Wednesday, April 3, 2013

C is for Courage


Today's children's story is not only for the A to Z challenge but it's also for the Insecure Writer's support group.  I'm a lot like Sam.  I am constantly afraid to share my work with others.  I'm trying to get over it though! Now on with today's story!

“Sam, Sam come play with me!  My doll climbed up a tree and she is too scared to come down.  She needs Super Sam   to come save her.”

“Not right now Ellie.  I’m busy.”

“You’re staring at a notebook.”

Sam let out a breath and watched the paper flutter.

“I’m writing a story.”

“Let me see.”

“No!”

Sam slammed the notebook closed.

“Ok, I guess I can go outside for a little bit.”

Being Super Sam was hard work.  He saved the doll, rescued Ellie from a tiger and kept baby Jack from eating rocks.  After awhile he pulled out his notebook and began to write.

“Sam, Ellie, Jack, its snack time.”  

Momma was standing in the doorway.

Something smelled wonderful.  Sam tucked his notebook under his arm and ran inside.

“Momma made chocolate chip cookies!  Yippee!” sang Ellie.

“Num, num.” said Jack.

Sam sank his teeth in one of the cookies.  It gave him an idea.  He grabbed his notebook and wrote as fast as he could so he wouldn’t forget it.

“What are you writing, Sam?”  Asked Momma.

“Nothing much.  Just a story.”

“May I see?”

Sam shook his head.

Sam finished his snack and wrote until dinner time.  Daddy came home from work.

“Hey buddy!  What are you working on?”

“I’m writing a story.”

“Cool!  Can I read it?”

“No, it’s not ready yet.”

That night Sam sat in his bed.  His story was done but he couldn’t sleep.

Daddy sat down next to him. 

“Is everything ok, Sam?”

“I want you to read my story but I’m scared.”

“Why are you scared?”

“It might be terrible.  You might not like it.”

“Oh.  I see.”

Daddy pulled Sam into a hug.

“Do you know what courage is?” Daddy asked.

“It’s being brave, right Daddy?”

“Yes.”  Daddy nodded.” It’s being brave enough to do something even when you’re scared and you don’t know if things will work out or not.   It takes courage to share something as important as a story you wrote.”

“Is it still courage if I read it really quietly?”

“Yes, it is.”  Daddy smiled.

“Ok.”  Said Sam.  “I will read it.  Maybe tomorrow I will have enough courage to read it to Ellie.”

“I’m sure she would like that, Sam.”

Sam opened his book, took a deep breath, and began to read.




 

13 comments:

  1. I hate sharing my work with people I know but have no problems sending it off to strangers. Great way to merge the challenge with IWSG :-) New follower!

    Annalisa Crawford, One of April's IWSG Co-Hosts

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  2. I remember being at that stage and sometimes I still am. Thanks for the story!

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    1. I hope I get over it soon. I'm getting better.

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  3. I can really relate to how you are feeling and also how you find it easier to put your feelings into a story rather than explain them fact by fact. I found pushing myself into writing groups and classes and then writing something specifically for some else to read it was a great first step.

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    1. That's good advice. Even this blog challenge seems to be helping quite a bit.

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  4. I quite understand the feeling of being scared of people laughing at your work! Looking forward to following the rest of your posts! :)

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  5. Oh, my, here I am fretting for Sam. LOL. Because I understand perfectly. It's so hard to be brave sometimes. Goody for him for reading it to his dad!

    Welcome to IWSG!

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    1. Thank you! I've loved all the IWSG posts so far.

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  6. Such a cute story, and pretty on point for me today. I definitely need some extra courage this month, although for a different reason than Sam.
    Keep writing! :-)

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  7. It's not easy to share your work with others, but always remember that there will be people who will love it no matter what. Focus on them. The haters don't matter. :)

    Sorry it took me a bit to get to this post. I've had an insanity week.

    Alexandra~

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    1. Thanks for the tip! Its hard ignoring the haters but your right. They don't matter.

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