Now it's Writing

So the two things I love, enjoy, relish, am passionate about Christopher can do, but doesn't want to.

Reading. And, now writing.

He has a paper due tomorrow in English that is a first-hand account of a personal story. He chose his first football game of this season. Wow, seems exciting and covering a favorite topic of his. Yet, the excitement of telling the story translating into writing the story quickly fades as the pencil nears the paper.

Suddenly, the rules take over. It has to be three to five pages. It has to be double-spaced. We only have three days to write.

With the rules comes a dampening of joy. It's no longer fun.

Seriously, he can spin the best stories. His accounts happenings are exact and interesting. He chooses descriptive words and indicates emotion.

What is a journalist to do? He's heard the stories of words are powerful and carefully describe what happens so that others want to hear more of your tale. He knows I'm a writer and formerly served as a reporter. Not impressed. He wants to get it done. Get it over. And, writing is not about getting it over. It's starting and refining and re-creating. I can see his eyes rolling right now.

I'm thinking if he records himself and then listens to his dictation, he may hear the energy in his voice and then he could put that on paper.

Nonetheless, he has 2 1/2 pages completed which gets him an 80. Half a page more would earn him a 90. Four pages borders on a 100. He's content with the 80 -- I told him, we're a family who isn't satisfied by the bare minimum so he is finishing out the half of a page tonight.

How can I create enthusiasm? After football practice . . .yeah, good luck.