Friday, March 6, 2009

First school visit to William J. Montford III Middle School


Setting up my Power Point. That's the awesome Kathy Drake--the media specialist.



Signing outside. It was a balmy 75 degrees. Lovely!



Signing books in the media center.



A display in the media center. I got to share the board and table with friend and author Sarah Prineas! Sarah's visiting Montford next. I freaked out when I saw Take the Reins next to The Magic Thief. :)



Chatting with horse-crazy girls.



I signed that shirt. Yes, I did!



The group of kids. They were the best audience!


I just got back from my first talk/signing at William J. Montford III Middle School in Tallahassee. The coolest part? It was the school's first author visit!

I was I'm-going-to-faint nervous before I went. But the second I got inside, it felt amazing. I asked the kids not to throw anything at me because I was nervous and we all laughed. It broke the ice and once I got started, I could have talked for hours. We talked about publishing, writing, editors, agents and sticking with it no matter how many rejections come.

One of the highlights was showing pics of my trip to S&S. I likened the board room to something out of The Apprentice, but noted that no one at S&S (thankfully) resembled Donald. I told them my editor is not a man, did not fire me (yet! ;)) and has waaay better hair than Mr. Trump.

I talked (a lot) about lip gloss and my love of pink pens. By the end, girls were showing me their fave pens and glosses. I even got invited to a spring break sleepover. So. Cute. They thought I was in high school, LOL. When I told them I was 22, they still wanted me to come. And to bring my lip gloss collection. :)

The excitement was insane and I almost died when kids started offering me arms and hands to sign. I felt like a rockstar! A sweet girl asked me to sign her t-shirt and I signed a hoodie for another. I asked several times if their parents were going to freak that I took a Sharpie to their clothes. They said no, but I'm worried about getting angry emails. Eeep.

I had sooo much fun at Montford. They're a lucky school since they get to have Sarah next and I told them so.

Thanks so much to Lisa, Kathy, Bill, Mary and everyone at Montford for hosting me. Yay!

7 comments:

Mitch said...

I've always wanted to go to a school and talk to kids about reading and writing. That's awesome you had such a good time! Aren't little kids funny?

Bookworm said...

Wow, congrats! The kids looked so sweet and their school is gorgeous! I'd be thrilled if you came to my school--we never get very interesting speakers.

Christina Farley said...

Sounds awesome! I'm glad it was such a sucess.

Alyson Noel said...

Wow- what a great visit!!

You're a total rock star!

Anonymous said...

I saw you I saw you! You came to my school, Montford and signed my book! My two friends and I are in one of the pictures, I'm on the far left, and the girl in the middle is wearing a white t-shirt and is turned around! Ha ha, I met you!
Gus lover Kelsey!

Jessica Burkhart (Jess Ashley) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jessica Burkhart (Jess Ashley) said...

Thanks, guys! :)

Kelsey, hey!!! I'm so glad you looked me up. I hope your riding lesson went well. :)

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