter is sitting on mama's lap and doing her nighttime reading. She's reading "Gnomes in the Home," a story I wrote years ago for the now-defunct YA magazine Spellbound. The story is another in my "Blade of the Bunny" and "Spell of the Sparrow" series, but this one is told from the PoV of the daughter Mel.

I don't know if she's old enough to appreciate it yet. If not, no worries.

But would you believe I'm nervous? I handed her the magazine, and within a minute I had paced past the chair three times, fighting to keep from asking her what she thought so far, or just yanking it out of her hands and making her read something else.

Sales of Goblin Quest are somewhere in the five digits, but this I'm nervous about.

Comments

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[info]wldhrsjen3 wrote:
Apr. 27th, 2008 01:17 am (UTC)
::blushes:: I snapped at my daughter for reading a rough draft chapter I accidentally left on the floor near my desk. I just wasn't ready for *anyone* to see it, not even my 8 year old. I felt terrible, so we snuggled on the couch together and I told her a story. (It's easier to tell her a story than it is to let her read one... can't figure that one out. :/)

But I can empathize with your anxiety! :)
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[info]jimhines wrote:
Apr. 27th, 2008 01:26 am (UTC)
Oh, boy. Maybe I'll just stick a lock on my office door and password-protect everything on the computer :-)
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[info]janni wrote:
Apr. 27th, 2008 01:56 am (UTC)
Having kids read stuff is scary. Unlike adults, there's a reasonable chance they'll be honest about what they think. :-)

(Otoh, kids also tend to be biased about liking stuff read to them by people they care about--the reason so many cover letters to kidpubbers say "my children and my third grade class and the kid down the block all loved this" that it's a cliche (and not a very effective selling point)--so you'll probably be okay. :-)
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[info]jimhines wrote:
Apr. 27th, 2008 01:27 pm (UTC)
Heh. She said it was good, but when I asked if she wanted to read the next story in that series, I got a very lukewarm shrug. Partly, I think the vocab was still a little advanced for her.
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[info]southernweirdo wrote:
Apr. 27th, 2008 02:14 am (UTC)
I make up stories for my son all the time. That doesn't make me nervous (but then again, he's 4 and they usually involve blue polka-dot dragons that spew out icecream and him saving his girlfriend, Dora the Explorer -- not exactly "Crime and Punishment," of course).

What does make me nervous is when my wife reads my stories. Especially the novels. I have a hard time keeping myself from watching her face while she reads, seeing if she smiles or bites her nails in the right places.
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[info]jimhines wrote:
Apr. 27th, 2008 01:29 pm (UTC)
D'oh! That's my problem. I should have included Strawberry Shortcake in the story. Or better yet, the cast of High School Musical.

I know what you mean. If my wife makes any sort of sound while reading my stuff, I'm right there asking what she's reacting too. I'm amazed she hasn't swatted me yet.
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[info]shadesong wrote:
Apr. 27th, 2008 02:17 am (UTC)
*nods* I did a reading at Boskone...and my daughter brought all of her friends.

Yeah. That was just a little bit terrifying.
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[info]anghara wrote:
Apr. 27th, 2008 04:13 am (UTC)
But you passed the test...?

(Don't have actual progeny of my own, and I'm not worried what the cats might think - but, turning the whole thing on its head, I have had papa turn up at a reading at a bookstore one time and all at once I was eleven again and desperate to please daddy, no matter what anyone else who happened to be present might have thought...)
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[info]shadesong wrote:
Apr. 27th, 2008 05:20 am (UTC)
With flying colors, apparently. She was overheard afterwards saying "Yeah,my mom rocks"- and she took one of my poems to school to read!

My dad has yet to read any of my stuff. My mom asked what I'd been working on during my recent retreat, and I said "Oh,Tam Lin retelling in Vegas," and sent her an excerpt. Totally forgot about it. Also totally forgot how brutally autobiographical that story is. Just got the following response fromher:

I just got around to reading Places You Haunt. I thought it was very, very good and couldn't help but see that shades of you and Elayna were an integral part of the story. You are a very talented writer and I hope that all you wish for comes true.

Love, Mom

...and that's fairly effusive for my mother,but I still worry about the content...
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[info]tabaquis wrote:
Apr. 27th, 2008 02:26 am (UTC)
Jim... that's totally adorable. Awww!
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[info]mela_lyn wrote:
Apr. 27th, 2008 02:49 am (UTC)
AWwww... You're so cute!! What a sweet dad. *chuckle*
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[info]dan_phi wrote:
Apr. 27th, 2008 03:56 am (UTC)
Yup, makes perfect sense to me.
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[info]asterling wrote:
Apr. 27th, 2008 04:31 pm (UTC)
The best, cutest story ever, Jim! How adorable - it shows where your heart is: in the exact right place.
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[info]jimhines wrote:
Apr. 27th, 2008 05:20 pm (UTC)
Thanks, Amy. And congrats on being the new treasurer!
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[info]asterling wrote:
Apr. 27th, 2008 05:27 pm (UTC)
Jim, when Brenda called, it was all I could do to keep a straight face, since she was very official and correct (as she should have been). It's not like it was a big SURPRISE or anything. I just was dreading a different result for President, because then I would have had to step down, and then who knows what would have happened? Unfair to make the current Treasurer go on, or "draft" somebody who was unprepared.
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[info]andrewkaye wrote:
Apr. 27th, 2008 06:01 pm (UTC)
This is one of the things I look forward to when my baby's born: writing stories for him/her. :D
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[info]jimhines wrote:
Apr. 27th, 2008 07:12 pm (UTC)
It's amazing how many of the stories I've done over the past few years have either been directly inspired by the kids (Goblin Lullaby) or otherwise touched with parenting themes in some way (Goblin War). Kids suck up a lot of your time and energy, but they're apparently very good and helping with ideas :-)

The next book is actually dedicated to my daughter ... though it will probably be a few more years before I let her read it :-)
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(Anonymous) wrote:
May. 3rd, 2008 11:52 pm (UTC)
dad, that's so frickin adorable.

~GoGo
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