School Visits and AuthorFests!
On Friday, I went to Landstown High School (Go Eagles!) in Virginia Beach and did an Advanced Writing Workshop with a fabulous group of writers. The librarians and English teachers were really welcoming and the students were very enthusiastic and really seemed to enjoy the workshop. We covered a lot of information, and they asked some very interesting and intelligent questions, and I hope that I gave them some information that they can use in their own writing. These students are going places!
On Saturday, I got up and went to my first local author event – the Hampton Roads AuthorFest at the Meyera E. Obendorf Central Library in Virginia Beach. There were over 25 local Hampton Roads authors there, with books ranging from children’s books (my lovely tablemate, Laura Nowotny, had a great one), to YA (myself and Anne Blankman, and a few others) to Historical, Romance, and Science Fiction!
Six of us also gave workshops that were well recieved, and I had a chance to talk to a great range of people.
Seeing as this is only my 3rd such event (and the first one with a format like that) I learned a lot just from looking around at what others had going on.
I think the biggest thing I got from both events is a renewal of my motivation. I LOVED talking to the students about writing. I loved being in a room and “talking shop” with other writers. I want to be able to do more of that! (Got a student group/writers group you want me to talk to – bring it on! And author event you know of? I’d love to hear about it!)
So thank you, LHS Writers, librarians, and teachers, for having me! Thanks for being an awesome group and enjoying the visit.
Thank you to Chris Kennedy and the other writers at the Hampton Roads AuthorFest, and especially THANK YOU to my readers and to those who came out and listened to us and browsed.
Without readers, we wouldn’t be able to write. Thanks!