Happy Saturday!

I hope the day finds you well. Tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday in the US. That means I’ll be at my father-in-law’s house watching the big game with all the family.

Today was an incredible day on the bay. My Favorite Daughter’s boyfriend had his birthday on Thursday. So we all went to the bay along with much of his family. He is a twin, so we got to celebrate with both of them.

Even though he’s 22, we still call him The Boy. He’s very good to her and we really like that about him.

I took a lot of pictures not just of him and them and everyone, but also of the beautiful sunset and the moon. It was such a perfect spot. It was weird being on the bay in February and it being in the 80s. Just a couple of days ago it was in the low 50s. This weather is nuts.

Yesterday was a really fun day for me as an author. I was invited by a good friend of mine, Annette (Hi Annette!) to go and talk to a 5th grade class. I thought, oh, ok. A 5th grade class. That will be fun. Small classroom. Maybe 20 students. Before I left to go to Vista Grande Elementary school, she sent me a text. “The students will be in the auditorium.”

My brain froze up for a moment before I realized I was thinking about the schools I used to go to where the entire 5th grade was only a handful of students. Not multiple classes.

Whoops.

Turns out, it was nearly 100 students from three different classes and the Special Ed kids as well.

Gulp.

My nerves ramped up, of course. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in front of a large group. Thankfully I was there to talk about writing, my writing process, and answer questions.

I spoke for about fifteen minutes, introducing myself. Talked a bit about the books I’ve written. What they were about. How I approach writing. What I read and how I use reading different works than what I write to give my books a little more flavor.

Then I took questions. I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t about a third of the hands to shoot up into the air. I spent nearly 30 minutes answering questions and there were some great questions.

The biggest thing I tried not to do was to talk down to the kids. To treat them as if they were peers who were getting started with writing. Really, that’s what anyone is of any age. Everyone starts somewhere.

I had a wonderful time. My friend who invited me there had a surprise. She’d bought several of my books to give away (I hadn’t thought of that and will need to start keeping a stock on hand for just that). We drew numbers and gave the books away which I signed for the winners. I’m not certain who was happier. Me, or the ones who won.

All in all, it went great!

I’m now more excited than every to fire up Scrivener and start working on GRPC Book 3: Fallen. I’m also in need of getting all the books I currently have written edited and covered and published.

Thank you to Annette for the invite and thank you to the Vista Grande 5th graders for being such an attentive and great audience! I can’t wait to see what they accomplish!

Until Next Time!

Stay Awesome!