Remember that blog a few days ago when I mentioned being distracted from my writing by a squirrel on my neighbor’s roof right outside my window? I had to laugh when I read the following article, “Squirrels in the Attic,” by Ruth Schiffman from the Institute of Children’s Literature online newsletter. In it, she mentions squirrels in her attic and how she turned this into an opportunity for writing. Read it and I’m sure you’ll think it’s funny too.
I kind of did the same thing one day when a woodpecker made holes in my neighbor’s wooden chimney and then came over and pecked, pecked, pecked on the side of my house. It was irritating. This went on for days.The woodpecker (I named him Oscar) would visit early in the morning, waking me up with all the noise. I ended up writing a short children’s story about Oscar making him the main character. The reason I did that is because Oscar had an “attitude.” One day I went outside and actually took his picture while he pecked on the wood. It didn’t faze him. He looked at me and went back to his pecking. I filed the story in my “someday go back and revise” folder. Come to think of it, I might just take it out right now and have a look. Ms. Schiffman has motivated me to do just that. Yea!
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“I dive into a story the way I dive into the sea, prepared to splash about and make merry.” – E.B. White