Afterword and Epilogue for My Creative Award Entry: What I Put Into the Work

The Creative Award is finally reaching its climax.
There are only about two weeks left.

Man, it's been a long road. It really has, hasn't it? I feel like I'm about to have a nervous breakdown any minute now.
I'm sending my support to those who haven't finished writing yet.
Just hang in there for now!

I heard the interim results will be announced in mid-September.
I wonder if I can keep updating every day until then. I feel like I might burn out.

Before I burn out, I want to record what I put into my Creative Award entry. There is something special in each of them. This is my afterword.

▼ What a Housewife in Her Late 30s Gained from Playing Baseball for a Month [REAL ROOKIES]

This is the work that has received the most support so far. Is this an essay? I'm still unsure about the genre, but for now, it remains in the 'All Categories' section.

I recorded my days in a matter-of-fact way. There are actually lines and blank spaces I didn't write about. Several people cried along the way. (Over trivial things like batting order arguments.)

But including that, I would be happy if you could all feel the dust in the air along with me.

Since this is an afterword, here is a little bit about what happened afterward.

・Day 36
It was my second son's birthday, so we bought him a glove, a rubber baseball, and soccer shoes. I said a casual glove (3,000 yen) would be fine, but my husband insisted on buying a good one for youth baseball since we were buying one anyway. It was expensive.

My second son is now a two-way player in baseball and soccer.

・Day 46
It's become too hot to practice.
30 minutes a day is the limit.

・Day 48
The kids from the neighboring school have become soccer fans and stopped playing baseball with us. It's a shame. It's so hot that it's getting harder to get everyone together.

・Day 50
My eldest son wrote 'I want a glove too' for his Tanabata wish, so I went to buy one for him as well.

・Day 52
Children from two schools, one mound.

My eldest son's school team: "Can we use the mound?"

The other school's team: "No way!"

My eldest son's school team: "Then let's compete for the mound!"

The other school's team: "You're on!!!"

I received some feedback. Thank you very much!

Zukki-san
"What a stay-at-home mom in her late 30s gained from playing baseball for a month [REAL ROOKIES⚾️]" (Sunou Honda) <<Creative Award 2024 Feedback>>

Recommended note #1 [Sunou Honda]

Konishi Kinoko-san
Creative Award Feedback: Just how many roles does Mother Sunou play?

Morita-san
Note Creative Award Feedback

Souryu Aoi-san
Sunou Honda and the Creative Award 2024

▼The Twin Older Brother is an Ability User (Manga Original Work Category)

I came up with the concept for this manga after reading a Yahoo news article.
"The difficulties in life for children diagnosed with developmental disabilities"It was an article like that.

It described the inner conflict of an adolescent who knows they have a developmental disability. They desperately need consideration from those around them. But being treated with special consideration is painful. They were struggling intensely with what they have, wondering, 'Why am I like this?'

If someone says, 'It can't be helped because that child has a developmental disability,' is that really consideration? Does that make them happy? That's the kind of content it is.

Children with developmental disabilities need consideration. That is what I believe.

This is what I feel as I raise a child with a developmental disability.

There are situations where it is difficult to be exactly the same as children without disabilities, and there are times when I inevitably have to ask for understanding from those around us. As a parent, that is how I feel.

However, I wondered how the individuals themselves feel about it.

What do you think when you see the scene in Dragon Ball where Goku transforms into a Super Saiyan?

His eye color changes in an instant due to the power of rage, and he transforms while screaming "Whoa!!" and making his hair stand on end.

With that intense power of rage, he blows away the Earth or other planets.

It's cool, isn't it? No wonder it's popular. I love it too.

So, what if this were reality?

If there were a boy right in front of you whose eye color changed while he screamed "Whoa!!" with tremendous power of rage, and who used that power to kick and destroy a chair.

The way you look at him would change in an instant, wouldn't it?

I didn't enter this work into the "Manga Original Story Category" because I wanted everyone to know about developmental disabilities or anything like that.

I wanted "adolescent children diagnosed with developmental disabilities" to read this manga.

Including children who haven't told those around them but have actually been diagnosed, or children who haven't been diagnosed but feel they are odd because they find life difficult.

If they could see someone like themselves appear in a manga once a week, surviving their daily lives using their own unevenness as a weapon, I thought they might be able to perceive their developmental disability or unevenness as an ability given only to them as something positive.

Because it is uneven, there is, of course, a negative side to it. But even so, since we have the wonderful magic of "chuunibyou" (eighth-grader syndrome), I think it's fine to just create a worldview where you say, "Ugh... my ability has side effects...". (I wish I could have written about that part too, but I couldn't keep up, sorry.)

It is not a simple matter. Within the four characters of 'developmental disability' lie various positions and ways in which traits manifest, and it is not a problem that can be dismissed with mere platitudes.

However, I feel that the term 'developmental disability' has recently taken on a life of its own, making it very difficult to grasp or think about. I felt as though the children who are the ones actually living with it were being left behind.

Even if you tell them, 'You're just like Edison. You're just like Einstein.'
those are individuals who are like a handful of gifted people.

I wrote this work with the hope that there could be something closer to home that would allow the children themselves to view developmental disabilities in a positive light.

I received some feedback. Thank you very much!

Bolshack Hibiki Dragon-san
#CreativeAwardFeedback 'My Twin Brother is an Ability User'

Mikumayutan-san
I was able to do my best precisely because you were there. Introducing the notes, novels, and works of those who gave me feedback and comments

▼ Living in the Gorilla Girl Monkey Mountain

Well, there isn't anyone who thinks the same way. It's a very niche essay.
But I have a faint ambition that it would be interesting if it were turned into a drama on TV Tokyo or something. It's a story about how, even when life is hard, living this way might make things a little easier.

I received some feedback. Thank you very much!

Megumi Tico-san
How Snow Honda Has Navigated the World [Creative Award Feedback]

▼ Five Minutes at a Park with Only Swings

It is a short essay, but it has the highest number of 'likes' by far. (It's a bit awkward to mention numbers, but since it seems to be part of the selection criteria, I'll touch on it.)

I am truly glad that I was able to capture those five minutes in the morning with my third son, who had just turned two, in this form.

Now, he no longer cries his eyes out at the front door. The time he spent crying, saying 'I want Mommy!', was just a fleeting moment in hindsight. But when I was in the middle of it, my heart ached, wondering, 'How long will these painful morning goodbyes last?'

I think people in similar situations were able to empathize with it.
Everyone, you did your best today, didn't you?

I received some feedback. Thank you very much!

Zukki-san
"Five Minutes in a Park with Only a Swing" (Sunou Honda) [Creative Award 2024 Impressions]

▼ I hated being told, "You look just like your dad."

After reading essays by Awa Ito and Jane Su, I felt I wanted to write about family. However, it's a bit difficult to write about the family I live with now.

I wrote about memories with my father that have had a very strong influence on me and have always remained in my heart. The way daughters and fathers relate to each other is a bit difficult, and we both end up being clumsy.

My father and I were the most alike, and we clashed the most.

▼ The story of how I went all the way to Dubai to become a dancer but quit in one night

It cost a million yen to go to Dubai. I had many amazing experiences, like riding a camel in the desert and climbing the Burj Khalifa. A city where temperatures exceed 40 degrees during the day. The number of supercars parked on the street. An ice rink inside a commercial building.

Yet, I haven't written about any of that.

What I wanted to write about was that dancer. And the shisha.

And the fact that I quit even after going that far.

Perhaps I have liked "expressing things" for a long time. But it wasn't dance; now it has changed to "writing."

I received some feedback. Thank you very much!

Noyagi-san
A summary of 100 #CreativeAward2024 notes I read

▼ [Office Lady Essay] Who is responsible for the pranks in the break room?

The world is full of malice.
Even words spoken without malicious intent can become knives to the person receiving them.

Everyone must have had such an experience, and there are times when we find ourselves on the side of hurting others without even realizing it.

I wanted to change something, and I could also say I wanted to dirty a beautiful view just a little bit. It was just taking it out on others.

I still both like and feel uncomfortable around the senior colleague who appears in this essay.

I have submitted several other essays, but I introduced the one into which I poured the most.

If any of them pique your interest, I would love for you to read them.
I would be very happy if you could share your thoughts or share the work.

Let's do our best for the remaining few weeks!!!
And for those who have already finished writing, how about an afterword or something similar?

#CreativeAward2024AfterwordCollection