Writing Detours! by DL Larson

I bemoan that I never have enough time to write, yet when I stop and review what I have done in the last few months, I realize I have been writing.  I'm just not writing I what intended to.  I was asked to write a skit for our Harvest Celebration and I did.  It turned out to be a great piece to perform to folks who don't realize how the weather affects our livelihoods as farmers.  It had purpose, a bit of humor and educated folks in a nonintrusive way.  I was glad to have shared my talent to help others.

This time, I rewrote a Christmas skit for the kids at our church.  Any writer will tell you it's easier to write an original than remake one already done.  But I was given this skit made for older kids and asked to make it fit for the younger crowd.  The task was to move the youngsters into the sanctuary before they grew too restless waiting for their parts to appear.... aka ... rowdiness having its way off stage in the narthex.

When one asks a third grader to recite, "And in those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken... so Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David..."  one is asking for a butchering of words that really should not be mutilated.  I checked three different versions of Luke's story of the nativity and all had tongue twisters.  Still I simplified as much as I thought I could get away with and hope the powers that be understand. 

I ended up penciling in the phonics of pronouncing some of the tough words.   The girls (angels) grinned wide.  One said, "Oh that's better.  I keep forgetting how to say Caesar.  And now Augustus doesn't remind me of August."

We have one more practice before our Christmas program.  We know most of the songs and have yet to get comfortable with our reading parts.  But enthusiasm is high and I figure that will see this Christmas program to its finale.  And I am glad to be a part of it.

Maybe I'll get to my WIP after Christmas!

Til next time ~

DL Larson