Visits and Talks

I absolutely love talking to students and teachers about my books, but also about writing and working in the book industry, in general! My fees vary, depending on travel and what’s involved, so email me about that, but here are some examples of what I can do:

Book Club Discussion: It’s fascinating to me to discuss my books with readers. I am happy to meet with your group and talk with them after they’ve read one of my books!

“Karate Kid” Talk: A sort of “motivational speech” about the hard work of writing and how important it is to continue to do it even if you don’t feel like you’re getting anywhere. Can also share frustrating writing moments, my own writing process, bits of my old writing, etc.

Poetry Workshop: Some of the poems in After the Kiss are inspired by existing work from famous poets. In this workshop, we read together the original (“Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” by Wallace Stevens), and then compare it to After the Kiss’ version, “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Redhead.” Attendees will walk away with their own “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a __________” poem.

Generating Story Ideas: I start out with an audience-participation discussion of where the idea for my first novel, Pure, came from, followed by a few story-generating exercises for attendees to participate in.

Doing Q&As with readers is also one of my favorite things to do, so I can add that in to any of these presentations, or simply do a basic reading and Q&A as well, if that’s what you prefer. I am also willing to cater a talk to your special teaching needs, so let’s talk about what we can do for your classroom or group!