Nothing lifts the spirits like a crowd of young children so eager to participate in a discussion that they can't sit still, raising their hands so high for permission to speak that they lift their rear-ends right off their seats.
For Career Week at Cheremoya Elementary School in Hollywood, I was invited to speak about the writing life to - I thought - the graduating class. Instead, I was scheduled to speak to two first-grade classes. A challenge, you might think, to interest 6 and 7 year olds in what we do as writers. It turned out to be no challenge at all but sheer delight.
I suggested that they need not wait to be grown up to be writers and asked "Why not let's all make up a story right now?"
The response was immediate and enthusiastic. A little girl at the front started with "Once upon a time..." and characters entered, actions followed, and complications ensued non-stop. The only problem was getting to "The End." The children wanted to continue, bringing in dragons and piglets and cookies and singing flowers to augment the existing tale.
I do enjoy my work but I must confess that I never found the writing life quite this exciting. Few dragons find their way into my computer, and as for singing flowers...well, why not?
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