A couple of years ago, one of my little boys decided he wanted to be an author. He’d really got into the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series of books and loved them so much that he wanted to write books too.
Now I don’t know if you’ve experienced anything similar, but my two boys love sport, being outside, jumping in muddy puddles (you must wear your boots!), picking up worms, and playing on devices (at the time it was all about mine craft, now it’s all fifa and fortnite). So anything that encourages them to sit down and read and write is bloody awesome in my book, pardon the pun. At every opportunity he’d be adding to his story, talking it through with his brother and friends, and really getting into it.
Anyway, my son happened to mention to one of his teachers that he wanted to be an author when he grew up. As you do. I dare say there was a whole “what do you want to be when you grow up” conversation going on around this. As a quick side note, I wanted to be a teacher. Then I realised that would mean being around kids all day and, (bless their socks) I’m not the most patient person so I decided to follow a more ambitious career path and try to herd grown ups together instead. More about that another time!
So, the day of this conversation at school about what they wanted to be, my little boy came home and told me that cold water had been poured on his wish to be an author. He'd been told it was unlikely he’d get published and good luck with that. I’m sure it wasn’t quite that blunt, but he came home a bit dejected and defeated and when he told me what had happened I grew crosser and crosser. And when I get cross, I get pretty determined.
I’m a great believer in not limiting the possibilities out there, and for my kids to grow up and see the world is a big place and most things are possible for them. See how I didn’t say anything is possible? I’m a realist too. Running a marathon is absolutely doable. Winning one is rather unlikely. Not impossible, but see the difference between those two? Exactly my point.
Anyway, I encouraged my little boy to keep writing his book and I started to research self publishing options. I can’t say it was really easy, but it wasn’t too difficult really to get his book self published on amazon using createspace which essentially prints copies on demand. I had it made into a proper book for him, I wrote the blurb and added a picture and a review (from me with full disclosure of course!) and that was one of his birthday presents that year. He was thrilled that he’d written his very first book and could hold it in his hands.
Fast forward a couple of years and he’s not sure what he wants to be when he grows up now, and that’s okay. Some of us get to middle age and still don’t know. But what he has learnt is that there are possibilities out there for him, and he doesn’t need to be limited by what other people think. And that’s pretty powerful in my book. Pun intended (again!).
Said boy is too shy for a pic! Published this with his permission though.