Elliot's Dreams

Elliot's Dreams by LadyJai on Storybird

Not sure how many people have been introduced to StoryBird's challenge for November. I was only recently introduced when I read Megan Bickel's Like A Barrel Of Monkeys story and was inspired to play with my own. It was loads of fun.

In fact, it was so much fun, my son has made three of his own. I've privately published those on my account but if anyone wants to read how an 8 year old's mind works when writing stories, just shoot me a note!

An unintentional but awesome #PiBoIdMo effect

I have been dilligently working on my PiBoIdMo ideas. And on occassion I have even expanded from the idea into a full fludged story. Since the 1st I have completed four stories. Well, the  stories have been completed, now it needs refining I am sure. But they have been written. As a test subject, my nearly 8 year old son has been reading them. Over the course of the last 13 days, he has managed to be "inspired" as well and has come up with four of his very own stories. Granted, they aren't as complex, or congruent, as a story should be, but he has writen them. He has been inspired by PiBoIdMo to write! I am so excited! I must fuel this interest while he feeds my need. PiBoIdMo has inspired not only me,  but my son as well. Thanks Tara!

Happy First Day of PiBoIdMo! (AKA My brain is active when I don't want it to be!)

This weekend has been great! The A&E TV show, Hoarders: Buried Alive has been a wonderful therapeutic aide. We have been cleaning out 20 years of packratting junk from our garage. It's a slow process but we are well on our way to cleaning it out and finally being able to park a car in there! One third has been thrown out so far, in the two weekends we have attempted this. The room and progress we have made is amazing and I am so proud! If we learned anything from that show, it's that if you have to think about it more than 3 seconds...toss it! Because if you think, you then begin to reason why you should hold on to something you've had for 20 years and haven't used for the last 15! So, yeah, no sense having a "garage sale" that just feeds the hoarding fire.



Another accomplishment this weekend has been that our son had his first ride without his training wheels! It took him over a year to muster the courage and keep plugging at it. After grandma bought him his scooter, he wanted nothing to do with that bike. Just recently, we had a new boy move in a few doors down that has been so kind and helpful while riding his bike next to our son's. And in only 2 weeks time, he has managed to get back out there and ride. So we decided to try taking the training wheels off. And you know, he's quite good! :D Yay! He had the best support from 2 of his friends and us of course! He stops very well so far. Now if we could just get him to start on his own. :) See for yourself here (of course I have to brag! Oh and you can see some of the trash we moved from the garage for garbage!):

And then came a grueling night of kids and parents in Halloween costumes. Last year we had 10 kids come to our door. This year, Oh My! I couldn't even begin to count them! It was great! We definitely have a growing neighborhood.  


I also had to provide my mom some computer tech support, which I never really like. But, it was quick and painless this time. 


So, yeah! I was oh so very tired. I must be getting old, because I have been falling asleep by 9pm ever since my son has been so mobile. :) But again, something from the depths of my brain woke me up at 2am. It was hiding there, in the fog of sleep. But as I lay there trying to go back to sleep it started to clear and come to the front, nagging at me trying to get me to write it all down. I finally realized that I couldn't let this pass me by. Remembering past experiences with such idea/story writing, I know I would never have remembered this story when I woke in the morning. I had to get up and write it. My brain was just too active for me to sleep. So, I realized, that it was the first day of PiBoIdMo and was happy I wrote this down. 


Do any of you suffer from an over active brain at the most inopportune time? 


And also, are there any groups out there where I can join to have critiques of my work read by peers? 


Happy PiBoIdMo!!