Speaking to the Excelsior Academy

A friend a fellow local author, Terron James, author of the Beholder series, invited me to speak to his class. On Wednesday the 2nd I did.

It went great! The kids were excited and curious. I spoke with two whom were aspiring writers. I love doing that. So many have hopes and dreams and only need a little encouragement to create great things.

Several students had another commitment but four kids were able to sit down with me and discuss writing and the Annabelle series. It was a close, relaxed group. We spoke of many things and I hope I answered all their questions.

All in all a nice event and I hope one day to go back. Thanks Terron for the opportunity!

Children's Book Festival

I'll be at the Tooele Children's Book Festival Jan 12th! Come see! So will Tyler Whitesides, Lisa Mangum and Jessica Day George!

I've known this for awhile but kept it under my hat for a bit until it got closer. They are going to have a brunch with the authors and I'll have a chance to speak and sign books too. I'm really excited. This will be my first time at one of these.

Also, today, I'm speaking at the Excelsior Academy which is a local Charter school. I'm excited to meet the kids. I'll keep you posted on how both events go.

Speaking to the class UPDATE

Today I'm speaking to Mr. Palfreyman's English classes at the Tooele High School! Getting excited!
More info to follow...


...And now how it went.  Excellent! I spoke to four English classes about my writing and the writing process.  I also had a great time catching up with a friend from the Tooele Writer's Group; Caleb Palfreyman, the teacher.

Several kids were interested in the steps to become an author. I suspect they were some future authors whom we may see in the future.

Others were interested in the story and concepts. It appears not everyone is sick of vampires, provided they are closer to the originals. Myths gained some attention as well. This further proves what I suspect: While Ann may continue quietly online, Myths will be the one to gain more attention.

So there you have it. I look forward to more speaking engagements in the future.

Sept 28th 2012, A date that shall live forever in awesomeness. Part 1: Speaking at the Junior High

Yup, I really enjoyed yesterday. Now I do realise the title of this post is somewhat overblown. After all, I forget random dates, too.

But the events from yesterday will be forever etched into memory. Unfortunately memories fade so I better write them down here. It was an excellent day for Annabelle and the whole project of getting her stories out into the world.

Speaking at Tooele Jr High
Love it! Everything went well. After I arrived Mrs. Crooksten helped me set up. I put the two posters (1 of Dominic and 1 of Annabelle, the first artwork of Ann) and the Starry Night Books 2nd ad (seen in an earlier post) on a portable dry eraser board with Mrs. Crookten's help. I set up a display for the books, my notepad, bookmarks and candy. We decided that when kids asked questions they would get a piece of candy or a bookmark.

Then the kids shuffled in. I spoke to the entire combined 1st period Language Arts classes. Both 7th and 8th grades. I spoke about my writing journey, Annabelle's adventures and asked the kids to name off vampire abilities. After talking about Night Children, I moved onto Myths. I spoke about the principle characters and explained about how the six characters in Myths will be stranded in Tooele, going to their school. I asked for advice on where these characters would fit into their school. We closed off with a question and answer period.

It went wonderfully. There were many questions and several suggestions. I scribbled down some creative ideas I'd never thought of. All the teachers had previously passed out worksheets and I'll be getting them back later with more suggestions. When I return to Myths after I finish edits on Dark Changes, there will be a lot to work with. Already my brain is flowing with ideas!

Then 1st period left and I took a tiny break, aware that this massive amount of viewers to my prolonged ramblings of the fiction kind was in fact, very enjoyable and I could do it again. I got my chance three more times that morning as I spoke to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th periods.

The only thing we changes was the format on how questions are asked. Before we found it hard to hear some questions and some got more than one question asked (and more than one candy) while others never got their turn. The teachers had a great idea of having 10 kids queue up in seats set up in front. After they get their questions/suggestions answered and received candy or bookmarks another ten took their place. It worked a lot better.

During plus period and homeroom I traveled home to pick up my wife and get lunch. We rejoined the school and spoke to four more periods. Janeen (my sweet wife) introduced me and picked the questioning kids (there were lots of hands up so someone had to pick 10 of them and then another set and so on. She had a blast. After the last period she got to chuck candy and the crowd erupted!

All in all a very good time. One girl in 1st period dressed like a vampire! My very own cos player! I've always dreamed of the day when people would like my books enough to dress like the characters. One of the teachers downloaded the Kindle version and her daughter was reading it while I spoke! I got a chance to see several friends of the family and my excited son, David. I basically spoke to the entire Junior High in 8 smaller chunks. Everyone enjoyed it and I'm invited back for next year!

Things to improve for next time: Two more posters (1 of Roland, one of the combined Dark Threats/Birth covers). A stuffed crow to represent the Falabranwyn. A camera so my wife can take pictures! Sorry I didn't think of the pics but next time I will!

Spoke to High School AP English class today!

It went great!

I spoke to my daughter's Advance Placement English class at the High School. I talked about writing and my books.

At first I was nervous and I suspect it showed. I stuttered and droned on, but as I continued and the love of writing and creating came out of me, I relaxed and could be myself. I need to feel that way all the way through it and not fifteen minutes into it. I must capture the excitement and joy and spill it out to the kids. I do that after a bit but I need to do that from the beginning. I guess it's a lesson learned for next time, which in this case is the 28th of September.

Janeen (my long suffering wife) and Katelyn (my long suffering daughter) came up with the idea of raffle tickets as a way to give away a copy of Dark Threats. It worked really well. I also threw candy at them.

The kids enjoyed it. There were a few who were really interested. I found myself talking about Myths and got a few really excited. Hmm. Maybe I should epublish that as well? I suppose I could always put it up and then shop it around agents while it's on Amazon, etc.

So the 1st speaking engagement is done. On to the next!

Speaking engagement

A big thank you to Mrs. Christensen's Creative Writing class at Tooele High! I had a great time meeting you and am grateful for all the questions. I hope you enjoyed my presentation. Some of your questions gave me much to think about and I hope some of the things I said inspired you and your future writing endeavors.

Thanks! Hope to do it again.

Speaking Engagements for 11-11-11

Yesterday I had the fortunate opportunity to speak to two classes again.

In the morning I first went to Mr. Bryant's 8th grade US History class at the local Junior High. They listened politely as I explained who I was. I told them of Annabelle's story and my journey as a writer. I showed them pictures and even read part of my Salem chapters to them (that's what they had recently studied).
While I read, Mr. Bryant placed their names in my cauldron. I then opened it up for questions. Two kids asked several good questions and after I was done reading I chose a winner for a copy of Dark Threats. The lucky boy asked me to sign it (I'd forgotten beforehand). I finished off by chucking candy at them. All in all it was a good visit.

A few hours later I spoke to Mr. Palfreyman's high school 10th grade English class. I followed a similar pattern but I think I was more relaxed. Maybe it was because my wonderfully energetic wife helped me open up? Maybe it was because most of my daughter's friends were in the class? I don't know but it went really well. Several kids had a lot of questions (one of Katie's friends would ask every time there was a lag in conversation) and my wife Janeen broke it up with the book giveaway and the candy chucking.

I'm grateful to both classes for having me and hope to do it again.

I Wanna Talk About Me

Originally posted on 10/18/09 for the Charge of the Write Brigade.


Ever have a chance to talk to others about your books? It seems us authors can’t get enough of that. We simply won’t shut up. Well, I guess I’m glossing over the legions of people who might feel differently. I’m sorry if you’re one of them. It’s just that I haven’t met any of you.

I have, however, met many writers who, once they get started, can’t stop themselves when describing this great scene or that cool new character. They were wrestling with a dilemma in their story and something clicked. My family, friends , beta readers and critique partners would testify of how they labored over my constant jawing about Annabelle.

I’ve labored to control myself here and only pepper my articles with my novel info. I’ll continue to do so. The reason I’m going on about this is one simple fact. We like to share our worlds, concepts and ideas with everyone. Why else would we try to be published?

Ok, this being said, have any of you thought of taking this desire to the next level? Sure, it’s easy to babble on to one or two people in person about your stories, but have you ever tried a group?

I’m talking about speaking engagements. Yes. Scheduling a time and place to stand up in front of several eyes and speak about writing, your journey as a writer and yes, your book. Not rambling on at your long suffering spouse about how character A can’t get to place B without item C and it’s driving you insane. I mean calling up a book store, library or school and scheduling a time to stand before others and share with them.

Several of you live in a different universe than me. Many of you are published and attend speaking engagements on a regular occasion. Maybe next weekend you’ll be at the Lone Pine Mall, signing copies of your book. If so, all the power to you and I long for those days.

Speaking as a first time author with no agent or publisher, I can still attest to the power of public speaking. I’ve had the privilege to speak in front of two 6th grade classes and two 8th grade classes. Last Friday I spoke to my daughter’s 8th grade history class.

Was I scared? Of course! A small sea of eyes looked up at me, expecting knowledge mixed with mild entertainment. I don’t like being under the spot light. My daughter laughed later and told me how nervous I looked. She would know. She sees me all the time and knew I seemed a little tense. I didn’t let the others onto it, though. I focused on a select few faces and continued on. Sure, I could’ve done it better, but they did like it.

The teacher had a Smart Board. I knew this ahead of time so I brought various images of my characters and the historical settings. I explained the story and main characters and then sat down and read a few pages. I wrapped it up with questions from the audience. It was an afternoon class so the kids were awake and full of questions.

Sure, I got the “when will it be published” question and had to explain how it’s in the editing stages but I hope to get it out there in a couple years. Sure, some were disappointed, but they did enjoy the presentation and I could tell by their eyes they wanted more. If I never get published, at least I inspired future writers today.

You can inspire others to write, or just get them excited about your book. We newbies can use all the well wishes we can get. Have a teacher read your book in class. It’s possible. It happened to me. Sure, you can’t put their positive feedback in a query letter, but it’ll lift you up during the down times and show others that writing can be fun and productive. They learn that if they might just reach those dreams.