Failed as an artist? Ohhh. I'm shaking my fist and scowling at you, Laura. The only failure is not trying.
Other than that one glaring error, this was a great essay. I wonder what comes first, some innate desire that leads us to the books or the books bringing out the innate desire?
Laura, did you know I was the Book Fair Lady for nine solid years at the boys' elementary schools? So many Scholastic book fairs. I loved running them but whew, what a lot of work that was. However, I remember the thrill of the fairs when I was a kid. I found it so interesting, the kids I knew in kindergarten, I saw them graduate to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and beyond, in my time there.
I would challenge that you "failed as an artist" because to me, you are an incredible artist on so many levels!
My daughter had Scholastic Book Fairs, but when I was growing up (or maybe it was just my school?) we didn't have the joy of book fairs. Instead, we got a catalog to order from and then had to wait (for what seemed like forever) to get our orders delivered to our classrooms. I sometimes wonder if it taught me about delayed gratification to have to wait.
Also, I have to say my lifelong obsession with living a Golden Girls style life means that I have always been destined for croniness. Crone-iness? I don't know, I'm INTO THE CRONE LIFE.
I absolutely loved that day in elementary school when the books would arrive! Nancy Drew and Laura Ingalls were two of my favorite series to read when I was little - I loved the adventures they went on and their independent spirits. I also read a lot of Judy Blume. I hadn’t really thought about how these strong female characters may have influenced my adult life, but I do love to go on adventures and I have an independent spirit so … maybe there’s something to that!
Have you seen the documentary about Judy Blume on Prime? It's really good. And I freelance for a website called Modern Prairie (I lead the book group). It's Melissa Gilbert's lifestyle website for women over 40. We just read The Little House in the Big Woods-it was so fun to read it as an adult. I totally felt for Ma and all the work she had to do!
I’ll check out the book group on Modern Prairie. It sounds like a fun group! And I’ll add the Judy Blume documentary to my watch list. Thanks for the recommendations!
OMG - I loved Ruth Chew as a child. She was my favorite author growing up. The Upside Down Witch, What the Witch Left, Make Believe Magic. Something about kids just doing happy ordinary kid things and then having these amazing adventures... she really made you feel like a magical adventure was just around the corner. A few years ago, I bought a whole lot of her books off Ebay - since I couldn't find them anywhere these days, not even in my local library. I was hoping my daughter would love them too. I think she was mildly interested and did read most of them, but she clearly didn't love them as much as I did. Oh well.
I've wandered over to your newsletter from Nicole's site, and was so very delighted to see a Ruth Chew book! I feel like no one else even knew about her.
Glad to meet another Ruth Chew fan. I really enjoyed doing the research for this essay because I learned so much about the author-which was of little interest to 8 year old me, but fascinating to 54 year old me! And, yes, I tried to find her books online and discovered they are hard to come by! I want them all back on my shelves! I want to reread all of them!
Failed as an artist? Ohhh. I'm shaking my fist and scowling at you, Laura. The only failure is not trying.
Other than that one glaring error, this was a great essay. I wonder what comes first, some innate desire that leads us to the books or the books bringing out the innate desire?
Thanks for your kind words Sue. I didn't mean that I was a failure as much as the business I tried to build around my art failed.
Laura, did you know I was the Book Fair Lady for nine solid years at the boys' elementary schools? So many Scholastic book fairs. I loved running them but whew, what a lot of work that was. However, I remember the thrill of the fairs when I was a kid. I found it so interesting, the kids I knew in kindergarten, I saw them graduate to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and beyond, in my time there.
I would challenge that you "failed as an artist" because to me, you are an incredible artist on so many levels!
My daughter had Scholastic Book Fairs, but when I was growing up (or maybe it was just my school?) we didn't have the joy of book fairs. Instead, we got a catalog to order from and then had to wait (for what seemed like forever) to get our orders delivered to our classrooms. I sometimes wonder if it taught me about delayed gratification to have to wait.
Also, I have to say my lifelong obsession with living a Golden Girls style life means that I have always been destined for croniness. Crone-iness? I don't know, I'm INTO THE CRONE LIFE.
Thank you for being a friend! Ha! I'm totally into #cronelife. Let's make it a thing!
I absolutely loved that day in elementary school when the books would arrive! Nancy Drew and Laura Ingalls were two of my favorite series to read when I was little - I loved the adventures they went on and their independent spirits. I also read a lot of Judy Blume. I hadn’t really thought about how these strong female characters may have influenced my adult life, but I do love to go on adventures and I have an independent spirit so … maybe there’s something to that!
Have you seen the documentary about Judy Blume on Prime? It's really good. And I freelance for a website called Modern Prairie (I lead the book group). It's Melissa Gilbert's lifestyle website for women over 40. We just read The Little House in the Big Woods-it was so fun to read it as an adult. I totally felt for Ma and all the work she had to do!
I’ll check out the book group on Modern Prairie. It sounds like a fun group! And I’ll add the Judy Blume documentary to my watch list. Thanks for the recommendations!
OMG - I loved Ruth Chew as a child. She was my favorite author growing up. The Upside Down Witch, What the Witch Left, Make Believe Magic. Something about kids just doing happy ordinary kid things and then having these amazing adventures... she really made you feel like a magical adventure was just around the corner. A few years ago, I bought a whole lot of her books off Ebay - since I couldn't find them anywhere these days, not even in my local library. I was hoping my daughter would love them too. I think she was mildly interested and did read most of them, but she clearly didn't love them as much as I did. Oh well.
I've wandered over to your newsletter from Nicole's site, and was so very delighted to see a Ruth Chew book! I feel like no one else even knew about her.
Glad to meet another Ruth Chew fan. I really enjoyed doing the research for this essay because I learned so much about the author-which was of little interest to 8 year old me, but fascinating to 54 year old me! And, yes, I tried to find her books online and discovered they are hard to come by! I want them all back on my shelves! I want to reread all of them!