I recently got back from a trio of school visits in Baton Rouge — I talked Jupiter Pirates, writing and storytelling with kids at Episcopal High School, University Lab School and Glasgow Middle School. (Those are the kids from University Lab School above, letting out a pretty tremendous “ARRRR!!!!” to get our session going.)

This was a homecoming of sorts for me — half a lifetime ago I cut my teeth as a painfully green newspaper intern at the New Orleans Times-Picayune, about 90 minutes downriver from Baton Rouge. I was an intern in New Orleans for two summers, and the Times-Picayune’s editors were exceedingly kind to my mistakes, which I now shudder to recall. The second summer, I traveled around Louisiana and Mississippi writing stories about the Mississippi River, checking in with river pilots and flood-control engineers and other folks whose lives were shaped by the river. So it was a blast finding myself back in Louisiana talking about a very different kind of writing, and a joy to zoom along the River Road south of Baton Rouge at sunset, just yards from the river that taught me so many valuable writing lessons.

My first stop was Episcopal, where the kids had great theories about why Blackbeard looks like his hair is on fire in a famous old woodcut of the North Carolina pirate. We also had a good conversation about the value of revising and making our peace with outlining. Some of the younger kids had some interesting questions about cover art — as always, I’m blessed to have the awesome Tom Lintern doing the honors for Jupiter Pirates.

I spent the next day at University Lab School, where I did two extended sessions on writing and storytelling. I showed the clip of Luke Skywalker arguing with Uncle Owen and then staring at the twin suns of Tatooine, which sparked a lively conversation about George Lucas’s childhood, inspiration and whether escapist literature is really so escapist. I really liked one question from a girl who was worried about writing something “cheesy.” My response was that she shouldn’t worry about it — if the story she wanted to tell was heartfelt and honestly told, it wouldn’t come off as cheesy for the readers she wanted to reach. And, OK, just in case it’s always a good idea to have someone you trust as a reader take a look.

Between sessions at University Lab I had lunch with about two dozen kids whose work had been recognized in a state writing contest. We talked ideas, the writing process, revisions and the joys and frustration of writing. The kids had some great thoughts about writing and were kind enough to send me home with an anthology of their work.

My third and last stop was Glasgow Middle School, where I was the kids’ final event — PRESSURE!!! — before an eight-day break. At Glasgow the conversation turned to movies, and I explained options and how the hard fact is that most options don’t turn into movies. (But the writer still gets paid, so options are still definitely a Good Thing.) One student asked me an interesting question about pursuing writing in college courses, and I talked about English classes, MFA programs and the like but said that the only requirement for writing was to live and want to tell a story. He was 14, so I told him he was in the 14th year of Writing College.

It was a wonderful trip, though now I have to rest up a bit and turn my attention to Rescue Ships, which has proved a stubborn book to write so far. Enormous thanks to Margaret Boudreaux, Martha Guarisco, Shandi Fazely and Lucy Smith at Episcopal; to Candice Ryals at University Lab School; and to Jackie Palka and Dianne Talbot at Glasgow. (Apologies if I missed anybody — this tour was a whirlwind!) I’m grateful to Erich and Katie Sternberg and Kathryn and Henry Kissam and friends for making connections and for their kind company, and big hugs to my pals Craig, Desiree, Pableaux and Gigi for connections, company, food and lodging along the way.

* * *

My next school visit will be just a bit closer to home — in late May I’ll be traveling all of three blocks to talk Jupiter Pirates right here in Brooklyn. If you’re interested in having me visit your school or library, please contact me at jupiterpirates@gmail.com. I’m comfortable with classes K-12 and can talk books, storytelling, tips for a happier writing process, or most anything else you can think of. Since time spent visiting is time not writing, I do typically charge for author visits — my baseline is $500 a day depending on location, situation, and so forth — but if that gives you pause, let me know what you have in mind and we’ll see if we can figure something out. I love watching kids get up from their desks excited about reading, storytelling, and writing, so if I can help, give me a shout!

Biographies can be deceiving: I was born in Charlottesville, and my parents live there today. Yet I’ve spent relatively little time there — my parents left for New York when I was less than a year old, and didn’t move back until after I’d graduated from college. But it’s a great town, and I’m always happy to spend time there — and was happier still to get to bring the Jupiter Pirates to the kids of Meriwether Lewis Elementary School.

This was a really fun visit — I started with a group of kindergarteners, then spoke to several classes of fourth graders, and finished the day off addressing a really big group of second and third graders in the school gym. I’d never spoken in a gym before (the acoustics were awesome) and as I was getting ready I flashed back to walking down the hall of my own elementary school for an assembly or some other kind of special presentation. I remember there’d always be a mix of excitement about something that wasn’t the usual routine and worry that the special event would turn out to be boring. That’s a good thing for a speaker to remember — don’t be the person the kids remember as boring.

Anyway, the kids seemed to like the reading I did from Hunt for the Hydra, and they had some truly inventive ideas about why Blackbeard had fuses in his hair. One question I really liked: “Do you love actually writing?” I answered that one honestly: I do like writing, but it can be frustrating when things aren’t going well and it’s often lonely because it’s something you can only do by yourself. So yes, I like writing, but I like having written even more. That’s partially a joke, but really not: It’s much more fun to share something you’ve written so that you can hear what people think about it. That’s the essence of storytelling — sharing a story with someone else and thinking about what they heard in that story. It’s different than writing, but without writing you don’t get to do it.

Plus this was unexpected: After one student coolly identified Blackbeard as Edward Teach, another noted that his ancestor Alexander Spotswood had been the man who brought the famous pirate to justice. Whoa!

Oh, and this visit probably had the loudest collection of “ARRRR!”s I’ve ever had to open Jupiter Pirates presentations. The teachers actually looked a bit scared:

Huge thanks to Andrea Atkinson for making everything run so smoothly, to the Meriwether Lewis teachers, and of course to the kids!

* * *

I have more school visits in the works — next month I’ll be in Baton Rouge and New Orleans before doing a visit just a couple of blocks away here in Brooklyn. If you’d be interested in having me visit your school or library, please contact me at jupiterpirates@gmail.com. I’m comfortable with classes K-12 and can talk books, storytelling, tips for a happier writing process, or most anything else you can think of. Since time spent visiting is time not writing, I do typically charge for author visits — my baseline is $500 a day depending on location, situation, and so forth — but if that gives you pause, let me know what you have in mind and we’ll see if we can figure something out. I love watching kids get up from their desks excited about reading, storytelling, and writing, so if I can help, give me a shout!

The first school visit for Hunt for the Hydra is in the books (ahem), and it was so much fun that I’m smiling just thinking about it, thanks to awesome teachers, media specialists and technical folks and classrooms full of great kids.

This visit had a little bit of everything. On Friday I talked to four classes at Litchfield Intermediate School and Center School, with students from Grades 3 through 6. Then on Monday, I talked with 7th and 8th graders at Litchfield High School before returning to Center School for presentations for more Grade 3 kids and an extra session we were able to squeeze in with some very enthusiastic kindergarteners.

So what did we talk about? I started with a bit about my career, then discussed my Star Wars books (now approaching two dozen!), the idea for Jupiter Pirates, and where ideas come from.

The teachers also wanted me to talk to the kids about my writing process, and that might have been the most fun of all. The kids listened attentively and had great ideas, and I think the teachers were happy because I preached the value of both outlining and revising, steps the kids and I agreed we often don’t like but that I emphasized are hugely helpful in writing. (I think some of my listeners were convinced.) I was thrilled when one teacher decided to revise an imminent assignment to accommodate outlining, revisions and the idea of letting something sit a bit so you can come back to it with fresh eyes — and I was even more thrilled to hear that his students thought that was a great idea.

We also talked about feeling like what you’ve written isn’t any good and you don’t want to show it to anyone. I told the kids that every writer — from little old me to Rick Riordan, J. K. Rowling and probably Shakespeare — has felt like that. A lot of what scares people about writing is fear — fear that they won’t like what they create and/or that it’s “not good enough” to show others — and hope I helped the kids realize that’s totally normal, and shouldn’t hold you back. People of all ages want to know what makes you a writer, and in my mind the test is pretty straightforward: Have you finished something and shared it with someone else? That’s it — not whether your book can be found in Barnes & Noble, comes between covers, has an ISBN number, or anything else. If you’ve finished something and shared it with someone else, you’re a writer — and from there it’s up to you how interested you are in writing and how much you want to apply yourself.

I read an excerpt from Hunt to the Hydra to several of the younger classes (if you’re curious, it’s the section starting on p. 183 when Tycho enters the Hydra with a group of retainers) and to my relief that went pretty well — the kids seemed to like my theatrical line readings, goofy hand gestures, and general overacting. Reading from my book also taught me something new: From now on, reading out loud will be part of my editorial process. It’s a great way to find parts that drag, repeated words that clang on the ears, and other imperfections. (I edited my excerpt on the fly. Shh. Don’t tell anyone.)

I tried something new with the older kids — a storytelling exercise. We took two minutes to watch the scene from Star Wars: Episode IV where Luke argues with his uncle about going to the Academy, then trudges outside to gaze at Tatooine’s double sunset. I asked the kids to list the science-fiction elements of the scene, and then to share their ideas about what Luke was feeling while staring at the suns. Then we compared the two lists, and discussed how much the science-fiction elements mattered to their understanding of what Luke was feeling. The answer we came up with: zero. The kids understood what was bothering Luke because they too have felt like their parents/step-parents/what-have-you don’t understand them. They’ve felt stuck and feared they’ll never escape their situation. They’ve wished they could jet off to discover what’s awesome about themselves. Everyone’s felt that, even if they’ve never repaired a droid, applied to a space academy or watched a double sunset. I then used that as a springboard to talk about how my own family and friends had shaped the cast of Jupiter Pirates, and how writers’ experiences can shape their work beyond diaries and journals.

Anyway, it was a huge amount of fun. Enormous thanks to media specialists Debbie Benedict, Jamie McDevitt and organizer extraordinaire Joanne Moore, to the teachers and tech folks who made me look good and had kind things to say, to Fran Keilty of the sublime Hickory Stick Bookshop, and of course to the kids for asking such great questions and giving me a dose of much-needed energy. (And last but far from least, huge thanks to my mother-in-law Martha Bernstein for letting me spend the weekend rattling around her house fussing with presentations and miscellaneous writer angst.)

* * *

I’m lining up future visits for this spring and summer. If you’d be interested in having me visit your school or library, please contact me at jupiterpirates@gmail.com. I’m comfortable with classes K-12 and can talk books, storytelling, tips for a happier writing process, or most anything else you can think of. Since time spent visiting is time not writing, I do typically charge for author visits — my baseline is $500 a day depending on location, situation, and so forth — but if that gives you pause, let me know what you have in mind and we’ll see if we can figure something out. I love watching kids get up from their desks excited about reading, storytelling, and writing, so if I can help, give me a shout!