You would think that having 30 or so days each month would make it easy to come up with topics to write about for this blog. But that is often not the case for me. As a friend of mine once said, “Sometimes life gets too Lifey.” In other words, we get so busy in life that all our energy and creative juices can get sucked right out of us. Since writing requires focus and large chunks of time, this can be a challenge for people like me, whose minds and bodies are often scattered and distracted. Then again, ideas can come zooming in from out of nowhere and slap you upside the face. Such was the case with this month’s post.
I was reading through a stack of children’s books, studying the subject matter, illustrations, and how writers craft their stories, when I came to First, the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. The book is a very short and simple concept story about growth, change, and basically how this becomes that. Eggs become chickens, and tadpoles become frogs. You get the picture. However, I then turned a page. Suddenly, paint becomes the picture. Words become the story. Seeing those words on the page was like being hit by lightning. I don’t know why, but tears began to form in my eyes. Actually, I just lied. I understand why I became teary because, on this particular day and many others, I was wrestling with feelings of defeat and imposter syndrome. Sometimes, it’s tough to pick myself up, dust off my disappointment, and write more stories. Constant rejections sting, some more than others, and I am now at 102 rejections in five years. My husband compares me to Stuart Smalley whenever I start talking about giving up writing children’s stories. However, this book, First the Egg, laid it all out very simply for me. Everything truly excellent in our world begins small, simple, and basic, and over time, through many changes, becomes transformed into complex and magnificent things. Caterpillars, for instance, are cool and amusing but limited in their abilities. Yet after what must feel like a grueling process to them, they metamorphose into butterflies, like Monarchs, capable of pollinating the plants that this world needs and making incredible migrations over vast ecosystems through constant dangers to winter in Mexico. These tiny, delicate creatures are capable of what should seem to be impossible.
So, maybe I will keep writing my stories. Perhaps I, too, can do something that seems impossible and get published. Because, as Stuart Smalley would say, “I’m strong enough, I’m good enough, and doggone it, people like me.”
Recently, I have been exploring the art of collage-making. I periodically dabble in it, thinking I might take a stab at illustrating one of my stories and perhaps have better luck querying a publisher, as writers who also illustrate seem to be in demand. As I work on my compositions, I think again of Seeger’s message in First the Egg. Each collage begins with a simple mark made on a blank sheet of paper. Then, over time, many more marks, shapes, and colors are introduced and layered. The paper eventually dances with interactions between colors, patterns, and forms. It all begins with one mark, purposely made, followed by another and another until everything binds together as a statement, a feeling, a satisfying expression. First the egg, then the chicken. First, the mark, then the masterpiece. Baby steps. Success is built through baby steps.
For this month’s Recommended Read, you can learn more about Laura Vaccaro Seeger’s book, First the Egg. And under the Activities section, you can explore my Create A Collage project. In whatever we do in our lives, may we remember to enjoy the process of living, one step after another.
Little Seeds Read 