Welcome to all my new subscribers! I got a handful of new subscribers thanks to my recent book signing event in at a place called, “At the Market” in Wichita! I am so glad to have these new subscribers. I sold 3 books that day, and I got to read aloud to other authors that day, too. It was so nice to read my stuff and see people interested in what I had to say.
Now for some semi-bad news, then some good news and a gift:
First the bad news -
I signed up for “NaNoWriMo.” This stands for “National Novel Writing Month,” and happens every year in November. I signed up thinking it would get me a run through (no matter how bad it would be) for my passion project - “The Aeronauts,” which is a novel I am working on and realizing how difficult it will be for me to write. It’s like an honors thesis in writing fiction, rather than the fun writing I have done in the past (mostly short stories in high school; I wish I still had copies of those).
My Aeronauts book is about the history of flight in the USA, alongside the history of wars in our country. I am calling it “historical science fiction.” There will be some accurate telling of history in the book, and there will also be a steampunk chapter. “What is steampunk?” You may ask. Steampunk is what would have happened if the combustion engine had never been invented - if engines were run by steam engine instead of by combustion engine (like the Stanley Steamer car).
I also bring my Quaker / Peace-loving perspective to the Aeronauts story.
Well, I wrote exactly 1 day on this novel. I got the first chapter or section written. I think it was about 3 chapters. It will show up in Kindle Vella in November of next year.
I then got some never-asked-for feedback from someone about my writing process. She said I am going too fast. She didn’t ask me why I write fast or anything at all about why I do things the way that I do them. I have ADHD and a plethora of other initials. I have always done this - pondered and labored over something I want to write, for at least a month, maybe years, then get it all clearly in a flash, and then sit down and write it from what looks like on the outside as “easily.” I write it all “In One Breath.” (There is a chapter in my “Mere Creativity” book about doing something “In One Breath.”) From the outside, it may look like I am suddenly writing a book out of nothing. But from inside my brain, it’s been working and cooking under the surface for quite some time, and then boils over to be written in a week (“Mere Creativity”) or a month (“Simple Book of Shadows”).
This feedback took a pin and popped my writing bubble. I went down, mentally. I wasn’t able to write anymore during the month of NaNoWriMo. I only wrote that first day, after having been excited about it beforehand.
I had several books I was ready and eager to write, and I had outlined them and was trying to figure out which one to write first. I was bursting with ideas. I had been writing faithfully on my “Fairy Tech” book, was starting on my “Simple Creativity” and “Circus Skills” books, and started the Aeronauts book. And once that pin touched my creative psyche, I stopped completely. My brain halted everything.
Now for the good news -
I have mentally processed what that person said. My winter holiday break took me to see family in Colorado. My sister-in-law and my brother both talked to me about my books. They said they love my books and that I have a gift to write, just like my dad did. (Stuart F. Crump Jr., you can find a few of his books on Amazon.) They encouraged me to keep going. They love my “Fairy Tech” book and are having fun reading it as I write it.
This was just the uplift I needed to get me back on track to write.
Another friend heard my plight and reminded me of a fairy story I wrote for fun maybe 2 years ago, and emailed to her. I had completely forgotten about that story. I went and found the story, and it will be my gift to you at the end of this newsletter! A fairy story from me to you.
Writing this newsletter is part of my awakening to my writing ability. After I send this, I will begin on my next book: “Simple Creativity.” I have so many books I want to write - 2 others that I am working on will be about Circus Skills or my own White Privilege. (In case I didn’t write that with clarity, that is 2 different books. One is about Circus Skills, the other book is about my own White Privilege.)
Also, maybe I am ready soon to write the next installment of Fairy Tech.
Here is a reminder that subscribers to this newsletter will get the first 5 chapters of Fairy Tech free (once I write them.) Whereas folks following me on Kindle Vella will only get the first 3 chapters free. Please note: the first chapter on Kindle Vella actually has 2 chapters in it, because it has a word count needed to produce what they call a chapter, and my chapters tend to be short.
Without further adieu, below is my holiday gift to my readers: a fairy story I wrote. If you love this story and think I should illustrate it and put it on Amazon, please let me know. I need some encouragement for my illustrating. I am pretty hard on myself about my talents and abilities.
Spoons and Sparkles, a Fairy Story by Jodi Rose Crump
Spoons and Sparkles
Or: The Full-Sized Fairy
By Jodi Rose Crump
Once upon a time there was a fairy. Now don’t go thinking that this is an ordinary story about a fairy who flies in the fields and paints the flowers. This also isn’t a story about a fairy who listens to the wind or looks at rainbows.
This fairy had an unusual interest.
She liked to make spoons. She could make a spoon out of anything. A piece of grass, a piece of bark. A leaf. A hubcap or a soda tab.
Those weren’t the only things that were different about her though. Would you also like to know what else was different about her?
——
She was a full-sized fairy. Not a pretty and dainty fairy that could hide under dandelions when it rained. No. This fairy was a full sized fairy. She was the size of you and me. But she was every bit a fairy and she loved to make spoons.
———
One day, she was sitting there with a handful of bamboo and fiddling with it to make beautiful spoons. And she thought about all the people in the nearby town. They were all people who needed to eat and needed spoons to eat.
So she decided to go make everyone that she could, a custom spoon. After all, who didn’t like a nice, custom spoon?
At first, she felt a little timid. So she just went to the children and made each of them a spoon. She found a child or two here or there, playing a little by themselves and made them each a spoon from the bamboo in her hands.
The children were more delighted at seeing a full- sized fairy than they were to receive a spoon. But they politely thanked her and stared at her as she flew away.
She alighted on another group of people who were surprised to see her. Perhaps they didn’t know what to say, so they just watched what she was doing.
She was holding something. And doing something with her fingers. Rubbing something. And then she handed a spoon to one of the people.
Then they realized she was holding some odd shaped silver pieces. And she was rubbing them. It became clear that one was a spoon. Then 2 were spoons. She started to hand out a spoon to each person. When she got to a child in the group, she gave them a child sized spoon. Then everyone looked down and realized they all had a different sized spoon. Each person’s spoon was sized for their own mouth.
They all looked at the full sized fairy and said, “thank you.” She smiled and went on to the next group of people in the town.
This was a family on a picnic. The fairy had some nice silver now.
The fairy started rubbing on it. The children looked and looked at her. The parents weren’t sure what to do. They thought fairies were so little they could only be seen in picture books. But here was a full-sized fairy, floating in front of them! Holding some silver and rubbing it.
The fairy made a spoon for the baby. Then she made one for the big sister. Then she mare one for the bigger brother.
Then she made one for the mom and one for the dad. Each spoon was bigger than the previous spoon. The fairy smiled and briefly admired her work. She realized every time she made spoons, they looked better and better.
The family thanked her and the full sized fairy flew on her way.
She went from one group of people to another. Sometimes she went to a bench where a person was sitting alone. And she made them their own spoon. Each person seemed happier after having a visit from the full sized fairy who made spoons.
The fairy found some forks in a park and picked them up. She was running out of silver and realized how nice it was to make spoons that were silver colored. She knew she could make spoons out of these forks.
She started shaping the spoons in her hand before she got to the next group of people. She found a group of people sitting in an office and flew in. She hovered over them and they all sat there, staring at her. Maybe they were admiring her wings or her dress. The full sized fairy could have been wondering what they were thinking — they should have shut the door but the weather was so lovely. She wasn’t wondering what they were thinking though.
She started counting the spoons in her hand.
1, 2, 3 ... she looked at the group
“No, that isn’t right.” She started to count again, 1, 2...3, 4...5.... she looked at the group again. One of the men looked surprised. He thought he saw that the number of spoons in her hand had multipled.
She counted again - 1,2,3,4,5,6,7! Lo and behold, she had the perfect amount of spoons to give to everyone in this group! There were seven people and 7 spoons!
One of the ladies loved her spoon so much, that she gave the fairy a quarter to say “thank you.”
The fairy went on, meeting people and giving them spoons. Sometimes, people were so grateful that they gave her something in return. Sometimes it was a flower from their garden, or something shiny like a rock. Someone gave her a beaded earring and a child gave the fairy her favorite crayon. The fairy liked her gifts but didn’t know where to keep them. So she started using them to make spoons too.
Her spoons became more colorful and creative. Some were thin and long. Some were short and wider. Some were colorful. And some had a pretty flower pattern on them. Some looked almost like a fancy earring with fancy designs carved into the handle.
Word about the fairy in the town was spreading. Everyone wanted a spoon from this fairy. So people started to gather and watch for her. “There she is!” The fairy was nervous about seeing crowds of people. She knew she could make them all spoons, but her work took time. And she was nervous they might try to push her or yell at her.
Everyone was patient though, and the fairy was grateful. Sometimes she made 1 spoon at a time and sometime she could count them in her hands and they would multiply as she counted them. Some people said she wasn’t very good at counting, but then someone else would point out that she always counted enough and then the spoons would be handed out. Everyone agreed then, that she was a just-right counter.
As more of the town thanked her, they talked about her and appreciated her for their pretty gifts. As the appreciation from the people grew, the fairy learned she could fly higher and farther. She thought that was really neat. She got to see so many different kinds of trees and flowers (label some flowers and trees on the next 2 pages) and enjoyed seeing how many kinds of flowers and trees that Mother Nature made.
As the fairy flew farther, she started making spoons of other colors now. She started to make spoons that were gold! These were so pretty.
One day, she flew into a girl’s bedroom and started to make the girl a gold spoon. The girl looked at her and then held up her own fairy-made spoon!
The fairy had made her a spoon the week before in the girl’s school!
The full sized fairy stopped making the spoon and didn’t know what to do. She looked at the girl and the girl looked at her.
Finally, The girl asked the fairy, “what is your name?” The fairy said, “I don’t know my name. I guess I am just called the spoon fairy.”
“What’s your name?” The fairy asked the little girl. “Maddie,” she said. The fairy smiled. She liked Maddie.
The little girl felt sad that she couldn’t thank the fairy by name for her wonderful gift.
The girl said, “I already have a spoon, but would you be able to make something for me that I always wanted?”
The fairy nodded, feeling a bit nervous. She wondered what the girl wanted and if she would be able to make it.
The girl pointed at her ceiling and said, “I always wanted stars on my ceiling. But I didn’t want ordinary stars. I want them to be in the shape of the constellations in the sky. Do you think you can do that?”
The fairy nodded. She said, “it may take me a little time. .... maybe we can go out tonight and you can show me the constellations in the sky. And I can begin making stars. I never made stars before, but I can try.”
The little girl said, “I believe in you.”
So the fairy took the silver and gold forks in her hand and started making stars as the sun rose in the sky and started to fall again. The first few stars looked more round or oblong like a spoon bowl. But soon, the fairy figured out how to make stars. A few had 3 points and some of the fancy ones had 5 points. Soon, the girl’s floor was full of stars that were ready to go on her ceiling.
They looked outside and it was dark! The full sized fairy and Maddie climbed out of her window and stood in her yard and looked up at the stars.
Maddie pointed out Orion’s Belt and Orion. She showed the fairy the brightest star in the sky - the one in Canus Major. And the little puppy, Canus Minor. Maddie pointed out Pleiades, the seven sisters, and Taurus the bull. She pointed at the Gemini twins named Castor and Pollux. And Cephus with his 3 baby goats. The full sized fairy laughed at the idea that there was a charioteer up in the sky holding baby goats. She thought that was pretty funny.
The little girl was getting tired now. It had been a long, fun day, hanging out with the fairy. So they went back inside; and the little girl started to drift off to sleep.
Just before she closed her eyes, she looked up at her ceiling and saw all the constellations up there. The moon was shining in the window and the stars on her ceiling sparkled.
As the girl fell asleep, she said, “I am going to name you ‘Sparkles,’ if that is okay with you.
The full sized fairy thought this had been the best day of all - meeting a new friend, learning to make stars, and smiled and said, “thank you.”
She felt like she had the biggest gift of all - a name. She finally had a name. And it had been given to her by someone who loved her.
(Last picture shows Sparkles sleeping in the big window of the girl’s bedroom, under the stars.)
Copyright 2022 by Jodi Rose Crump of JodiArts, JodiArts.com
Do not copy or distribute this work, though you may read it aloud to your family and friends who love fairies.
❄️ I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year! ❄️
🌹 - Jodi Rose Crump
Thank you for sharing this! I really enjoyed reading the story. I think illustrations would be wonderful and help the story come even more alive.
Thank you for gifting this sweet story to me! It’s ADORABLE. ❣️