That was all fun, but something else made my day...
During the time spent watching the 4th graders ingest a thousand forms of sugar, a slideshow played on the projector. It had been looping all day, pictures from the course of the school year flashing in succession, a visual timeline of the 4th grade. Several featured yours truly, pictures from an author visit last December. During the visit I read from The Man in the Cinder Clouds and Rudy Toot-Toot, then I guided the class through an interactive writing workshop where the class took a premise I provided (a treasure hunt) and we created main characters and a storyline.
The teacher told me that she has one student in particular who is a terrific writer, and he’s been working on a book for a while. Earlier in the day, when the author visit pictures first started scrolling, he told her that was the day he started writing his book; my visit served as the inspiration.
That’s my favorite kind of feedback. I like it when my stories entertain people, and I am thankful for every book sold …but to know that I inspired a young writer to start his own story, that I helped grow the creativity waiting in someone’s heart, serves a deeper purpose. It’s rewarding in a way Amazon reviews and royalties can never be.
And it inspires me to write, too.
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