Conversations with my Son

One of the things I enjoy doing is walking the dogs. It gives me time to think, and depending on how long I feel like walking them, I can get a lot of mental work done on my writing. I've come up with solutions to the mysteries I'm writing, plots for short stories, and even full novels. It's a peaceful time that recharges the creative batteries. Pus, the dogs like it when I go on long walks with them.

Sometimes, though, I've got company on the walks. Occasionally, it's my wife; when my mother comes to visit, she'll often accompany me. But the person who most often joins me on these walks is my twelve-year-old son. We get to share time together, he gets to ask all kinds of questions, and I get to dispense sage fatherly advice. It's a win-win. Tonight, he came with me for the second dog's walk, and we had a good talk together.

He started it off by asking me about my writing, specifically The Devil's Playground. He wanted to know what kind of a place it is. I gave him a brief explanation about its quirks, like the weird creatures found within, and how it's a place of pure Chaos where the only constant is change. He continued asking, and we segued into a discussion of gaming, specifically the greatest game of all, Dungeons and Dragons.

He still wants to play, and we talked about some of the things he learned about the first time we took a look at the game. He asked more questions about monsters and how dangerous they are, and I told him about some of the mythological creatures that can appear in the game. He's been reading some Greek mythology, so finding out that harpies and medusae are part of the game perked his interest. Of course, we talked about dragons, too. They're a fairly significant part of the game, after all.

Here's the thing, though. Gaming is something he wants to do, and I want to teach him, but obviously that's not going to happen until things change in our house. Mom still wants nothing to do with the game, and it's going to take him some serious work to change her mind. Since we're homeschooling him, we want to see improvements in his school work, more reading, and especially doing his chores around the house.

Why am I talking about this on my blog? Because it's a way to get my thoughts out, I suppose. Isn't that the point of a blog? To get one's thoughts out, even the ones that might not mean a lot to other people? Sure, it's a bit self-serving and narcissistic, but it's the internet age, after all. Narcissism comes with the territory.

One of the things that really got his attention in the walk-talk was when I switched the topic away from the monsters and toward the classes he can play. He wasn't quite sure what the cleric was, until I told him it's basically a Catholic priest. That perked him up. He asked what they can do, and I told him that most of it can be found in the Bible. Changing sticks to snakes? Moses. Healing sick people? Lots of people did that, not just Jesus. Creating food? Check. Raising the dead? Got it. Calling down fire from heaven? Elijah cast the first flame strike, folks. He even liked the turn undead power.

So, since he's a good Catholic boy, he's excited about the idea of playing a cleric. How often does that happen, folks? Nobody ever wants to play the healbot. But he can't wait to try it. Hopefully, he'll get the chance to do so soon. We shall see.

To see what got him talking, check out the first Meterran book, Arrival, available in either e-book or paperback.