George's Beard

Just finished writing a story called 'George's Beard.' It's a short story about a boy called George who is desperate to have a real, grown up beard. He reckons with a proper beard he can be a pirate, a Viking, Father Christmas or anyone who is known to wear beards. After successfully wishing up one (though it doesn't work immediately!) he begins to wonder if having a beard is really worth it at all. My favourite part is when his family see him for the first time. Of course, none of them believe that it's real and all tell him to get rid of it. The family's continuing reluctance to even suppose that it might be real is funny. Not that it bothers George - all he wants to do is get to school and show his beard to Ben, his best mate.

I really enjoyed writing this one. It came to me as I was dropping off to sleep. In the past, I've jotted ideas down or just let them wander off, but this time I had my laptop by my side and so off I went. And I'm glad - it meant that the bulk of the story was down before I'd forgotten it. As I tell children all the time - when you have an idea, get it down before it jumps out of your ear and runs away down the street.