A Writer's Week #111: School Visit!

This week I was able to do one of my favorite things as an author--make a school visit. Because life has been so hectic this year, these trips have been all too few. On Friday, though, the stars aligned and I was able to pay a call on Mrs. Robinson's 5th grade class at Middlebury Elementary.

It was a whole lot of fun (as usual). The class had really great questions and provided fantastic input. We talked about ideas and where they come from. The students were influenced by many things--personal experience, books, music, movies, their imagination, games. The list went on and on. I shared some of my inspirations for The Deliverers Series. This year, I'm incorporating a view visuals, such as my stone owl, Stig, a stone lion, and my Chinese dragon that was the inspiration for The Golden Dragon of Ang. I handed them around. Then I showed them my journal and we all chatted  about where we record our ideas.


Next, it was time to take a look at my blog where they got a chance to see some of Christian and Abigail's posts. We took a little tour of Calendria, the Did You Know and the Here Be Pirates pages, too. It seemed like they enjoyed that and I hope some of them will visit from time to time.
Reading Crew

Then it was time to listen to a reading from The Golden Dragon of Ang,  the third book in the series. It was fun to read to the kids. I've only read my own stuff to classes a few times. Every time I do, I marvel at the ease with which narrators like Jimm

Singer do all the character voices. Even though I've got them in my head, it's difficult for me to get them out properly.

At the end, it was time for bookmarks and pencils. It was really great getting to spend time with the kids and answering all their questions. A big thank you to Mrs. Robinson for having me for the third year in a row. By the way, she and her co-author Jessica Haight have a book coming out in a little over a year. It's called the Secret Files of Fairday Morrow. Stay tuned for more info on that as the publication date draws nearer.