As a writer, I have a few books that I began writing, but never finished–some I will go back to and continue writing; others I’ve abandoned permanently. It doesn’t bother me too much. Seeing my daughter leave her work unfinished is harder for me.

While she was in fifth grade, she became interested in writing, and it was surprisingly easy for her. By the time she was in seventh grade, she’d written a dozen poems, had one published in a children’s magazine, and had been invited to two workshops for children who write. She’d started four novels, too. Unfortunately, with each book she stopped after about four chapters.

By the time she started high school, she wasn’t interested in writing, and moved on to other things. I hope one day she’ll return to writing. She also has artistic ability, and created some wonderful drawings and paintings in school. Her favorite was a picture of a tiger she drew in her senior year of high school. Unfortunately, I never got to see it. She tried to bring it home on her last day of school, but couldn’t find it. Somehow, the teacher had misplaced it. She was extremely disappointed.

In college, she painted a picture that I used as the book cover for one of my novels when it was on Authonomy.com. I wrote a blog about it and posted the painting. Since then, she started work on a drawing of fish. It’s really good, but it sits in her room…unfinished.

I’m not sure how, as a parent, I can encourage her without being pushy. Maybe in time she will return to these creative endeavors. For now, I’m encouraging to follow her dreams wherever they lead.