written in the summer time
I would guess no earlier than 3rd grade
earliest would be summer between 3rd and 4th grade. (1997)
latest would be summer between 5th and 6th grade (1999)

One of the 3 earliest creations along with Xmas poem (1998) and Mon Truck lyrics (1997?). It is possible that these three creations took place during the same year: lyrics in the spring, short story in the summer and poem in the winter.

writing one of my first story, possibly even the first, or at least the earliest that i can remember writing
had written the first part, perhaps over a day or two. It was either to be a multi-part story, or I just completed the “first chapter”.
it was about a group of kids who find an abandoned mansion.
i think that i only wrote the first chapter, which was them finding it or getting to it,
i can’t remember if they got inside but i do know there was something written about these big gates at the front to keep people out and there was a trap door to get in, or that made them fall in.
It was most likely influenced by Jules Verne, and Goosebumps paperbacks, which I read a lot at the time.

i was writing in PowerPoint and i added illustrations for each page.

i had trouble finding a name for the city where these kids were from, and i think that i had left the city’s name blank, planning to get back to it.
i really struggled to come up with an original name.
then Batman: The Animated Series was on playing on television and I lifted Gotham City right from it, as a temporary filler until I could come up with a better one. I believe that Batman: The Animated Series played on television during lunch time on week days, but I’m not positive. I recall enjoying that show a lot as a kid. The series was originally broadcast from 1992 to 1995 (in the US) but probably a bit later and with re-runs in Canada.
I let my dad read the story and I would assume that he liked it.
when my dad read the story, he right away got the Batman reference which I was impressed with, not realizing at the time how big and long-lasting the Batman universe was.

printed the story out, and it was maybe 10 pages including the images (one image per page).

brought it with me to my paternal grandparent’s cottage
I can’t recall if my grandfather read it, but he wasn’t a big talker. He most likely read it.
If he did read it, I must have gotten a positive head nod from him because I have no recollection of discomfort from him.

I let my grandmother read it and the discomfort that I got from her affected me for the rest of life.
when she finished it she kept saying “you didn’t write this”, “there’s no way that you could have written this”, “someone must have written it for you” and things like that.
She just kept insisting that it wasn’t my original work.
Eventually I gave up and told her that it wasn’t my own writing.
She did the same exact thing either that same year or a year before or after with a weaved basked that I made at a summer camp and gave her. She just refused to accept that I had made it and insisted so much so that I developed a guilt complex.
For the basket I finally told her that someone else had made it instead of me, just to get her to stop insisting that it wasn’t my work. then she shamed me for lying to her and not being honest with her in the first place.

i blame her for forming an insecurity within me in my artistic and creative field.
she and my mother’s lack of confidence and support are the cause for my insecurity about my music and writing.

I don’t think that my grandmother was malicious when she insisted that I hadn’t been responsible for those creative outputs.
I think that she was probably a negative or doubtful person and she had no idea that her insistence would have that much effect on me psychologically.
I think that she was genuinely impressed by the work, and therefore doubted that I, as a child, could have done something like that.
Perhaps it was her way of complimenting me, by insinuating that this was too good for me to have made and written it.
still though, I think of this often when I get insecure about my art.

While watching The Simpsons episode This Little Wiggy with Rain on December 23rd 2019, I had a flashback when the kids are line-up in front of the closed prison gate. It felt like I had seen that episode on TV when I was writing my short story. That I remembered working on that short story during lunch time when I’d come home from school. I can’t recall how long we had for lunch but I distinctly remember rushing to get on the computer while my mom was preparing lunch, then again after eating before the bus picked me up. I feel like that’s when The Simpsons and Batman came on. Although I did write this during the summer, so I would not have been in school.

It certainly makes sense since that episode originally aired on March 22 1998, so reruns in daytime would he possible.