Writing Like a “Tommy”

My writer’s journey began at age eight when I felt compelled to write a story about a turtle. For reasons that escape me today, I chose not to ask my mother, a voracious reader, how to spell “turtle.” I decided instead to research the correct spelling on my own. This was long before Google. In those days, massive tomes, brimming with facts, gave us answers.

My family owned a dictionary, but did I reach for it? Of course not. I was eight. I turned instead to a more familiar informational source: a coloring book that featured a turtle on one of the pages. As I recall, he stood upright on his hind legs (as cartoon turtles are wont to do) with a dreamy look on his face and a multi-layered sandwich in one “hand.” The caption that accompanied the illustration mentioned his lunch. It also included a word that began with the letter “T.”

To my eight-year-old mind, that T-word had to be “turtle.” What else could it represent? A turtle holding a sandwich stood prominently on the page, and “sandwich” starts with the letter “S.” With that information in hand, I penned my story. The author of the coloring book, however, played a cruel trick on me. The actual caption read, “Tommy enjoys his big sandwich.” That’s right. The first story I ever wrote was about a “tommy.” (What is a “tommy” you might ask? All I can say is it looks suspiciously like a cartoon turtle.) When my mistake was brought to my attention I felt mortified. A lesser author might have given it up and gone outside to play. I couldn’t. I had another reason for writing. I needed to feel I had some control over my life.

I grew up, as many of us have, with an alcoholic father. Dad also came from a generation that believed if the man provided for his family with a roof, clothes and food, he had done his job. Nothing more was required. Research today disagrees.

My two siblings and I chose different ways of coping with our dysfunctional family. My older sister withdrew. My younger brother acted out. I, the middle child, yearned. I yearned to be cherished by a father. I yearned to find order out of chaos.

The Greatest Father of all found me, heard and answered my prayer in the most subtle of ways. He whispered into my child’s ear, “Write.” So I did.

As the years passed I kept at my craft. Loving father/daughter relationships became a common theme in my writing. My middle grade novel, I Almost Love You, Eddie Clegg, published by Peachtree Publishers, features a thirteen-year-old protagonist who develops a father/daughter relationship with her stepfather. Currently, I’m working on a novella for an adult audience with an unorthodox father/daughter relationship between unrelated characters that help each other overcome separate traumas.

When I needed a loving father, the one from above gave me the gift of creativity. It is my hope to honor His name with future writing endeavors.

Aud Supplee is a dialog-loving writer and avid reader. Life, laughter and love give her writing inspiration. She enjoys running slides at her church, horses, jogging and yoga. While conquering a fear of horses, she wrote about the Power of W.H.O.A. (Widen your comfort zone; Harness your inner strength; Open up to new opportunities; Achieve your dreams). You can find her on Facebook and Instagram. Her website is under reconstruction and a blog is forthcoming.