Teen Son zoned in on me earlier, as he's wont to do every now and then. Usually when he wants some something. "What happened to that novel you were writing when we moved here, Mum?" He even remembered the title. "'Making Other Plans'" wasn't it?"
Oh Christ. "Erm," I dithered, wondering if I could get away with saying, "well actually, darling, it's with my agent and will be coming out at the end of the year," and somehow get it written and secure a publishing deal before March.
"It sort of bit the dust," I admitted.
"I thought you were doing it again."
"Um, the moment had passed," I confessed. "But I'm doing another one now!" I added, pathetically eager, and he nodded sympathetically.
"Is that the one about being famous?"
"Er, no. I, um, sort of ran out of steam on that one."
His brow furrowed manfully. "Oh. What's this one about then?"
"Oh, it's sort of hard to explain," I wibbled, and he nodded with great understanding.
"At least you keep trying," he said kindly, before wandering off to annoy his brother.
It's horrid admitting failure to your children when they still look up to you and somehow assume you can do anything. They must think I'm a right hopeless case. I can't even make money grow on trees for heaven's sake.
"You couldn't lend me a couple of quid could you?" he said hopefully, five minutes later.
Like he said, it's the trying that counts ...
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Oh, and a big thank you to the lovely Alis Hawkins for this rather smashing award!
If anyone would like to pinch it, feel free - you're all cool you know :o)
17 comments:
At least he's showing an interest!
Bless. I know exactly how you feel.
When I told TD that a publisher had rejected my novel she called them 'stupidly fickle', which was so endearingly sweet that I didn't have the heart to tell her she'd chosen the wrong word :-)
I think Keep Trying should be the watchwords of every writer.
:O Tommox
Got to love his method!
I loved when my daughter was small and (wrongly) thought I was wonderful. It's not nice admitting to not being superhuman after all.
Your son sounds sweet.
No, no, what you should have said was, "No time. I'm writing short stories for women's mags at the moment to build myself up a name to impress agents with."
Admitting failure? I think not. Trying is never failure (says she all preachy like).
And I hope you reminded him of all your short story successes last year as well as working on your current novel.
So did you lend him a couple of quid?:-)
Boys eh? We love them.
You are not a failure, you are writing!
Ah, he sounds a sweetie.
Did you lend him the money?
helenmh - That's very true :o)
debs - I'll have to keep bragging about the short stories instead!
tam - They children are very protective I've noticed, which is lovely. And yes, I should have those words tattooed somewhere!
tommo - Indeed :o))
patp - He's a wily little devil, I'll give his that :o)
suzanne - I'm good at baking though! Does that count??
jan jones - Now why didn't I think of that? Actually he is quite proud - I heard him telling a friend on the phone about my stories, recently :o)
lane - I didn't lend him any money, the tinker. He'd only been paid that day and had already spent all his money. Tut. He is quite proud of the short story thing though :o)
cait o'connor - Hmmm. Sometimes we do :o)) I'll only consider myself a failure when I stop writing, I've decided!
jj - He is a sweetie - but I didn't lend him the money (see above!) Worth a try though :o)
oh Karen, I just laughed out LOUD at the end...
I can't even sum it all up. but that's the nail on the head!
As Cait said - you ARE writing, and you have got stuff published already. A short story is simply a small novel, isn't it? Trying is good. BTW did he get a couple of quid?
Aw, he sounds gorgeous. Asking for money in a well-thought-out and kindly manner is so much nicer than grumpily demanding. And so unusual in teens.
Oh no! Mike didn't say that at all (above...). I said it!!
Very good. I hope you have better luck with your next book.
anna - At least he's developing his social skills!!
henry the dog - He did get a couple of quid in the end, because he scrounged it off his sister! A short story as a small novel...I like that :o)
mike/honeysuckle - I've got a very odd picture of you in my mind now. Tall, butch, bearded, wearing high heels and a pinny :o))
caroline kent - Another writing librarian! Thanks for dropping by, and yes it's going well at the moment :o)
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