Write like a child

First, I have to open with a Mom brag.  I already posted this on Facebook, but so what?  I'm a mom, this is what we do!  Last week we found out that Emma is having a poem published in a national collection.  I can't even finish a story, yet my eleven year old is getting published.  But she did it!  She wrote the poem for school, all on her own, with no help from anyone.  And it was chosen to go in this book that will come out in the fall.  

I was thinking about all this earlier, how she is only in fifth grade and doesn't even really put any effort into writing.  If she wants to do it, she does, but she never stresses over it.  And this happens for her! I am thrilled with it, probably more than she is, but a nagging little voice in the far corner of my mind says "Look at that, your child is a better writer than you.  You haven't had anything published since the high school newspaper."  Then I realized why she is so good (aside from intelligence, wit, and pure talent).

It has never occured to her that someone might not like what she has written.

She's never faced criticism, or rejection, or even been unsure about what she has written (or unsure about anything, really, now that I think about it.  She's quite opinionated).  So it has never occured to her to hold back and not put herself out there.  

I want to be as brave as she is!  I write and hide it.  The only password-protected files on my computer are stories I've written.  I am too afraid to hear "This is no good" that I don't even put it out there to be read.

I think I want to write like a child again.

P.S.  She's also been placed in Advanced Math for next school year and selected for a Leadership Team in her school!  Ok I'm done now =)