Family and Adding to Stories

My wife and I had the opportunity to babysit my niece and nephew. It was an interesting and tiring experience. I was more focused on “play” with the kids while my wife was concerned about everything else. It is easy for me to be sillier and put myself to the children’s level, and my wife looked out for their well-being more than I did. It is obvious that the world at large is new to a young child, and they are curious about everything and their own capabilities. As an adult, that sort of childhood innocence and wonder is in the past, but I suppose that writing my own worlds and characters helps bring that part of me back.

I am currently adding more to my novel, The Land of the Wooden Statues. I rushed things at some points of the story, and now, I am going back to flesh the story out more. I am writing about one character and have expanded his backstory extensively to make the audience care more about him, and the overall story is better for it. The minute details matter, and the story does not have to be all action, all the time. It was a good lesson to learn and helped me become a better writer.

Even though this is taking a long time, I am glad that I am rewriting and adding to this story. I learned a lot and can put that into future stories as well. I feel confident that I can write well, but sooner rather than later, I have to put it to the test and see if audiences will like what I wrote.