My Journey…Writing

When I first started writing a children’s book, I had no idea what I wanted to write about. I even carried around a notebook to write down ideas. One day, a lost puppy was found on our doorstep and was soon reunited with his hunter master. I thought about writing a story about this, but it was quickly discarded. Then, I got the idea of writing a story about triplet sisters, since it was something I was familiar with. At first, I was going to title it “The Triplet Girl” since it was a story about triplet sisters but only one of them (Macie-my main character) liked ballet and the other two (Annie and Jamie-names that sounded more boyish) were more interested in their new ponies. I soon changed the title to “The Triplet Ballerinas” though. I still have one of the rough (very rough!) drafts of that story and here is an excerpt:

After ballet class, Macie finds her sisters playing with ponies in the field. Holding her nose, she tiptoes to avoid stinky, smelly pony poop. Waving a paper in her hand, Macie says, “Look, what Miss Carol gave me.” She announces, “OUR BALLET SHOW PROGRAM.” “It says, ‘Dance of the Triplet Ballerinas’.” “Isn’t that exciting?” she asks her sisters. “NO,” says Annie. “NO,” says Jamie. Macie twirls around and around. “But, don’t you remember how we love doing pirouettes together?” “NO,” says Annie. “NO,” says Jamie. Macie leaps high. “Isn’t it fun to do jetes’ like we practiced?” “NO,” says Annie. “NO,” says Jamie. Macie gallops around the field. “We could add these to our dance,” she says. But, suddenly, a pony gallops toward her. “OH, NO,” says Macie. She bolts. She leaps. She trips. She falls…right in…STINKY, SMELLY, PONY POOP.

Luckily, I soon received the critique that sent me on the journey of writing about three main characters-triplet sisters who become triplet ballerinas-instead of one and the story developed from there including changing the name “Jamie” to “Julie”. It sure was fun to write about those ponies and the stinky, smelly pony poop though. Maybe someday…. Beverly