A story needs holes

Iconic voices, creating space, and cloud gazing

Thanks for sitting with me AT THE KIDS TABLE.

I’m sure you’re hungry, so let’s dive in!

The appetizer

NINA is a story about how the iconic singer Nina Simone uses her powerful voice to change a nation. A child who “sang before she could talk and found rhythm before she could walk,” Nina had “music on the inside.” Traci N. Todd’s language and Christian Robinson’s illustrations perfectly capture this bold musician’s life and legacy. Read my full review here.

The entree

As I was working on a new picture book manuscript this week, I realized something so wonderfully weird about the revision process.

My first drafts are all about exploring MY relationship with the story. There’s a lot of BAD holes that I’m trying to fill, and most of the time I’m either underfilling or overfilling them. At this point, there’s not much room for the reader.

But once I chip away the unnecessary, the over-the-top, the didactic, I create more and more space, or GOOD holes, for the reader to enter. Even though I’m technically the only one who has seen my story at this point, I start to sense a reader on the other side.

Isn’t it strange that stories often start out with bad holes that create confusion and end up with good holes that offer readers the space to find meaning?

So if I could summarize my revision process, it’s:

• Identifying the bad holes in my story

• Filling them up

• Realizing I filled them up too much or too little

• Taking the excess out and creating new holes in the right places

And I do that over and over again until I fill up the bad holes and create enough good holes that the reader can fill in themselves.

How do you leave space for your reader?

The dessert

This week’s activity is cloud gazing. Find a comfy spot to lay down on the ground. What do you see? How many different images can you spot in the same cloud?

Watch me draw pictures in the clouds here.

Check out the instructions here.

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Is anyone missing from the table today? Invite them to the creative feast!

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b.y.o.j.b.

Bring your own juice box is your invitation to share something (in the comments) with everyone else at the kid’s table. It’s basically that special moment when you trade your dad’s famous chocolate chip cookies for your favorite fruit snacks.

You could share:

• A favorite book or current read

• A song or album on your playlist this week

• Something you recently created or learned

• Questions, feedback, or ideas

• A surprise

I can’t wait to see what you bring to the table!

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Last but not least, guess who’s wearing this hat?

This week’s clue: Someone down to earth.

I post the answer every Wednesday on Instagram and Twitter.

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll save you a spot next week AT THE KIDS TABLE.

See you then,

Rachel

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