Nearing the end of my 12 x 12 picture book membership for this year, I’m sticking to the rules for writing a story a month, setting myself little tasks to stimulate my imagination.
So I thought I’d share my latest writing exercise with you. I set the rules as; to write a story about two random words, I pin-picked ‘peaches’ and ‘dancing’.
This is the 1st draft of ‘The Peach Polka’, deliberately written without dialogue, an exercise in actions for illustration. If I ever get around to illustrating it, I’ll post those up too.
Nanna couldn’t remember what started it – but it was happening more and more.
In the supermarket, suddenly her legs didn’t act like they belonged to her body at all.
Sometimes, they danced away, trying to be somewhere else – without her!
Nanna couldn’t help grabbing whoever was nearby, to dance the polka too.
Waiting to pick up her granddaughter Sonja at school, she danced with the teacher.
What made her lose control – why suddenly burst into dance – at her age?
Today, thankfully, it happened at home. It was Sonja’s new peach fairy doll.
Long peach-y hair, wings of gossamer, she even had sparkling peach shoes.
Nanna and Sonja sniffed and Surprise! Surprise! The doll smelt of peaches too!
Startled Sonja beamed with delight to see Nanna twirling and whirling around the room.
It wasn’t long before Sonja was twirling too, in the new pink dress Nanna had made.
As the white spots twirled, Sonja was almost lifted off her feet with happiness.
Then she was! Nanna took hold of Sonja’s hands as they whirled and twirled together.
For Nanna, dancing with Sonja was a very special and perfect dance memory…
Sonja had the best birthday ever and never wanted the Peach Polka to stop!
#FrancesMacaulayForde #Peaches&Cream #FromMyNotebook #DanceMemory #Children’sBooks #12×12
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