Friday 22 June 2012

Help! There's a writer in my school.

Just been invited to talk at a Year Seven Parents' evening at a local secondary school. Doing school visits is one of the most enjoyable parts of the 'job', and I shall be sad if I no longer get to do it once I've joined the ebook crowd.

I started doing school visits when 'Jigsaw' (the book I'm currently editing and redrafting) first came out in 2001. Initially I was totally freaked - facing 60+ Year 7's and having to interact with them for an hour seemed even more scary than facing a spider in the bath! Now, I love it. Though I still get stage fright as I see them all file into the room.

 Kids are great. They ask the best questions. The three I always get asked every visit are:
                                                                               1.  are you famous?
                                                                               2. how much do you earn?
                                                                               3. where do you get your ideas from?

But then there are the 'left field' questions that leave you yammering like an idiot. Such as : if you weren't a writer, what would you be? (probably dead.....) Actually, kids are MUCH better at doing this than adults, cos they're less inhibited and not so polite. And afterwards you get to hang out and eat lunch with them too! It's a win-win situation. Friends, have you ever been asked a question you couldn't answer? And how did you deal with it?



4 comments:

  1. Excellent news about your latest school visit invitation! Talks keep you on your toes, don't they? I can't remember being asked any questions I couldn't answer, but that's probably because yammering like an idiot comes naturally to me ...

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  2. I don't know how ebook writers manage. Presumably everything is done on line. How can you talk about your books without having a copy to wave at your audience? Will have to figure this out as and when...

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  3. I suspect you wave your iPad at the children!

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  4. I threaten them with the lobster!

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