Accidental Writing Class...

My husband has been out of town the last few days so I've been on my own in the entertaining Murray department. After the third time through the How Bob Became a Builder DVD on Saturday morning, I knew as was doing a poor job. (My husband is much more entertaining than I am.) I also knew we must leave the house. So I gave Murray two choices: Playground or Bookstore. Guess what he picked? (I was so proud.)

When we arrived at Joseph-Beth kids section, there was a chair (with a guy in it) where the train table usually was. We had walked into an event of some sort. I found out later the guy was author Geoffrey Girard, and he was giving "a seminar on 'Creative Writing' and 'In Search of the Real Pirates' " (so says his website). We located the train table, and a I sat on the floor and listened to Girard talk to the dozen or so high-school kids there to see him. He was making them work--they were jotting lists, writing in notebooks, swapping work. He told them "write what you know, but know more." He suggested they watch and read the news for ideas, pay attention at school, and talk to people. When we left he was holding up some figurines and talking about creating characters. The cool thing was most of the kids seemed really interested. They were taking notes and asking and answering questions. Ah--young, budding writers. All that potential. Do you think they know how hard it is to get published?