The Idea of an Essay, Volume 3

70 The Idea of an Essay: Volume 3 took time out of her busy schedule to read and check out a book first before letting me read it. She has always been careful and conscientious about what I am reading. Mom has always encouraged my writing. When I was five, this consisted of praising my one or two page stories, barely legible and utterly silly as they were. She not only complimented my five- year-old “accomplishments”, but saved every one. As a junior high and highschool student, my writing has, of course, changed form and become more substantial in its content than simply the boy who lost his jacket (and later found it in the closet, where it was supposed to be). Mom’s role in my writing has changed as well. Now, instead of simply praising, she edits, offers ideas, clarifications, and constructive criticism. She is a huge asset to my ability to write, half the reason my writing is any good at all, and simply amazing. I would not have come as far as I have without her encouragement and instruction. She often supplies ideas for my plot as she edits. “This doesn’t make sense, Celeste,” she will say. “That is not even logical. Why don’t you have them do this?” I groan, because now I have to write more, but usually end up following her suggestions. Dad has also been influential in my writing. His gift is spotting grammatical mistakes, so I hand him my stories, newly finished, for punctuation editing. When he hands them back to me with a “Very good” and nod of approval, they are dotted with red marks: a missing period here, too many commas there, holes in sentences where some word is obviously absent. I am indebted to my dad for catching silly mistakes in my writing. I am delighted to have a small audience from whom to gather feedback: my parents, siblings, grandparents and friends. All come back with information and ideas I hadn’t thought of before. After sending my friends a sequel I had recently finished, one of my friends told me, “It was really good. I liked it better than the first one. The first one didn’t really seem to go anywhere.” I agree. I will have to go back and rewrite the first one. My grandfather constantly offers his services and his advice. “I can help you get a copyright,” he’s told me. “I really think you should pursue getting published. It’d be a great thing for you, Celeste.” “Thanks,” I reply. “I’ll think about it.” The thought of being published is exciting but also a scary at the same time. I’m not sure I’m ready