What Inspired Famous Seaweed Soup?

Famous Seaweed Soup Curious Question #2

Most stories I write are born from observing, listening, and journaling my impressions of what I saw and heard. As a teacher, mother, and now nonny (grandmother), watching kids play provides a treasure trove of story ideas. I am very mindful of how children speak, problem solve, and use their imagination to create a world of their own.

My family LOVES the beach. We fortunately live along the Great South Bay and sail, motorboat, or take a ferry across to Fire Island and the ocean. We spend most late spring to mid-autumn days on beaches and at the beaches—the best playgrounds. 

When my daughters were little, Talisman National Seashore was our favorite picnic and play place. My girls collected shells, seaweeds, crab exoskeletons, beach glass, and benign jellyfish. They buried their bodies in different textures of sand.

My eldest daughter, Sara, invented Famous Seaweed Soup. Being the creative and oldest sister and cousin of a growing brood, she made the best batch of her seaweed soup. It was quite famous. 

I could have simply written the observations as a sweet tale, but needed a hook to make it a story. As concise and compact as picture book stories are, they need a beginning, middle, end, and a hero’s journey. I appreciate picture books that are out-loud readable, promote early reading skills, and play with vocabulary. It took awhile to get the story just right. The early drafts needed lots of tweaking with word choice and syntax. At that time, I had an amazing group of readers and listeners who helped me polish the story. 

Back to the question—what inspired Famous Seaweed Soup? The wonder of play and the magic of imagination inspired me to write Famous Seaweed Soup. Watching, listening, and journaling the wonders and magic continue to inspire the stories I write. 

Enjoy ❤️.   Like 👍.  Share 😊. 

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