Protecting the Passion, Keeping Wings Outstretched for a Daring Journey by Peter Reynolds Something odd starts happening to us when we reach about ten years old. Our creative wings begin to fold up, neatly, and begin to get packed away. We have more freedom artistically when we are very young. Making colorful pictures, wild ones, ignoring the rules, green skies and blue lawns, are expected and applauded. While it never seems enough time, it is luxurious compared to the tinier window of opportunity offered to us as writers. Mastering the alphabet and the basics of sentence construction leaves us with very little time to take the next step and doodle and dream with words with the same wild, rule-free abandon we used as toddler-artists. By the time we have the ability to write, to channel unspoken thoughts into written words, we are already packing up our wings. For many of us, we have them sealed up, rarely if ever, experiencing the joy of creative soaring and playing. I spent time visiting a school a few years ago and came across a sixth grade class whose teacher had an outright ban on creative writing. "I have the difficult task of readying these children for research paper writing in middle school. They have played for the last few years, but in my class - the party is over." I get a bit nauseous just playing that back in my mind. It is no wonder that we give up expressing ourselves with that sort of encouragement. If don't practice expressing ourselves, we don't get better. Alas, for many, writing with skill and flair becomes a foggy, elusive dream. Well, then, if you don't write well, should you give up writing? Should it be a craft only for those with the most expert skills in storytelling, in research, in sentence-crafting? Certainly not. All writers welcome! Step off the path and write with your wings outstretched. Break a rule or two as you go. Don't let a jumbled thought stop you. Plant it and keep going. Don't let a misspelled word slow you down, go back and attend to it later. Listen to your inner voice and transcribe what you hear without trying to edit it. Try writing for yourself. Not for your audience. Try to ignore the critics' voices you may hear. Invent a word. Skip punctuation or invent your own...__...> and see what it feels like. Borrow an idea from your favorite author. Twist it a few times. Turn it inside out. Make it your own. I will grab my journal and write the first word or two that comes to mind. "Red velvet..." And then I let these words coax the next few out.... "welcomed me. Sweeping curtains opened." The magic is not to stop and be too logical. Be brave and let the images that come to mind tumble out. (By the way, I have said this before and I will keep saying it: buy a blank journal for yourself and for someone you'd like to inspire. Have plenty on hand and be ready to let your words and ideas out!) Picasso learned the rules and then playfully ignored them to invent something new. The most important thing is to be bravely finish. Writing, like a journey, is easy to begin, but to reach a destination on the journey requires a brave heart. I met a lovely retired woman recently who, once learning that I am a children's book author and illustrator, shared with me a story that she had written 37 years earlier. She had meant to "do something with the story" for all those years. I said it was time to share it now. "The Internet is a way to share your story," I told her. Her eyes lit up as I sketched a rabbit, for her story about a rabbit who survives a trying journey. Tears welled up as she looked at him and she said, "It's like seeing my baby born." Sharing your stories takes a kind of bravery too. Not that you have to share them. You can keep them tucked in a shoebox to be found later. Some very well known books were discovered that way. A book that comes to mind, "Confederacy of Dunces" by William Kennedy Smith, was found in a shoe box under his bed after his death. He broke lots of rules, namely by writing about a very ordinary man's life. It just poured along in its quiet, quirky way. It is the caregivers', parents', educators' challenge to teach our young writers to be brave. To hear their inner voice and not let it be overshadowed by rules. To be playful. To be inventive. To write for themselves. To share their words if they want to share. To tuck them away if they prefer, but to encourage that they write nonetheless. Our challenge is to encourage beginnings, middles and ends. To help our young writers learn to keep their wings outstretched. To express themselves. To let what is inside -- out. Bravery is one of the lost arts. Help find it in every learner. Peter Reynolds Founder/President FableVision © 2001 Peter H. Reynolds/FableVision Permission granted to copy for classroom use