Fun School Visit at DDO Library

I've been doing school visits for nearly ten years -- so when I was invited to speak to students today at the Dollard-des-Ormeaux Library, I figured I'd probably already visited the school they go to. But it turns out the students were from a school I'd never even heard of: Emmanuel Christian School.

And you know what else? I decided as soon as I walked into the library and saw them waiting by the door (awake, chatting with each other, curious when I turned up) that I liked them right away!

A young man named James introduced himself before I began my talk. "I am your favourite!" he told me, which made me laugh. Then after my talk, James told me something else that cracked me up: "I like you a lot. You remind me of myself." Hey, thanks for the swell compliment, James!

If you are a frequent reader of this blog, you will know that I am always on the lookout for INTERESTING CHARACTERS. Well, James is certainly one!

I only had an hour with the classes (one group of grade nines, and a group of grade elevens), but I kept them an extra 15 minutes -- because there was so much I wanted to tell them! We discussed my various favourite subjects: TROUBLE, NOT GIVING UP, INSPIRATION and RE-WRITING!

And of course, as usual, I was OBSERVING the students while I was sharing writing ideas and advice. A guy named Jaylen would make a good character in a story. For one thing, Jaylen is taller than his classmates -- I even mistook him for a teacher. Wouldn't you like to read about a student who could pass for a teacher (imagine the adventures he could have!)? I also observed Daniela's torn tights -- which led us to a brief, but interesting discussion about clothing trends. I've noticed that when teenage girls wear torn tights, it looks cool... but if someone my age worn torn tights, well, it would look all kinds of wrong!

Thanks to Salwa Aachati who handles animation at the library, for welcoming me today. Thanks to Mrs. Frappier (that's her in my second pic today, getting the students onto the bus -- hope I didn't make you guys too late) and Mrs. Dearling, for doing such a fine job with your students. It was a pleasure meeting all of you today! Now remember: write, read, and never ever give up!