Today was Dr. Seuss’ Birthday.
He’d have been 106 and frankly, considering what we know of the guy, I’m kind of surprised he didn’t make it ’til at least 111.
Anyway, Happy Birthday, Good Man.
I celebrated with a group of 3rd graders at a school here in Austin.
We talked rhyme and reading and revision (my three r’s) and it was swell.
My hands down favorite question from the crowd:
How many books do you write in a day?
Oh, the mirth.
The merriment…
Namaste and sleep well, friends.
Sleep well…
Love those little darlings!
Ditto.
Tanita Says 🙂
I think it’s deeply important that you are talking about revision already with the small folk. I didn’t learn to revise — anything — until I was in college, and it was like prying words from my cold dead hands to get me to give any of them up! Sometimes when words come so easily — too easily — you think you’re done the first round, and especially when you’re small, that’s about what your attention span can take. The earlier you realize there are other words that might work even better — the more prepared you will be as a writer and a person, really.
Re: Tanita Says 🙂
Revision is the hardest thing for writers — be they 8 or 38 — to wrap their minds around. I try to make it funny and shocking, how many rounds of revision I go through.
And the being prepared to be a person? Ain’t that the truth. Writing=yoga=personhood. It’s all one, isn’t it?
Ha! On my Skype visit last week, a kid asked if I could write a book in a day. I said, nooooo, but maybe someone could write a picture book in that time—but then they’d have to spend a lot of days revising it. I hope that answer passes muster. 🙂
Muster passed 🙂
How many books do you write in a day?
“Oh, just a dozen or so.” And then come the years of revision. 🙂
Re: How many books do you write in a day?
I know, right???? They can’t believe that, when we say “years”. Actually, sometimes, neither can I.
“How many books do you write in a day?” That is cute. 🙂
Cracked me up.
So how many books DO you write in a day?
Never mind. How great that even second hand these urchins can make us smile.
For me it’s more like letters in a day. Even a word count can overwhelm me 🙂