Craft of writer's office work

Lying next to me in my bed, staring at the ceiling Mimm listens to Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.

“Wait! Read that word again,” she sits up.

“Pulamula,” I read. (I believe it is “flusbunking” in English.)

She slaps her forehead, tilts her head back and spills out a string of laughter.

I know she recognized the word from The Big Friendly Giant.

“I know what the author did. He was writing,” Mimm pretends to hold a journal and a pen.

“No,” she turns around, pops up a pillow against the headboard and pretends to type.

“He was typing. Then he thought –mhmh -what should I write?” Mimm has the most thoughtful face a six-year-old can have.

“A-ha,” Mimm’s face lights up and she starts “scrolling” down the pillow.

“He just read and read what he had written before and found the best word to use again.” With this sentence she sets the pillow back to normal and settles restfully next to me.

The teacher-in-me thinks how Katie Wood Ray explained the craft of writer’s office work and how we should encourage students hypothesize about what’s behind actual pieces of writing. I quickly want to write down the keywords from what had just happened.

“What are you writing?” is a very natural question to follow when Mimm sees me writing on the post-it. She leans over to see closer.

“I just wanted to write down how you thought about the author’s work so I can use it as an example at school.”

Once again she settles back restfully and contently.

“I know. I have such a fantasy. And I talk too much. I know it may be annoying but I am so much more useful than my sisters. You can use me as an example all the time.”