A few years ago, I dreamed of becoming a famous writer of children’s stories. I even went so far as to enroll in a writing school for children’s writers. My wife Barbara and I enjoyed the benefits of having seven grandchildren, all between ages 3 months to ten years. To teach, entertain, and enjoy, I began writing stories about a cartoon character I invented while attending college. His name is Morty Angel.
Morty is a Guardian Angel whose assignment is to look after all my grandchildren. A side benefit for me was a chance to practice my cartooning skills by drawing pictures to help tell the stories. A couple of years after Barbara died and I took up with Peggy, my children’s story writing died too. Her grandchildren were 21, 22, and 23 years old. They were well past the age of my target audience, and my focus shifted to political cartooning.
This week, it occurred to me that I now have two precocious great-granddaughters born to Peggy’s youngest grandchild. I have never written them a personalized story yet. I decided it is time. They are now in grammar school and are already reading quite well. They would probably scorn upon being offered a cutesy child’s story, and I will have to step up my game and begin thinking about writing for the modern twenty-first-century pre-teens they are. At first, I thought I could get the stories written in time for Christmas. With all I have on my plate at the moment, that is unrealistic; priorities, priorities, priorities. It takes me an hour or two to draft a simple post like this one, and a story with a plot and characters might take a bit longer. I have just added the task to my bucket list of things to do before I escape Earth to Heaven.
Filed under: Biography, Cartoons, family | Tagged: Children's Stories, Morty Angel | 1 Comment »
