Michael J. Bowler

The Writings of Michael J. Bowler

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A New Kind Of Summer

June 9, 2020 By Michael J. Bowler Leave a Comment

So far, 2020 has turned the world upside down in so many ways, none of them good. As a writer, I have seen much to decry and comment upon, but as the parent of a young child, it’s best that I focus on him and his immediate needs and leave the commentary to others who feel they are more qualified.

In this regard, the school year is trickling to its conclusion, which is probably a relief to every parent in America. Fortunately, Ronald’s transition from partial to total online classes was not traumatic or even difficult for him, so his education was not unduly disrupted. However, his summer will be quite different than it was in 2019.

Ronald loves acting, so his summer camps are always theater-based. He adores Shakespeare plays and was scheduled to attend the Youth Theater Camp at Theatricum Botanicum here in the Los Angeles area for the second year, culminating in the performance of a Shakespeare play. As with all camp activities, this one will now go online. How that will work, or even will it work, are questions that remain unanswered in this new COVID-dominated world.

Later in the summer, he’s scheduled for a musical theater camp that has, of course, also moved online this year. His YMCA soccer program is canceled, as are all youth sports, so this will be a summer of adaption, just as the spring has been. Fortunately, beaches and hiking trails are reopening, so we can get outside the house and breathe in much needed fresh air in those venues.

The one advantage of everything being online is the abundance of possible activities, some of which are free. If you have children and worry about how to keep them busy this summer, check out this link for a few ideas: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/15-online-camps-fill-kids-summer-with-learning-adventures

My one hope about this lockdown is that families will have learned to appreciate each other more than ever before. Hopefully, people will realize we don’t need to over-program our children, or ourselves, for that matter. Just sitting at home after dinner and playing board games is the kind of bonding time that will be gone all too quickly when our kids are grown and moved out on their own.

So here’s my suggestion: let’s enjoy our kids while we can and let them become professional athletes or dancers or actors or scholars or You Tubers or whatever when they’re older. Children want to do anything and everything right now because, like so many adults, they become easily addicted to “likes” and “views” and other forms of vicarious fame. It’s up to us, the parents, to balance out their lives.

No matter how much they may love a sport or dancing or acting or studying or any other pursuit, they need time each day to be children and engage in free play with other children. They may complain when you don’t let them attend a dancing class or soccer practice or play video games every day, but they will thank you down the line when they have children of their own and know how to feel comfortable simply playing with those children or letting them play with each other in unstructured activities.

We must safeguard this fleetingly short period of time for our children, whether they understand the reasons or not, because childhood is too short, and too precious, to waste, and once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.

Here’s Ronald participating in his Physics and Cooking classes. I’m so grateful that I decided to homeschool him this year because his HS teachers did a fantastic job converting from in-person classes to online and keeping the work hands-on, so much so that Ronald felt completely engaged in the curriculum.

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Filed Under: Raising Healthy Kids, Uncategorized Tagged With: activities for children, activities for tweens, COVID, family time, let kids be kids, online summer camps, parenting advice, parents and children, saving childhood, summer2020, unstructured play

FREE READ

July 9, 2019 By Michael J. Bowler Leave a Comment

My first novel, A BOY AND HIS DRAGON, has been revised and rewritten and is unspooling chapter by chapter over at Wattpad. I had previously published this story on Amazon to test the waters, but it’s no longer available for purchase and can only be found on Wattpad. It’s suitable for all ages.

This book was written in the 1980s, well before the fantasy resurgence that culminated with Harry Potter, and also saw endless dragon-related stories hitting the bookshelves. I wanted to try a somewhat realistic approach to a dragon story, so I took my childhood—at least my seventh and eighth-grade years—and inserted a dragon. I wondered how life might progress for that thirteen-year-old boy living in suburban Northern California in the year 1970 as he juggled daily life while also caring for, and hiding, a rapidly growing dragon, without the use of the internet or any of the technology we have today that would have made such a task easier. Somehow, Bradley Wallace Murphy must figure out solutions to every dilemma that crosses his path without the use of Google, which means the story takes longer to unfold, but hopefully, it plays out in a believable fashion.

Of course, this is more than just a boy and his dragon story and the book is intended as the first of a trilogy that postulates a return of magic into our modern world (at least, the modern world of the ’70s and ’80s.) It’s a nostalgic tale for anyone who remembers that time, and for younger readers who can’t imagine life without cell phones and social media, it will be an eye-opening depiction of a different kind of childhood.

Here’s a blurb for the book. I really hope you go on Wattpad and check it out. I’m adding in visuals that tie directly into each chapter and are relevant to the storyline. If you do read this book at the link below, please comment along the way. Us authors only improve if we have constructive feedback to work from.

Thanks for checking out this free read. Enjoy!

Bradley Wallace Murphy just turned thirteen, and he’s not happy about it. He doesn’t fit in at school, he’s no good at sports, a bully torments him, he’s a disappointment to his parents, and his only “friends” are fictional characters on a TV show called Dark Shadows. He’s on the verge of manhood, but wants no part of that, either.

Then he finds the egg and everything changes.

From this egg hatches Whilly, a supposedly mythical dragon that bonds with him emotionally and spiritually. The sudden responsibility of hiding, feeding, and caring for a rapidly growing dragon in a small California city in 1970 forces Bradley Wallace to grow up whether he wants to or not. 

Through their adventures together, boy and dragon learn the true nature of their symbiosis and Bradley Wallace learns that he is not just a misfit kid.

He’s dangerous. More dangerous than anyone in history. So dangerous that he’ll be killed if the truth comes out. The boy who doesn’t want to grow up comes to realize that it might be better for the world if he didn’t.

https://www.wattpad.com/story/193384793-a-boy-and-his-dragon

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Filed Under: Uncategorized, Writing Tagged With: 1970s, barnabascollins, boystomen, comingofage, darkshadows, dragon, freeread, friendship, magic, sorcery, suburbanfantasy, superhero, wattpad

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