Mikey turned in his saint report lat week. He narrowed down the Franciscan Martyrs of China to Saint Gregory Grassi to avoid writing reports on 29 martyrs. Smart move. Saint Gregory represented the martyrs, who represented the 100,000 of executed Christians. Lots of representation going on; it was quite the bureaucratic saint report.
The original plan was to make a 12×12 Pokemon card for Saint Gregory. Just like a Pokemon card, it was going to have all his info, his “power” and his value. Mikey wanted to do this on wood since paper wouldn’t be thick enough to paint on both sides. I sent the Mister to Home Depot to buy some thin veneer, and when he called and gave us all the options available he mentioned casually that they also had sheets of chalkboard.
That’s all Mikey had to hear. His new idea was to do a chalk drawing of Saint Gregory, still in Pokemon format. Once he started drawing with the chalk, though, he realized how hard it was going to be to get any sort of detail. Midway through he changed his plans and decided he was going to make a “fancy old painting” of Saint Gregory using chalk, chalk pens, and paint pens. (I think he meant a renaissance style painting. That big gold orb behind Saint Gregory’s head is his halo.) These were his reference images.
He was especially proud of his scalloped gold “frame” and the little lines that come out at each corner. Those lines, he says, is what makes the frame look real. I took a close up picture of the scallops. Guess which three scallops were mama’s showing Mikey how to apply the right pressure with the paint pen? Guess who rolled his eyes and said, “Yeah, mom, I got this.”
I’m curious to see what his grade is because there were some instructions that he felt messed with his “vision.” He says he spoke with the teacher and got the okay to do what he wanted to do. We’ll see what happens.
The saint reports (Nico had one, too, but only written) must have inspired me, or more likely I was desperate and looking for something to write about for NaNoWriMo, because I’m now writing a middle school book about an academy of future saints. Maybe. Not really. The story changes every day (today the main character is a regular kid convinced he’s destined for sainthood, and I’m pretty sure that’s the right direction to go) but I’m not letting myself go back and edit or I’ll never get past the second paragraph. I’m incredibly behind on my word count and I want to burn down to cinders all…four pages I’ve written. This is easily the hardest project I have ever undertaken. Harder than walking every day, harder than any 31 day series, harder than eating at home for 30 days straight. In fact, if I wasn’t working with Carey and Kendra or announced my intentions here, I would have already tossed in the towel. I should be at just over 6,000 words but I’m closer to 2,000, in case you were wondering.
My only saving grace is that I haven’t put pressure on myself to create a work of art. I remind myself every day that I’m only doing this to get in the habit of writing fiction and to have fun. No more, no less. To facilitate that, I’m sticking to what I know: little boys, brothers, and quirky-dry humor. The main characters–two brothers–bear a remarkable resemblance to Mikey and Nico. Much of the dialogue comes from conversations with Mikey and some of the plot comes from his Friday journal. Every Friday Mikey’s teacher has the kids write to their parents in journals they keep for the school year. They are supposed to discuss the week, shares their thoughts and feelings, etc. The parents (one or both) write back. When I am in the library, Mikey barely looks at me. I am the uncoolest of the uncool. If I ask him about his day after school, I sometimes get a mumble. I might get a little more if I’m lucky or if someone has especially wronged him that day. But in his journal, he tells me the best stories using his clear, unmistakable voice. (You’ve read his 3rd grade baseball essay, right?) It’s one of my favorite parts of the week.
(An excerpt, but not the beginning. This is somewhere in the middle of the huge stack of 4 pages I’ve written.)
My name is Thomas, but everyone calls my Tommy. I am the future Patron Saint of Students. I bet you didn�t see that one coming.
Forget everything you know about saints. We�re neither heroes nor infallible. We�re not gods. We�re human, just like you. Sister Th�r�se once said during assembly that our Lord needs from us neither great deeds nor profound thoughts. Neither intelligence nor talents. He cherishes simplicity.
That made me think of the Angelopoulos twins and what happened in Chemistry when they combined potassium nitrate and table sugar over an open flame. God is smart to keep His expectations low.
- Thomas, for Saint Thomas Aquinas.
- “I bet you didn’t see that one coming” is a phrase Mikey uses often in real life and in his short stories.
- “Assembly” is a weekly school meeting between students and teachers at Catholic schools. More spiritual than a pep rally, but nothing like mass.
- The simplicity quote is one attributed to Saint Th�r�se of Lisieux.
- The Angelopoulos twins are really Sts. Cosmas and Damian, twin brothers and the patron saints of chemists. Angelopoulos–Greek for bringer of good news–is the first name that popped up when I Googled ‘Greek last names.’
Image from Pinterest, no source.
Ooh, this sounds like such a fun book! I’m sure that once you get into it you will be an unstoppable force.
At my (not-private) primary school in Britain we had assembly every day. It was a Church of England school so once a week the vicar would come in. Once a week was “family assembly” where people from each class would share their news (lots of stories about dead guinea pigs). We sung hymns most days, I think, but also a bit of Bob Marley. At secondary school assembly was twice a week (with just our year-group though).
Mikey and Nico’s assemblies are weekly–thanks for the comment I realize I put monthly in the post!–but I like your description of assembly! I might have to “borrow” it, if you don’t mind. :)
I cannot wait to see where you go with your story goes! That’s a very original idea.
Mikey’s painting reminds of the old paper holy cards with the nice gold edges. I love those. He did a great job.
Oh, Jules! No pressure or anything, but I love it already and cannot wait to read the rest!
Also, great work by Mikey–the scalloped gilt edges are a nice touch . . .
Your book sounds amazing. Promise us you’ll at least put it up on Amazon as an e-book?
That is a great idea.
Saints could be the next wizards or vampires, for sure! And a heck of a lot more interesting.
I wasn’t going for next wizards or vampires but either way I’m too late–and that’s perfectly okay with me. Saints were featured in a few books for YA a couple of years ago. Paranormal romance novels, if I remember correctly!
I want to read more! You’re one huge step ahead of me–I can’t even talk about my characters or plot for fear they’ll leak out of my brain, forever lost. I finally confessed to my husband that I am trying NaNoWriMo, but it’s going to be a while before I show him anything. I will say, in a weird coincidence,that St. Th�r�se features in my story…she was my Confirmation saint and I also live very near the National Shrine of St. Th�r�se. But I hear you on word count. I work for an hour and barely crank out 500 words. And November isn’t shaping up to be a month when I have uninterrupted 3-4 hour blocks of time. Discipline, discipline…
Oh, my husband hasn’t seen any of this and doesn’t know the plot. The boys don’t, either. He will when he reads it later, which kills me!
Little known fact: all the roses on my site are because I love roses, yes, but also because of St. Th�r�se.
My fifth grader is doing NaNoWriMo with his class. He is a mathy kid, so he is motivated by the charts, graphs, and percentages. He has let me read a little, and warned me that it is scary, and very sad. This is from a kid who avoids scary reading himself. He is not a kid who loves to write, so it is wonderful seeing him get into this!
My character is a mathy kid! My book has footnotes and at one point he uses Percentage Difference to lament his small size.
Hi Jules,
I’m already hooked by the plot – keep going and let us know when we can read the rest of the story! You could be the next Rick Riordan!
Jules! You don’t know me in real life so me bossing you around is quite meaningless, maybe even a bit rude and presumptuous. Nonetheless, I am telling you right now KEEP WRITING! I am not catholic, nor a middle school boy, but you have already hooked me with the first paragraph. And knowing your beautiful writing style through your blog – I know whatever comes out will be excellent. I am telling you now – I will be first in line to buy it wherever it’s sold. I LOVE your writing. Love love love it.
I also appreciate what you said about how hard it is to write every day, harder than all those other things you listed. I am a creative person too (albeit a different medium), and I often beat myself up wondering why I can’t stick to my daily practice. As often happens with your posts, you made me feel less alone with sharing your feelings. And you inspire me – you put that pen back to the page and I’ll do the same where I am. Write on! I can’t wait to read more.
What she said, Jules. Keep going.
Keep going!!
One of the most productive writing times in my life was 11th grade English class. My teacher had a writing prompt on the board every day, and we had to write about it for the first part of class (10? 15? minutes). The catch was that you weren’t supposed to edit, care about spelling/punctuation/etc (this is like telling me not to breathe for 15 minutes), or go back and change it until time was up. It really strengthened my writing muscles!
You can do this.
Xoxo
Oh Mikey – I SO agree – there isn’t anything easy about baseball!
LOVE the gold halo – I knew what it was right away. I have a passing familiarity with “fancy old pictures.” And thank you for sharing the excerpt. I want to read all of it now – it is so definitely your “voice.”
THIS is going to be a best seller. I can’t wait! (Please include a glossary for us non-Catholics.)
This is all making me very uncomfortable! I think you guys are a little biased. :)
This sounds awesome, sort of in the vein of the Percy Jackson series, except Catholicism instead of children of Greek gods. I would totally read this when you finish it!
Please may there be footnotes in this book. Those bullet points were enjoyable and that’s the best way I can think of to employ all of the nerdy stuff without bogging down the story. Surely the content of footnotes counts towards your word goal?
Oh, there’s footnotes and they damn straight count towards my word count.
Confession: I’ve never read the Percy Jackson series!
Maybe Catholic YA is your niche genre? I think I may be writing Catholic chick lit. Is that a thing?
I adore the Percy Jackson series, because I was a giant myth nerd as a kid. My parents had this big book of Greek myths that was illustrated and I knew it backwards and forwards (and have retained….like, some of it). The Percy Jackson series is super-accessible, though, because they’ll mention “this kid is the son of so-and-so” and they’ll give a little description about the god and then you’ll see those aspects reflected in the kid and the powers/strengths they possess. It’s delightful. I’d recommend giving it a read, your boys might be into it eventually. I feel like mythology would especially appeal to Mikey.
Huzzah for footnotes. The best/nerdiest books have them!
Footnotes? You’re totally gonna be the David Foster Wallace of the Catholic YA set. ;-)
On a serious note…smiles and high-fives all around. Keep going.
Haha! You know, I’ve never read Foster Wallace so I didn’t know he used footnotes. I own Infinite Jest (for years now) but I have yet to read it. He taught at my alma mater after I left, and he was so…icky…in the videos I saw. I always feel terrible saying that since he ultimately killed himself.
Confession, I’ve never read DFW either beyond a couple of essays, but I’ve scanned through his novels and know that he’s famous for his long, long footnotes.
Ohhh, I just had to, had to comment on this post!
Mikey’s hagiography ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagiography) and icon look nothing but PERFECT to me :) Amazing, inspiring!
It’s funny but you almost come out a bit competitive :) But probably he has inspired you for this very original and funny and clever story you are writing. Keep going!!
Some geeky notes:
Angelos = messenger
Euangelos (evangelos) = messenger of good news (prefix eu = good, think eucharist, eulogy, etc.)
-opoulos is just a typical ending for Greek names meaning something like ‘son of’
Thanks so much for posting this! All the best for your family :)
Gxx
Oh, boy. Competitive? I hope not. The day I’m envious of a 9 year old and try to steal his thunder is the day I give anyone the authority to hang me upside down!
Hahha, not in a ‘stealing thunder’ sort of way, but in a ‘could my contribution make it any better’ sort of way :) Hope I didn’t worry you with my bad choice of wording :)
Can I just say again that you both come up with really nice things? Gxx
Oh, I can’t wait to read all of it (if you let us)! Lately I’ve had a hard time finding books that draw me in right away, but I can already tell yours is going to be good. And my favorite part of Mickey’s drawing are the corner diagonals – such detail!
Love it! It’s like Harry Potter meets catholicism! You could create saints for all kinds of fun things! Patron saint of recycling, biking, hiking, cats, organization, hehehehe…
Haha! That’s true, I didn’t even think of that! :)
I love it all! First, because Mikey’s project is like a beautiful Eastern Catholic icon. My Year 7 RE teacher arranged for our class to paint icons of Our Lady on small rectangles of plywood – I remember her imploring me to “gild” mind with a paint pen, but I refused for fear of messing up my carefully painted image! Later, one of our parish priests was a Ukrainian Catholic, who taught me a little about how to “read” an icon. Secondly, I’m foolishly excited that you have included the “twins” in your story – my parish church is dedicated to St Damian!
What a coincidence! I have to say, the funnest part has been rereading all the saint stories again. I remember reading them as a kid over and over again. My book was hardcover, blue pleather. I bet it’s still at my mom’s house.
Love your book idea! I’m so glad you are trying Nanowrimo–some of my students write every year at my school (I’m a high school English teacher). I’ve tried three times, never finished, but LOVED the time I carved out for writing each of those years. Now that I’m also a mama to a little girl, I decided to take a few years off from the challenge–but I’ll be back!
I really appreciated the parent/child journal you mentioned–what a wonderful gift to families from your school! Do the students receive prompts? Are there any guidelines for students or parents? Any more info you could share would be wonderful–I’d love to try something like this with my students, even though they’re much older. Or maybe because they are–I worry so much about how little time they seem to spend with their families…
He brings his journal home every Friday, and I think on the inside there are some prompts for the parents. I’ll double check. The kids are supposed to write about their week. I think it’s a *fantastic* idea. I might continue it after she’s no longer his teacher, to be honest.
What a wonderful project–both yours and Mikey’s! Love his saint–you just can’t go wrong with gilt–plus the expression, the detail are totally wonderful. Also his vision is delightful. Love being in on the birth of an amazing best-selling YA series. Seriously, you have so much good going on here, I want to read more. Also shocked and stunned that no one belly laughed over ‘God is smart to keep his expectations low.’ Hehehehh. No kidding.
I’m also wondering if you’ve read ‘The Kitchen Madonna’. The story has the feel of Mikey’s saint. It’s very dear, very engaging and it’s stayed with me for more years than I’m willing to admit to.