MIDDLE GRADE FICTION: Thought-Watching, Not Clock-Watching

MIDDLE GRADE FICTION: Thought-watching, not Clock-watching

Middle Grade Fiction is one of my favorite posting headlines because sometimes, your thoughts as middle school students are simply fictional fantasies.  By fiction, I mean when you think about what you CAN’T do more than you think about what you CAN do.

Our MIDDLE GRADE years are filled with so many insecure thoughts about fitting in with the ‘in crowd,’ all we end up doing is wasting time by watching the clock, waiting for it to end.  The activity of watching the clock……creates a bad habit of missing out on the present moment of our lives.  Rushing through life, counting the minutes until you finally become ‘an adult,’ is a waste of your RIGHT NOW time.  If you knew how hard it was to be an adult, you would quickly return to the moment and freedom of being a kid again.  You have NO IDEA how great you have it!

Being a kid is AWESOME!

As a kid, your afternoons are free.  You get to play sports.  You get to ride your bike.  You get to take piano classes.  You get to hang out with your friends.  The time you spend as a kid will be some of the best times of your life and one of the main reason I wrote Saltwater Taffy. To quote a line from one of my all-time favorite movies, STAND BY ME:

‘I never had any friends later on like the ones I had
when I was twelve.  Jesus, does anyone?’

With each passing day, your life will become more and more busy.  It’s at this point you’ll wish your middle grade fiction thoughts were NON-FICTION.  I know you think you are busy now, but just wait until your responsibilities triple in size.  Wait until there is no time for your friends because your ‘adult’ life is filled with work, work, and more work.

As an adult, I am lucky if I get to spend a few hours with my best friend every couple of months.  I would love to ride my bike to the ocean on a Tuesday afternoon with him, but it is impossible because we are working more hours than we care to admit.

Life doesn’t get better when you get older, UNLESS you learn how to appreciate the RIGHT NOW moments of your life…RIGHT NOW and stop thinking about your life like it’s middle grade fiction.  When you rush through your TODAY for TOMORROW, you have missed an opportunity.

The opportunity I’m talking about is developing the habit of appreciating who you are, moment by moment.  Your childhood years only happen once.  Be a kid each and every day and LIVE UP every moment you have by appreciating your life.  The more you do it now, the more you will do it in the future and thus, be able to live a more happy life.

Eric DelaBarre is an award-winning filmmaker and the author of Saltwater Taffy, a Middle Grade Fiction novel on sale January 11, 2011.  Copyright October 25, 2010.  All Rights Reserved.