April 10, 2014

Inheriting the Writing Gene


Is is for Inheriting the Writing Gene


My mom started writing when she was thirty-six years old, working in an office full of men. One day, when a woman joined the office, they got to talking about writing. My mom revealed that writing a book was her dream, and this woman encouraged her to write. Even if she just wrote for herself. So my mom did. The book she started then is still unfinished now because after she married she put her writing on hold to be a mom.

Many years later, when I was a child, she remembered her dream and dived into writing children’s stories inspired by my brother, a boy Cabbage Patch doll, and pea soup. She wrote these stories for me and my siblings. She even illustrated, laminated, and bound them. Saying that my siblings and I loved them is an understatement. We cherished these stories and wanted her to write more. And she did.


Meet the original Sammy
At that time she was a media assistant at my elementary school and quickly became famous on our campus for her stories that she would read to the classes visiting the library. I remember the day when it was my classes turn. I was bubbling with excitement when I sat down on the story rug with my friends and looked up at my mom as she sat in a rocker. She had Sammy, the Cabbage Patch doll, with her and while she read her legendary story (legendary to my family) one of my fellow classmates got to play with Sammy and mimic what she read. Every child in my class was laughing and looked at my mom with awe.

For at least a day I was popular among my peers. And seeing how much my friends enjoyed the stories I grew up hearing filled me with pride for my mom. It was then I realized I wanted to be a writer just like her.


My mom's illustration of Gregory and his teddy bear, Sammy.
When I was in fourth grade, my mom visited for career day. She read the same story with Sammy to my class and one other class that joined mine. I was nervous to share my mom with my fourth grade class, but I soon found I didn’t have to be, because once again she was a hit! The same boy who played with Sammy all those years ago had the honor of playing with him again. The highlight was when Sammy’s pants fell down. Everyone howled with laughter.

On the bus at the end of the day, a boy I despised (because he picked on me all the time) sat down in the chair beside me. I braced myself for whatever nasty remark he had to say.

“That was your mom?”

“Yes,” I snapped.

“She’s cool!”
           
I smiled. Yes, I thought, my mom IS cool. She’s a writer!

Today she has published several flash fiction stories, and plans to publish her children’s stories as well as many novels (romances and westerns). When she does, I will proudly say, “Yes, Elaine Kaye is my mom! I got the writing gene from her.” J


**To support my mom, like her brand new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ElaineKayeAuthor


Thank you for reading my mom’s story!


A to Z Blogging Challenge:


70 comments:

  1. That's pretty awesome! It really does run in your genes!

    For me, creativity is inherited as well, though my parents aren't really writers. My dad is a photographer, and my mum can sing and play piano, and is quite crafty, and is very very fine arty. So I got a lot of that stuff from my parents (though not the crafty bit, I don't have any of that :P ).

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    1. My mom is also very crafty. She quilts, knits, does cross-stitch, paints ceramics (and has even painted a few pictures), she writes poems and Haiku, and did sing in choirs and play the piano when she was younger.

      Thank you for sharing your parent's creativity with me, Trisha. Creativity can certainly be passed down. :)

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  2. I hope your mom reads this post! It's the coolest thing when a child can look at their parent as something other than a parent.

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    1. Thank you, Nicki! I did read this post to my mom and she loved it. :D

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  3. Having it in the genes gives you a head start. Hopefully she has tons of success when she publishes them all

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    1. It really did give me a head start. I started writing at the age of 12!

      I hope she does too. :)

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  4. What a great gene to inherit. Enjoyed reading about your mother's writing. Visiting from #AtoZ.

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    1. Thank you, Carol. I'm glad you stopped by for this post. :)

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  5. Writing is a genre? No, wait. Gene! Now I got it.

    I know I got my writing genes from my grandfather. :)

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    1. Oh, wow. I didn't even notice that typo in my title! Thanks for pointing it out. :P

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  6. Oh wow, what a sweet tribute to your mom. So cool.

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  7. It's great to have another writer in the family. My twin and I are both writers and we enjoy bouncing ideas off each other :)
    Sophie
    Sophie's Thoughts & Fumbles - A to Z Ghosts
    Fantasy Boys XXX - A to Z Drabblerotic

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    1. It is great. We get to brainstorm together. I read and edit all of her short stories too. :)

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  8. What a sweet story about your mom. My (paternal) grandmother and dad seem to be the ones who passed on the writing gene.

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  9. Great story, Chrys! That is so fantastic that your Mom was so creative and inspiring for you. I will definitely go LIKE her facebook page :)

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  10. Just to let you know, the facebook link isn't working.' Page not found'

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    1. Oj jeez. Seems like this post has a lot wrong. First there was a typo in the title that I didn't even notice and then the link wasn't working. Well it is now. Thank you for letting me know. :)

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  11. What an amazing story! Your mom is very inspiring. Proof it's never too late to pursue your dreams.

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    1. Thank you, Julie! No, it's never too late. :)

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  12. That is such a great story. I think my daughter inherited mine but time will tell.

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  13. That's super cool. Neither of my parents were writers, but I did have a grandfather who penned poetry, and a great, great, great grandfather who wrote lyrics. Maybe it skips a couple generations? Or maybe I really am the creative black sheep in the family. *shrugs* Either way, I'll take it.

    I look forward to your mom's books!

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    1. Well, I'm the only one of my mom's children (there's 5 of us) who inherited the writing gene so maybe it does skip generations/people.

      Thank you! :)

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  14. My mother wrote a lot in college, and has written some stuff on and off over the years since, but never really did much about becoming a published writer. I've always felt kind of sorry for her for not following that dream. After awhile, she gave up on trying to get me to write how she wrote, only writing short stories and in contemporary settings. I have my own style, and she had hers.

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    1. My mom and I definitely have our own styles, too. She does simple romances, children's books, and American frontier novels. I write romantic-suspense and supernatural-thrillers. :)

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  15. Mom is good! You inherited your talent from her!

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  16. There may actually be something like a "writing gene," or, at least, a "writing gene envelope."

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  17. It's amazing what we inherit from our parents. Of course we get more than our height or eye color. They share with us their hopes and dreams. Sometimes they become our own.

    Thank you for sharing!

    (BTW, I also blogged about Inheritance for my A to Z challenge. Small world, right?)

    Leanne Ross ( readfaced.wordpress.com & @LeanneRossRF )

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    1. It is amazing to look at myself and then look at my parents and seeing what I inherited from each.

      I'll be stopping by your blog right now, Leanne. :)

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  18. Your mom sounds AMAZING and your story about her is touching. I did as I was told (!) and went and liked her FB page. Has your mom ever participated in Friday Flash? If not, she should definitely check it out. It's where I really started to love writing fiction.

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    1. Hearing that makes me so happy. I'm going to have to call her up and read all of these comments to her. :) Thank you so much for liking her page!!!

      I haven't even heard about Friday Flash! I'll check it out and tell her all about it. Thank you! :)

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  19. Your mum sounds special. Apparently I get my writing gene from my granddad. He died when I was five. I only found out he was a writer years later.

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    1. She is special. :) None of my grandparents wrote, but I'm finding that a lot of commenters are saying they got the writing gene from a grandparent. I think that's neat. :)

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  20. If they were such a hit, she needs to publish them. Such a cool thing to share with you - and with the other kids in your classes. Inspired by pea soup - that story I want to read.

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    1. She is working on getting them published. :) She's also rewriting them for this generation. I bet you'd get a kick out of her pea soup story, Alex. ;)

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  21. What a wonderful story! My mom has published three books so far. I'm not as close to my mom as you seem to be to your mom, but writing has always been a part of my family.

    Precious Monsters

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    1. That's awesome that writing is in your family. My mom and I are the only writers. I wonder what it would be like if everyone in my family did write. lol

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  22. What a terrific story Chrys! I did indeed "like" your mom's FB page in support. I will ask a dumb question - what is flash fiction? My grandfather was a wonderful artist and I'm looking at a watercolor he did in Key West as I type. My mom loved to write and was thrilled when Unity published one of her stories in their newsletter. Her best writing came in the form of travelogues she wrote as she and my dad traveled all across the country as well as Europe. I had no clue until she passed and I came across all her little penned notebooks. Thank you for sharing your mom with us!

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    1. Double thank you, Mike! How amazing it would've been to find out about your mom's writing. I'm sorry you had known sooner.

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  23. If you could see the giant, heart-warmed grin on my face right now... What a wonderful legacy.

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  24. You blog is so enjoyable. Thanks for coming by http://talesofthereborncrafter.blogspot.com

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  25. Hello there. Thanks for sharing such a personal story. Thanks also for visiting my blog. All the best with the challenge!
    Entrepreneurial Goddess

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  26. That was a wonderful story. Made me teary for reasons I won't bore you with now. This is a lovely tribute to your mother. I'm sure she's very proud.

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    1. Thank you, Joylene. She says she is proud. And I hope to make her even more proud. :)

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  27. That was a warm happy story of your mother. My THE BEAR WITH TWO SHADOWS comes from the tales my Lakota mother told me of Hibbs, the cub with no clue who grew to be the legendary Bear with 2 shadows. It is good when mothers set their children onto the path of legend. :-)

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    1. Thank you, Roland! And thank you so much for sending me the audio to Bear with Two Shadows. :)

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  28. Wow, that is very cool, and storytelling certainly runs in the family. I'm heading over to your mom's page right after this! (Chrys, thank you for buying Little Orchid's story. I really appreciate it and am looking forward to your thoughts on it.)

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    1. Thank you, Claudine! My mom and I appreciate it! And you're very welcome. I'll read it as soon as I can and post reviews. I'm sure I'll love it. :)

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  29. I wish your mom tons of luck with her writing journey, and I'm so happy she's going to be published at last. My grandfather used to make up incredible stories, and my mom begged him to write them down. Unfortunately, he passed away before he got around to it.

    I hope you make sure that the wonderful stories of Sammy are never lost. Great post!

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    1. Thank you, Holli! I'm sorry your grandfather wasn't able to write down his stories.

      I will definitely make sure that Sammy's stories are never lost. I'll help my mom get them out there. :)

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  30. Your mom sounds awesome and it's brilliant that she loves writing so much and passed it on to you. My mum did that only with singing to me and my sister. The writing we just found on our own :).
    Tasha
    Tasha's Thinkings - AtoZ (Vampires)
    FB3X - AtoZ (Erotic Drabbles)

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    1. Thank you, Natasha! My mom sang in choirs, but sadly I did not get her voice. haha I'm glad the two of you were able to find writing. :)

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  31. No matter what age, a writer will find a way to pursue a dream. I do admire your mom for starting out to be a writer at 36, and it's great to know you've inherited her talent.

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  32. What a lovely post! Your mom must be as proud of you as you are of her. And that story about the boy on the bus is great. Writers are cool! He learned that at an early age. I wonder if he grew up to write too?

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    1. Thank you, Deborah! I don't know whatever became of him. Honestly, I don't even remember his name!

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  33. What a great story! Moms are such great fans. And it's so neat that you get to return the admiration. I liked her fb page. :-)

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  34. I loved reading this! I suppose I inherited the gene as well, although my mother is not a writer. Her real talent is in biology, chemistry, and nutrition, but she's very good at writing. My talents were always in technology, and I didn't know I was a good writer until later... a bit in school, but mainly at work. I would write up technical how-to manuals, and everyone loved them! :)

    Random Musings from the KristenHead — I is for iPhone (and Indian Food)

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    1. I bow down to your talent for writing technical how-to manuals. I could never do that!

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  35. This is a beautiful piece. You and your mom are lucky to have each other.
    Stopping by after the #atozchallenge - ROAD TRIP style. ;)
    @JLenniDorner

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    1. Thank you for a lovely comment, J. Lenni! And thanks for stopping by. :)

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