I feel like a teacher with lesson plans!

Last Friday I began the teen writing workshop.

Now I’ve done hundreds of writing workshops so this was easy peasy. Hardly even planned for it because I have writing exercises ingrained in my head! I could do them in my sleep. And then I got nervous. What if my mind goes blank?

What if I stand up in front of this room full of teenagers and can’t remember a thing???

Better to over plan rather than not plan enough. So I thought of a good dramatic exercise to do to get these teens writing.

And then…lo and behold, one of the librarians was sitting in on my workshop.

It’s very nerve wracking to know  you’re being watched!

I must say, one of the exercises I did was brilliant, if I say so myself.

It got them writing tout de suite!

And they came up with some pretty remarkable stuff.

And then at the end, some of the teens were so chatty, I didn’t get out of the building for another half hour. They kept asking me questions. What about this? What about that?

Questions that really weren’t urgent, but it was one of those situations where you give a talk and the people come rushing up to you at the end of it, not so much because they’ve got a question but rather because they want to be close to you.

Has that ever happened to you?

Have you ever done that to a speaker who really moved you?

For me the answer to both is yes!

It’s like an instinctual thing. They mob the speaker if they really liked the talk!

So tomorrow, October 1st I start the teen public speaking workshop.

Again, not hard! Done lots of storytelling workshops and really, what’s the dif?

But going to the library basically every other day is grueling.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining.

It’s just that they’re definitely getting their money’s worth! And in between critiquing work on line, writing my own stuff, and roughing out a non-fiction book, I’ve got enough on my plate!

Oh, and this Saturday is Eid ul Adha!

hee hee, when it doesn’t rain it pours!

But masha Allah, I am learning a LOT!