How It All Began

When I was a kid, I used to write little stories about my day. Once when I was six I wrote a story about the time my sister and I walked a mile to buy gum at the 7-11. I called it, “Defeating All the Odds: Risking my Life for the Sustenance.” My mom read it and got really excited. She told me that we were related to Hans Christian Andersen and that my story was as good as his, “A Journey on Foot from Holmen’s Canal to the East Point of Amager”. She said his was a story about the time his mom sent him by himself to the general store for a drop of amalgam.

My mom was not one to risk missing an opportunity, so she sent me to go to school at Klink’s Border University in Nova Scotia. It was a advanced learning institution for kid’s ten and under. Their motto was, “Wee ones, tantamount to fastidious scholarlings!” It was a hard environment where I was compelled to write up to seven and a half hours a day. As I had done at home, I continued to write about my experiences. One of my stories won me the Newberry for Tots Award. It was called, “Sitting at my Desk: Watching the Seat of My Pants Wear Down.”

My mom flew out to see me accept my award. She stood up and applauded. Afterwards she gave me a bouquet of roses. I was now eight and a bit more mature with some peach fuzz growing on my chin. She said that it made me look like a distinguished author.