My Mom went by the method of “if you’re old enough to ask, you’re old enough to know”. I guess she applied the same logic to literature – if I’m old enough to be interested, I’m old enough. She gave me boxes upon boxes of books that she read in her younger years and didn’t give me any guidance. I remember reading lots of Judy Blume books when I was 9-11 years old (this was 1999-2001). One book I read, “Forever”, was very adult in it’s portrayal of sex in teenage years. While parts of it were funny, it also represented the realities of our first sexual encounters: confusion, how young love doesn’t last, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be, seeing the gynocologist, etc. Reading this book didn’t make me sexually promiscuous or confuse me. What it did do was give me information to think about and turn over, and it ended with me and my Mom having a frank discussion about sex and birth control when I was 12. It was a perfectly organic discussion on something that many parents struggled with, and I really appreciate that my Mom never censored my reading so that we could continue having these conversations. Also, there were many books that didn’t appeal to me in any sense until I was older – I’d get like 2 or 3 chapters in and move on. So I think the situations will work itself out, but it’s important to read what your kids are reading (or have read it) and be prepared to discuss the book and answer questions. Communication is key.

Great question! My six year old loves the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. Although, I don’t think he fully understands all the stories, I truly believe the cartoon style format helped him with his reading. I do the bulk of the reading and he likes reading the talk bubbles. I do grapple with this concept There are so many wonderful picture books and the window is truly quite short for them to enjoy these. I really let him choose what ever he wants, but I also try to pick out some other picture books of things I think he might like. Harry Potter can definitely wait. I know he would be bored with it and I am certain he would find it scary.

Heather – This is a wonderful list that deserves a wide audience. I’m going to Tweet, Google+, Scoop.it!, Digg, and Reddit it!

Bravo Cari – my hat is off to YOU!

Great tips, and good luck to Cari! I strongly agree that editing and having a writing group is imperative. I’ve been looking into self-publishing a lot lately (so far I’ve been told by agents that my idea is great but need a bigger blog following and to contact them again in a year’s time = if I’m doing all the marketing anyway then why give the bulk of my profits away?!), so I joined a writer’s group, am looking for a cover designer, and am cultivating people to do test readings. I anticipate a long revision process, but I think it’ll be worth it.

A book that I’ve actually found really helpful is APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur, it’s really good for breaking down the process of self-pub’ing done right, as well as marketing your book, before and after it’s published.

Danielle, I am adding Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur to my reading list. Chris, I agree that honest soul-searching is important, with one caveat: Don’t let your fear of the risk color your assessment. It’s scary to put your work out there, and even more so in the absence of a traditional publisher’s imprimatur. That fear, I think, can sometimes keep us stuck when we should be moving forward. With something as big as a novel — or a nonfiction book — striving to make it the “absolute best” is nearly impossible. Almost everything could be improved with more time spent. Revise, rework, listen to beta readers, (repeat) for sure. But don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good, or, as Heather puts it, the “done right.” Because ultimately, you aren’t the judge — the readers are.

Once again spot on! here is what happened on our “unstructured” Saturday. As see-saws are a thing of the past. My son came up with the idea to put a really long thick stick through a low lying v-shaped tree trunk. VOLIA an instant see-saw. Later, on the same tree he found and L-shaped stick and hung it over another branch and made a stick swing. Finally (on the same tree) he found two long sticks, he leaned up against the tree. He laid shorter sticks across in an attempt to make a ladder.

Love this post, Heather. So, so true. I get my ideas on long walks too. To tell you the truth, that’s half the reason why I wanted a dog again—so I’d have to take long walks every single day!

Heather — “…make space for our own thoughts, dreams and ideas. Some information is good, but too much can drown out our own voice. We need to leave room for IDEAS.”

I resonate with your observation to my very core!

You asked, “What prompts your best ideas and creativity?

I pulled a sentence from a post I wrote in March 2010 that speaks to my thoughts on space: “…space for transformation to occur; space to find new direction.”

As a minimalist, space is like a compass for me — it points me in the right (and WRITE) direction.

Heather – I think of every single “no” as getting me that much closer to my “Yes!”

I especially resonated with your observation: “Sometimes it’s an answer that propels us forward in new ways.”

(Ditto what Laurie said!)

I’m with you, Heather. Slow to adopt new technology. I certainly agree the potential for value exists, as your examples illustrates, but it seems to me that the ability to drown in social media at the expense of actually writing is the far bigger danger for most writers.

That said, I do blog, have a Facebok and Twitter account, and also use LinkedIn, but mostly use them on the periphery. I usually only retweet items I’ve seen, or “like” something on Facebook. I try to blog at least twice per month, but have no subject focus because I’m not an expert at anything, especially writing.

I figure the least this is all getting me is experience with the medias, so if the time comes when I need to use them, hopefully as a soon-to-be published author, I’ll at least know what to do.

Congrats on your serendipitous tweet. I look forward to reading my signed copy of your book as soon as it hits my mailbox!

Chris

I’m on board with the no homework. My daughter went to Montessori schools (3 of them, in two different states) from age 3 – 13. She had no homework at all until the “Intermediate” level (corresponds to grades 7 and 8). And then the homework was mostly reading (and one day a week, Weds., they had a radically different schedule which included a “community lunch” where the kids prepared a hot meal for one another).

I wonder how it works for a teach though to have two students who are the exceptions in the class? How does this impact the lessons (which are not Montessori in nature, I’m sure, and possibly more dependent on the homework)? How does it impact the other students? What experiences have you had along those lines?

I’d also suggest that eventually homework is probably impossible to get around. If English teachers could only discuss the books read IN class time, well….not a lot would get discussed I think. However, when you get to high school, I recommend you prepare a letter that begins “Why my children don’t do summer reading….” (The last two years, before 9th grade and before 10th grade) my daughter has been assigned roughly 5 books a summer. Not especially light reading, it has included The Count of Monte Cristo, Jane Eyre, Brave New World, The Autobiography of Malcom X, among others. It’s a heavy load to carry, esp. while trying to go to summer camp, the beach, Grandma’s etc.) I am not in favor of it, but would not be willing to have my daughter not do it. My support would not help her on the exams that come in the first week covering the summer reading.