Portrait of An Artist as a Second Grader

I owe the fact that I am still writing to my second grade teacher, Miss Hoff. She was my first avid reader. It was in her class that I wrote the timeless classic "The Drunken Snake." At the time, I was primarily writing to have an excuse to draw cartoons. If I wrote a story, I would need to have illustrations. It was this same impulse that drove me to churn out "Snoopy Versus The Denver Broncos." It was obvious that I was headed for greatness - or third grade.
In third grade - Miss Pyle's class - I kept my proverbial light under a bushel. I was afraid of Old Lady Pyle. We all were. We stayed in our seats and kept our heads and voices down for fear of reprisal.
Fourth grade came as a kind of renaissance for me. Miss Stuart recognized my latent talent (same letters, hmmmm) and set me to work on a series of picture story books. My first successful outing was "Arthur the Fish." It told the story of Arthur, a pink fish with blue spots who left his home in search of one true friend. I borrowed liberally (shamelessly) from "The Point" as well as other pop culture homages. I was asked to go to other classrooms and read my story and share it with other kids in my school. This did little to distance myself from the "Teacher's Pet" label that had been stuck on my forehead for some years already.
"Arthur" was followed by "Larry the Lion" and "Parry the Parrot" (my alliterative period). These covered very similar terrain, but offered me the chance to draw several other animals. My biggest stretch was "The Day It Snowed Ten Feet Deep." I confess that drawing ten feet of snow turned out to be a very limited challenge. It was also during this time that I became a hired pen, illustrating others' stories - primarily for the chance to see my name in print one more time. The best collaboration of this type was "Bubbles the Bear" - the story of a pink bear who went out in search of one true friend. I might have felt a twinge if I had been throwing any original thoughts around myself that year.
Toward the end of fourth grade, I was asked to share one of my stories with a sixth grade class. Up til then, I had been working primarily with my peers, or kids that were younger than myself. I knew when I walked into the room that I was in trouble. The snickering and eye-rolling didn't stop until I was on my way out of the room again. I had my first experience with a "tough crowd."
Shortly after that, I decided to focus my energies on reading other people's stories. I would save mine until I felt ready to share my vision with the world. I also felt completely embarrassed and defeated by the experience. This is how a writer prepares. Long periods of gloom and frustration sprinkled with moments of wild inspiration. Moments like "The Drunken Snake." Thank you, Miss Hoff.