Guest Speaker

October 2, 2014
Day 155

Last night, I had a unique opportunity to do something I've never done before, something I already want to do again soon.  I was a guest speaker at two classes at Nassau Community College here on Long Island.

The college is walking distance from my job, as I was just there yesterday afternoon for lunch with my sister Laurie, who works on campus, but the building I was to speak in was a little further away, so she helped me get a parking pass for my car.  Thank you, Laurie!

I was a bit nervous at the start of the first class, unsure how to get the ball rolling, but the more I spoke and the longer the evening went, the more fun it became.  The students (I hesitate to call them kids because they were all very mature and friendly) asked me tons of amazing questions, so many of which I'd never been asked before.

In the days leading up to the classes, I compiled a couple of pages of notes, and I brought my two published books, plus the 30 or so pages of notes for the third book with me too.  It was really cool sharing with them the process I go through when writing, and talking about character names, scene locations, and plots, specifically the choices I made and make before I write down anything at all.  I think I surprised them when I shared how much I enjoy being surprised by my own words and revelations.  I don't even know how a book will end when I start it, and for me, that's part of the fun!

Fun.  That was the word my friend Bill, who invited me there to speak, pointed out to me.  He said I was talking a lot about how fun it was to write.  In the second class, near the end of my talk, someone asked me that exact question: "Why do you write?"  I told him I could rattle off five or six great reasons, but we'd already uncovered a particular word in the class I'd just spoken with.  Fun.  I write for fun.  No one's making me do this, and God knows I haven't made any real money from it (a few hundred dollars is hardly worth working years to get), but it sure is fun!

So last night was pretty damn good, I have to say, and I really hope to have this kind of event again soon.  A book reading or discussion group would work, or other classes like last night's.  I'm not sure.  I just know that having all these people looking to me and waiting to hear what I had to tell them?  It felt great!  And the people I spoke with last night were so incredible too.  Their every glance my way showed me how caring they were, both of their own building skills as readers and writers, but caring as human beings too.  They offered me their full attention, and by doing so, they showed me they cared about what I wanted to share with them.

I was a bit nervous going into this, having not spoken to a class for a long time, but by the time the night was over, I wanted 10 more classes to talk to right afterward.  It was a completely wonderful, enlightening, all-around awesome experience speaking to some really great people, and I hope to do it again very soon!