Every gaze was on me the entire time as if every word I said had meaning and each phrase I spoke was inspirational. It was a real feel-good time. They smiled and nodded in agreement when I referenced certain novels. They laughed when I gave examples of working with different editors and my frustrations with one of them.
They raised their eyebrows in disbelief when I explained how long it might be from submission to actual acceptance and publication of a manuscript. They shook their heads in amazement when I explained reserves against returns and the tiny amounts of money most writers manage to earn on their hours, days and years of work.
They asked intelligent questions as did their instructors. The entire incident made me wonder if I would have started writing earlier if I had had the opportunity to meet a real author when I was young and deciding on a career choice in high school. I read endlessly my entire life but when I was a teenager, the authors of my favorite books were distant shadows, not even real people. Never once did I consider how much work they did for those wonderful novels to end up in my hands. I've already been asked by another English teacher to do a guest spot in her classroom about the editing process. Will I inspire one or more of them to give this wonderful, roller coaster career a try? Did speaking to them advance my career in any way? Maybe a few of them will buy my book but mostly I received only the pleasant jolt of being appreciated.
Have you given talks about writing to young people? Do you know if your local schools have programs like the one I mentioned? Have you reached out to young readers and writers in some way?
