Very soon, I will be winging my way across the country to the east coast where I'll be visiting some schools and teaching a class at my college reunion in the next week or so.First up on Monday is a visit to Sheehan High School in Wallingford, Connecticut - very excited about this. Sheehan was a rival school when I lived in my hometown of Cheshire. I can remember being a cheerleader and getting on the team bus to travel there for basketball games. That was so much fun! I'll have to ask if they still do that or if they all drive themselves. We did have cars back then (duh!) but it was a team-building thing to travel on the bus together.
Next on Tuesday will be a visit to Sedgwick Middle School in West Hartford, Connecticut. I'm a little nervous about this one! I'll be in an auditorium of 100 kids, not in a small classroom or library like I'm used to. What will I say? I hope they're nice to me. Monica Ahern and Shannon McNeice have been super about getting things together for my visit and prepping the students with information about me and my books so maybe they'll ask questions. If all else fails, I'll start dancing.
Then on Wednesday I'll be talking to several classes at my old alma mater, Cheshire High School. These students want to know about writing as well as the stuff I used to do, the script supervising and standards work. Boy, did I have to take some time to refresh my brain! I think your mind sort of throws away the things you don't do anymore so it can make room for new things and lately, I've had a lot of new things so I've had to throw away a LOT of old things. I'm lucky if I can remember my own phone number!
Then at the end of the week, I'll be at Mount Holyoke College, this time to celebrate my class reunion and also to teach a class to my fellow alums. This should be a lot of fun because I will be talking, not about myself, but about other YA authors and their books. I'm calling the discussion, "Not Your Mother's YA: Beyond Judy Blume." I'll bet you didn't know I put titles to my talks, did you? When I discuss writing, I call it "Just Finish It!" because that's the number one thing I tell people they need to do.
And speaking of...I have to finish getting ready to leave soon. I can't wait for my trip!
