Author Visits

Contact Information:

I enjoy doing a number of author visits each year. I am in Wisconsin during the late spring, summer, and early fall, and in Arizona during the late fall, winter, and early spring. Please e-mail me about availability. Books for author visits may be ordered from a local vendor or by e-mailing Peachtree Publishers.

Current Rates:

For student audiences, I will do up to three presentations in any one day. Rates are negotiable, depending on a variety of circumstances, including required travel.

New!

For kids:

GOOD GRIEF: What We All Need to Know about Loss and Grief

With input from the training director of the American Hospice Foundation, I use transparencies (or Power Point) to share my loss and grief recovery experience that led to the creation of GIVING UP THE GHOST, as well as things kids (and adults) need to know about loss and grief.

Intended for Grades 5-9. Length of talk: One hour.

Online "Loss and Grief" handouts, including a Student Loss Inventory for adults and a Wordfind and Crossword Puzzle for kids, are available here.

For adults:

Busting Middle Schoolers’ Myths about Loss and Grief: Choosing Books and Using Writing to Help Heal Broken Hearts

Few children escape the middle school years without experiencing loss of some kind--loss of innocence with 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, but also death of a beloved pet, divorce of their parents, moving, estrangement from a friend, serious illness of a loved one, and perhaps death. Bust harmful myths middle schoolers bring into young adulthood by choosing literature that will engage them and foster discussion without preaching or misinformation. A hospice volunteer and author of GIVING UP THE GHOST (ages 10-14 from Peachtree Publishers) shares insights gleaned from her own grief recovery journey and from researching her MFA critical thesis, “Good Grief: Making Death and Bereavement Authentic for Middle Grade Readers.” Come prepared to try your hand at writing activities that educate middle schoolers about loss and grief, while rehearsing responses to actual or imagined losses through a fictional context of safety

Intended for adult audiences--teachers, bereavement counselors and volunteers, librarians, parents.

Length of talk: 90 minutes with lecture, discussion and writing time.

Other Programs:

Writing a Scene: LIVE!

Students star in an impromptu drama--using props and costumes--where they create two characters that "bump into each other." The resulting scene draws all students into a lively question-and-answer session that models and reinforces such writing terms as character, motivation, point of view, conflict, sensory details, back story, and "show don't tell." Also stresses tips for writing the first draft and for revision, as well as the power of rejection and holding on to one's dreams.

Length of talk: 45-60 minutes, with questions. Recommended for 3rd through 5th graders.

Click here to see what teachers say about WRITING A SCENE: LIVE!

For Kids and Teachers: Click here to see a handout on "How to Write A Scene" as well as the "Reader's Report" that I use in teaching peer editing.

General Presentation/Book Talk

Using a variety of colorful visual aids and transparencies, I will speak to large groups of children--preferably in grades 3-7--about my new book, the writing process, and where I "get my ideas," including specific and useful tips for young writers.

Length of talk: 45-60 minutes, with questions.

Small Group Workshops

For a class-sized group or fewer motivated young writers

In "Fueling Fiction with Emotion," I use visual imagery to create scenes that have emotion at their core. The concept of "show don't tell" is introduced, as well as the idea of writing in vivid scenes. The importance of feeling one's feelings--both in life and in one's writing--is stressed. Participants have time to write and read their work.

In "Characters Make Your Story," I lead the class in a group exercise, creating a character on the overhead projector. All students join in the discussion, which prompts ideas about "what the story is" and where it might begin. Students can then write opening scenes, using the newly created character.

Length of workshop: 60-90 minutes (depending on whether writing time is included)

Teacher In-services

I enjoy working with teachers on ways to help students write fiction--a true creative problem solving discipline. Topics might include generating ideas, creating characters, writing in scenes, writing dialogue, and revising first drafts.

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