I signed up for a month-long, email-based writing course from Cole Schafer of Sticky Notes, Honey Copy, and Chasing Hemingway fame.
He sends a lesson and prompt every day. I have 10 minutes to read and consider the prompt, 40 minutes to write, and 10 minutes to edit before posting publicly.
I’m posting here to not drown my Casey's Notes content. On to day 9...
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Dear Fitz and Lou,
I'm on the second week of a four-week writing course, and today's assignment is to write a letter directly to someone, read it aloud, and notice how it sounds like it was written to me and for me.
Lucky you guys, I've chosen you as recipient of the letter. And I'll apologize again for lumping you two together as one. Don't be surprised -- it's going to happen for your entire lives. The example in the writing course is John Steinbeck writing to his kid, so I guess this moves me a little closer to him by doing the same.
I thought I would share how proud I am of you both and how much fun it's been to spend more time with you. We're on week ~8 or 9 of Dad School and it seems like we're getting in a groove. We have our time to get stuff done (shopping, laundry, cleaning) then lots of time to play. We've had amazing weather this fall and have spent a ton of time outside.
While you are sometimes colossal pains in my ass, you guys really are awesome little people. You're hilarious and smart, and it's been so fun to see your individual little personalities develop. And you both got your mom's ability to turn on the charm at just the right moment, so I'm thrilled to see she rubbed off on you, too.
I'll pull a dad move and give a few unsolicited pieces of advice, just in case you ever read this:
- Keep learning: You both have an insatiable curiosity. I hear the question "why?" easily a hundred times a day. I don't think I'm exaggerating. As a fellow annoying kid, though, I can tell you it pays off. I plan to encourage you to keep learning and keep asking questions. It won't be hard to get to the point where you know more than me, so we'll all learn together when you're a little older.
- Keep kindness: As I'm sure I'll tell you ad nauseam, one of the things I asked you every morning before leaving daycare was, "Are you going to be kind?" Kindness is a cornerstone for life in our house. Fortunately, you two dudes are about as kind as can be (except to each other, but I'm less worried about that). You often say please and thank you unprompted, you say hi to everyone, you're gentle with younger kids, and you're just good-natured little people. Today at the library, Fitz walked a couple toys over to give to a younger kid to get him involved. You guys do that stuff often and I hope it continues forever. Kindness doesn't cost much and it goes a long way.
- Keep having fun: If there's one thing you two do best it's having fun. Even when I try to reprimand you for something, half the time you keep laughing. While enraging, I need to keep the perspective that you're having fun. And man, life is hard -- financial stresses, health problems, asking yourselves big questions. There's a lot of hard stuff coming your way that nobody can prepare you for. But continuing to laugh and have fun (especially with each other) will get you guys through the hard stuff. And selfishly, it'll be a hell of a lot of fun for me to get to laugh along with you as you grow up.
He sends a lesson and prompt every day. I have 10 minutes to read and consider the prompt, 40 minutes to write, and 10 minutes to edit before posting publicly.
I’m posting here to not drown my Casey's Notes content. On to day 9...
--------------------
Dear Fitz and Lou,
I'm on the second week of a four-week writing course, and today's assignment is to write a letter directly to someone, read it aloud, and notice how it sounds like it was written to me and for me.
Lucky you guys, I've chosen you as recipient of the letter. And I'll apologize again for lumping you two together as one. Don't be surprised -- it's going to happen for your entire lives. The example in the writing course is John Steinbeck writing to his kid, so I guess this moves me a little closer to him by doing the same.
I thought I would share how proud I am of you both and how much fun it's been to spend more time with you. We're on week ~8 or 9 of Dad School and it seems like we're getting in a groove. We have our time to get stuff done (shopping, laundry, cleaning) then lots of time to play. We've had amazing weather this fall and have spent a ton of time outside.
While you are sometimes colossal pains in my ass, you guys really are awesome little people. You're hilarious and smart, and it's been so fun to see your individual little personalities develop. And you both got your mom's ability to turn on the charm at just the right moment, so I'm thrilled to see she rubbed off on you, too.
I'll pull a dad move and give a few unsolicited pieces of advice, just in case you ever read this:
- Keep learning: You both have an insatiable curiosity. I hear the question "why?" easily a hundred times a day. I don't think I'm exaggerating. As a fellow annoying kid, though, I can tell you it pays off. I plan to encourage you to keep learning and keep asking questions. It won't be hard to get to the point where you know more than me, so we'll all learn together when you're a little older.
- Keep kindness: As I'm sure I'll tell you ad nauseam, one of the things I asked you every morning before leaving daycare was, "Are you going to be kind?" Kindness is a cornerstone for life in our house. Fortunately, you two dudes are about as kind as can be (except to each other, but I'm less worried about that). You often say please and thank you unprompted, you say hi to everyone, you're gentle with younger kids, and you're just good-natured little people. Today at the library, Fitz walked a couple toys over to give to a younger kid to get him involved. You guys do that stuff often and I hope it continues forever. Kindness doesn't cost much and it goes a long way.
- Keep having fun: If there's one thing you two do best it's having fun. Even when I try to reprimand you for something, half the time you keep laughing. While enraging, I need to keep the perspective that you're having fun. And man, life is hard -- financial stresses, health problems, asking yourselves big questions. There's a lot of hard stuff coming your way that nobody can prepare you for. But continuing to laugh and have fun (especially with each other) will get you guys through the hard stuff. And selfishly, it'll be a hell of a lot of fun for me to get to laugh along with you as you grow up.