Thanks for the Advice. Here’s How It Went

I love you guys! So many of you commented on Facebook and messaged me privately about how to approach our guest-speaking engagement with my friend’s sixth-grade language arts students. I really appreciate all the input and great suggestions.

So how was it? In a word, AMAZING!

We were supposed to be there from 8:30 ’til 10, to address two classes of students. We arrived a little after 8. Two students met us at the main office and escorted us to Mrs. Chevier’s classroom, where we were greeted by expressions ranging from polite disinterest to great enthusiasm. But as soon as we opened our discussion, even the most indifferent 12-year-old boy sat up and listened intently.

As predicted, right off the bat someone asked how old I was. I told her I was so ancient I’d gotten my first cat from a guy named Noah on this big ol’ boat. That got plenty of laughter. I eventually said I’ll be 60 next month, to which one girl mentioned, with a matter-of-fact shrug, her boyfriend’s father is 59. It might not have been so terrible if she hadn’t made it sound like that was sooooooo old!

Partway through our first presentation, another teacher and her class filed in to join us. All 40 kids listened avidly and took part in the discussion when we turned the tables and asked them questions. When we read The Purringest Kitty Finds His Home, they even gamely “Moww!”ed along each time Dee held up her audience participation sign.

The kids asked a slew of excellent questions – from “When did you start writing?” and “How long does it take to write a book?” to “Where do you get your ideas?” and “What do you do when you get writer’s block?” – and Dee and I thoroughly enjoyed answering them.

Dee stressed the importance of setting aside time to write – even if it’s only a few minutes at a time – and explained one of the most fun exercises we’ve done at a writers conference involved brief spurts of writing with a prompt. She asked someone to give her a word at random (a student in the first session said “pickles” and a student in the second session said “monkeys”). Dee had me time her thirty seconds and she wrote on the white board all she could think of stemming from the prompt in that time.

Later, she asked for suggestions from the students and drew several characters, based on their ideas. My favorite was the chicken in a tutu with one long leg and one short leg, one big wing and one little wing. Dee also sketched an angry baseball with eyes that bugged out and these really intense eyebrows. I wish I’d taken pictures of her drawings – they were adorable! And the kids were enthralled! Some of them were budding illustrators themselves, and I’m sure it was the highlight of their day when Dee spent time talking with them individually at the end of class.

We’d expected 45 students between Mrs. Chevier’s two classes, so I’d brought 50 Purringest Kitty buttons. However, because the other class joined us, we ran out partway through the second group. I told Mrs. Chevier I’d bring in more, so everyone would get one.

Just about every student asked us for autographs, on every conceivable surface – from their language arts notebooks to the backs of their school IDs (one girl even insisted we sign her hoodie). One boy asked us to sign his button. That idea spread like juicy gossip and within minutes, the rest of them were begging us to autograph their buttons, too. The students pressed around us while Dee and I signed every last button. And I think Mrs. Chevier signed a bunch of late passes that morning.

During our second session, one student asked how I got ideas for my novels. I said characters pop into my head at unexpected times and either tell me things or interact with each other. I told them about how Marc, the protagonist in one of my books, showed up out of the blue one afternoon and described an incident that led up to the suicide of his best friend during senior year of high school.

Later in that session, another student raised his hand, a troubled expression on his face. He asked whether Marc had been feeling guilty over something he had done that led his best friend to kill himself. I never expected such an insightful and concerned question from a 12-year-old boy! Mrs. Chevier (who’s read that book) jumped in and said that novel involves a number of situations best suited to an older audience, but yes, Marc had experienced guilt over an incident between the two of them.

Dee and I both wished we could have stayed all day, but she needed to get back to work. At the end of our time there – shortly after 11 – another two students escorted us out. Mrs. Chevier later told me she’d never seen those students so attentive or engaged. As we passed through the corridor and the cafeteria, one of our escorts held aloft Dee’s “Moww” sign, and kids ranging from first grade all the way to about seventh grade pointed and waved and “Moww!”ed. It felt like something out of a Beverly Cleary book!

Dee and I returned to my car eagerly anticipating our next speaking engagement.

About the Author:
Rita M. Reali is a two-time international award-winning author and longtime editor who most enjoys editing memoir, general fiction and romance, along with inspirational writing. She’s self-published five novels: Glimpse of Emerald, Diagnosis: Love, The Unintended Hero, Second Chances and Tender Mercies – the first five in the seven-volume Sheldon Family Saga. The sixth novel in the series, Brothers by Betrayal, is scheduled for an early 2024 release. Her first children’s book, The Purringest Kitty Finds His Home, was released at the end of February. As a former disc jockey in her native Connecticut, Rita used to spend her days “talking to people who weren’t there” – a skill which transferred perfectly to her being an author. Now she talks to characters who aren’t there on “a little chunk of heaven in rural Tennessee.” Contact Rita. To purchase your own personally inscribed copy of any of Rita’s books, download this order form at her website.