DZ-Jay's Random Blog - Christmas Carol: A Short Story - Part XXVIII

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I have some exciting news.

My grand-stepson step-grandson grandson-step step-son-grand-step step-step-grandson step-grandson-step grandson-step-squared ... the step-son of my step-daughter is paying us a visit next Friday. He will spend the night and has volunteered to read the Christmas Carol story for us and provide his feedback.

I am excited (and a bit nervous) about this development. You see, he is 9 years old, and precisely the right target age I've been proclaiming for the book since the beginning. This will actually test that. (Eek!)

As you may remember, my 12 year-old nephew has already declared the book to be very good, but disclaimed his comments by suggesting obliquely that no self-respecting 12 year-old boy would actively pick a book about Christmas magic and elves and cute ghosts from a bookstore's shelf -- not unless there was enough fame and pop-culture "coolness" behind it to overcome the stigma of it not being about super-heroes or gross-out topics.

A 9 year-old, however, my nephew predicted would be the perfect candidate for it. (I thought it was cute how he distanced himself so much from that demographic, as if those additional 3 years of life had endowed him with such wisdom and maturity. I guess in a sense it has, but still ... )

Anyway, my grand-step-something-or-other is coming, and we'll finally get a perspective from someone belonging to the (presumably) appropriate age group. I'm excited. (Eek!)

Like before, I should expect to write an entry with his feedback, good or bad next week. In the meantime, I aim to get Chapter 13 -- the penultimate chapter of the story -- completed by then so that he can have an almost complete story to read. He would then be left at the cliffhanger building up to the exciting climax, right before the concluding chapter. If he should like the story, that should keep him on the hook.

Let us see how that goes.

See ya',
-dZ.

http://atariage.com/forums/blog/743/entry-15236-christmas-carol-a-short-story-part-xxviii/