Did you write this story with a pencil?
Posted by Katarina Jovanovic
....asked one of the K students at Muheim Elementary Schoool in Smithers. All the other children got involved in that discussion. What do writers use to write their stories: pencils, pens, crayons, markers? I laughed. However, when you do the school presentations with primary students you never know where the reading is going to land. What do I usually write with.? It is not always the computer. I write on the bus, in the park, at the coffee shop.
Talking to various groups of children in our touring readings is not only about us, authors, “giving” the word out to the audience. It is very much about making us think about our work through the reflections of the children and adults who listen to us: when did I really start writing? how long did it take me to finish this book? what is my “most favourite book in the whole world which I would take with me to a deserted island?”
When we do school presentations, book launches, talks and readings at home, everything happens as a blink in our everyday life. We experience that brilliant moment of connection with readers and then we sink back to ordinary. On a tour like this it never stops. We have that intense experience for days. We think about it, we talk about it, we write about it.
I am in the van somewhere between Smithers and Prince George. At Prince George we are having another talk this night and who knows what questions will pop up there.
Ok, yes. I am on this tour because my book has been nominated for the BC Book prize… but really..what did I use to start writing it?
