Cynthea Liu

Dear Oak Prairie,

Wowzers. What a day! What a welcome you all had for me. I was just as excited to finally meet you, too!  7th and 8th graders: who knew you all were so competitive? I thought someone was going to get hurt by the time we got to the sudden-death question. And the 6th graders: you did a bang-up job with the acting. My favorite part was when “Mayo” lost her pom-pom. Too funny.

Also several of you had the courage to come up to me and tell me you were writers, too. Do you know how happy that makes me?  Part of being a writer is admitting you are one. Own it!  You’re a writer as soon as you put the words on a page, and just by doing that, you’ve already beat out so much of your competition. Keep writing, keep revising! Use *your* voice–not anyone else’s–to write your stories. I can’t wait to see you on the Today Show.

I also want to thank Mrs. Jankowski for putting together such a wonderful visit.  Also to Mrs. Smithwick, Mr. Jacobson, and Mrs. Hayes and the rest of the faculty-wow! Thank you, thank you to the entire Oak Prairie team for making the day extra-special for everyone.

And now for the finale: pictures from the event! (Thanks, Mr. Jacobson, for the great shots!) Enjoy them.

Keep reading, keep writing and REVISING!

Yours,

Cynthea

P.S. How come no one told me that Tim had been eliminated on American Idol the night before?!  Oh, bah! I thought Results night was that evening for some reason. Whoops. I guess my only hope now is Lee.

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Dear Washington Irving Elementary,

I had an awesome time seeing you all again for the second time this year.  You were great listeners and great writers, too!  I have never heard so many pencils scratching so hard on paper before. It was amazing to see you hard at work, and I hope you’ll remember that what matters most in your writing is YOU!

You + Purpose + Revision = VOICE!

(in case anyone forgot)

And to refresh your memories about our little talk, I’m uploading some of my favorite pics from the event. Enjoy!

Cynthea

P.S. A special thank you to Courtney Lemmons for putting together such a great day for everyone. Mwah!

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Me, Skyping with a room packed with 6th graders. Can you tell?

I had a virtual visit today with a wonderful school in Colorado, and I know some of you may want to know how that all went. First, prior to the visit, I definitely made use of the the great tips provided by author/teacher Kate Messner when she hosted a SKYPE visit at her school with Laurie Halse Anderson. What a huge help that was! Thank you!

Skype Author Visit - my view of the students, a little blurry but good enough.

So here’s how I did a virtual visit from my home office in Chicago with about 175 6th graders, hundreds of miles away.

1) First, I worked with the school’s librarian to set up a time for the visit. Our visit was for 45 minutes toward the end of the day. We also discussed making sure the kids had some familiarity of my book PARIS PAN. Reading a few chapters always helps to make the visit way more relevant and gets them pumped up before the big day.

2) About a month before, the librarian also helped coordinate pre-ordering of my books. I sent her pre-order forms and she gave me a spreadsheet of names so I knew to whom the books should be signed. SO HELPUL!  A local bookseller ordered my books. I picked them up, signed them, and included autographed swag with my shipment so the kids would all have something from me after the visit.

2) The school and I set up Skype accounts for the visit. I’ve used Skype before; it’s very easy to work with, but if you’ve never used it, try it out beforehand so you don’t panic if you get disconnected or experience difficulties during your Skype call.

3) We did a test-run right around the time of the school visit–the day before–which helped because I had a decent idea of what our connectivity would be like. There was a slight lag – it seemed like there would be one second before the person on the other side could hear what I was saying.  So that took some getting used to. I had to pause a bit longer than normal for a response.

Before a Skype Author visit

4) Prior to the call, I cleaned up my office a little and put stuff on the walls so the students wouldn’t be looking at total blankness in the background. I also dressed as if I were really about to start writing. (Okay, actually, I upped it a notch by wearing my “neater-looking” hoodie and jeans, instead of a tomato-stained sweatshirt and yoga pants, but it was close enough.)  Ladies: I did wear some make-up even though I normally walk around my house without even a hint of lip gloss. There was no need to totally frighten the kids.

5) I made sure there was enough light in my office.  In Skype, you can test your webcam and get a really good idea of what you look like to your audience.  I positioned my laptop at the right height, opened the blinds, etc. I also turned off my phone so I wouldn’t be interrupted by a random call.

6) I decided on the visuals I would need.  For kids in upper-elementary, I usually have a PowerPoint for in-person visits, but because I was a little freaked by the notion of having to deal with more than one application for this visit, I went old-school and held up actual objects as well as printed pictures. I also jotted down notes and stuck them in front of my computer so I could keep track of my talk.

7) I think it can be frustrating to speak to kids for minutes on end without any feedback whatsoever, and I like to involve them. So during the visit, adults in the room helped me call upon students during the presentation.  So it was nice to be able to ask students questions and call on them with the help of a teacher in the room. In some cases, I couldn’t hear responses, but if that happened, someone near the microphone would repeat back the answer for me. I would also ask group “Yes/No” questions where the whole audience could respond.

Also as Kate suggests, I had the librarian have some kids come prepared with questions to ask me at the end of my talk.  That was really helpful. We were able to get through questions very quickly that way. I wish we had been able to do more though which brings me to my next point.

9) Looking back, I would modify the length of my talk. Things in general moved a bit slower when conversing over Skype.  It  takes a few minutes to get everyone into the groove, etc. There’s a bit more logistics involved. There’s that small Skype delay that happens on both sides. All of that adds up. And, if you are lucky, you will have a SKYPE interruption that will require you to quit out of Skype and restart it.

10) Crowd control went fairly well, thanks to the teachers at the school. I think there was some additional stress on my part because I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to calm down an excited audience if I wasn’t actually there. But I think what  really helped was having teachers set expectations for the kids prior to beginning, like asking them to be patient with the technology, etc. so that if things went wrong, mass hysteria wouldn’t break loose.

Snoop, the best listener around and my biggest critic

11) Finally, I think a unique opportunity that a virtual author visit provides is to show kids the stuff you just can’t bring to an in-person visit. I’ve always dreamed of taking my bunny Snoop along when talking about my writing process, but the logistics of carting around a live animal to a school in another state is insane. So Snoop got to make an appearance at the very end of the visit. The crowd went wild. Note: I’m very glad I saved my bunny for the very last minute, because if I had shown him way up front, the kids would have gone crazy and probably spent the whole talk, wondering when the bunny would be making another appearance. Other things I got to share with the kids: the view from my window, what I kept in my office cabinets, and even the futon I lie on when I get tired of writing.

So all in all, I think the virtual author visit is the wave of the future! What a great way to connect with my audience in the comforts of my own home – no flights and security lines to go through. No stuff to lug around. Schools win, too. No need to pay for travel, lodging, etc. and so many wonderful authors are speaking for reduced fees or even free.

I hope to do many more virtual visits in the future.

But there is one thing I do miss from having an in-person visit – the awesome hugs from fans. Now THAT is kinda hard to replace virtually, so I will keep doing the in-person visits as well, even if I have to leave the bunny behind.

P.S. A big thanks to Dawn Lewallen, Ian Jones, and the students at Stuart Middle School for making history with me for District 27J.  I shall never forget it! Thank you!

Happy virtual-visiting,

Cynthea

Dear Casady,

It was so great to meet you all. What a way to end the school week just before the big storm. The weather was awesome, you all were awesome, and btw, your school is really, really awesome, too.

Who knows the answer?

But I’m not writing to tell you something you already know. I wanted to tell you I really wish I could spend another day playing four-square and hanging out in your classes. I also had a huge hankering to pick up a violin and see if I play a little bit better than Paris Pan does.

Okay, I’ll get more serious for a second. I also wanted to share a few pictures of the event AND just a handful of some of the great letters I got from you (SCROLL DOWN). I hope none of you were kidding about wanting to write because I fully expect a lot of published books coming out of this group!  Remember that statistic I told you. If you don’t think you’ll want to do it now, there’s a REALLY great chance that when you get old like me, you will! (I just figured out what the exact percentage is. 81%!!! of Americans believe they’d like to write a book one day.)

I hope you all start TODAY. Get that head start, or at least keep it in the back of your mind as a possibility. There’s nothing like being able to tell a great story and having other people enjoy them! Also, there’s that small chance you could buy your own island, too.

A special thanks to Carl Albert, Allison Tien, Agnish Chakraburrty, and Aubrey Hermen who took me around campus. Seriously, I would have gotten lost in about 30 seconds and you would have had to fish me out of the lake if you hadn’t been there to watch out for me. I also enjoyed listening to all the scandalous stories you told me about your teachers. (KIDDING!)

Finally, another big thanks to Mrs. Freeland, Mrs. Odom, Mrs. Crossno, Mrs. Larsen, and Mrs. Oswalt.  You all made me feel so welcome! And I’ll never forget the diagramming refresher and the oral language lesson. Very surreal to be in school again. I actually missed being in middle school again. Is that weird or what?!

Now here come the pictures and the letters. Hope to see you again one day, everybody! Thanks again!

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All Purpled Out!

Dear Jarman Elementary,

Wow! I’ve finally read every single one of your notes, and I am really impressed.

You all came up with some great book ideas! Many suggested a sequel to Paris Pan. I might have to do that now that you’ve given me plenty of material to work with. I also LOVE one student’s title suggestion: Paris Pan 2: The Dare Returns. Awesome.

The animal story ideas were amazing, too. I do have a thing for animals – dogs, cats- you name it. Kira, thank you for noticing!

Watch out for a book from me one day featuring an animal as the main character. Maybe Go, the dog from Paris Pan, can get a starring role!

I was very happy to hear some of you think you might write a book one day. When you do, be sure to tell me all about it. I will be the first in line to buy it!

Finally, I wanted to show you pics from the visit and just a few of the many great letters you wrote (scroll down). Wow, seriously, thank you.  Your enthusiasm means so much to me. I hope we’ll see each other again one day.

Happy reading and writing,

Cynthea

Check out those tattoo faces!

P.S. A.J., to answer your question, the best time to write is when you want to write!  There are no rules about when you should write and when you shouldn’t. Write when inspiration strikes!

P.P.S. Tea and A.J., to find out how to get a publisher, do check out my articles at www.writingforchildrenandteens.com. Also Jarman Elementary library has a copy of WRITING FOR CHILDREN AND TEENS: A CRASH COURSE. Check out the chapters on how to find an agent or editor.

P.P.P.S. Lexie, the amount I write a day really depends on how much I can get done. Some days, I can write about eight pages. Some days, I can write only one sentence! (Though usually I can get in at least one paragraph.) If I feel like I am out of ideas or words, I still try to write SOMETHING just to keep the story going. Even if it doesn’t make sense. I know I’ll have to fix it later, but that helps me get to the good parts.  Some days, I just have to stop and start again the next day. Again, there are no rules. Do whatever works for you! If whatever you’re doing doesn’t work, keep trying something else until it does!

P.P.P.P.S. Micah, I live in Chicago, Illinois, but I return often to Oklahoma to visit family!

My last P.S.! A special thank you to Jessica Smith and Patti Pitcock for all of your help in making the visit a great day for everyone. Union rocks! I’m so proud to be a former student!

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Dear Briarglen Elementary,

At Briarglen Elementary

First, I wanted to apologize for taking so long to repond to your thank you notes and letters! I’ve had a crazy last few months, visiting schools, attending conferences, and taking some time out for my family as well. The life of an author can be crazy at times; hope you forgive me!

I read through each of your thank you notes carefully and all the memories of my wonderful visit to Briarglen came back instantly. You were all wonderfully involved in the reader’s theatre and the quiz show and I had such a great time talking to you about writing and reading!

Many of you shared with me ideas for a new book YOU want to write and how much fun you had. I am so glad to hear it!

Also, I wanted to make sure I answered some of the questions you posed in your letters and I’ve also included some awesome pics of the event for you to see. In there, you’ll also see some samples of the great letters you wrote! (scroll down)

Awesome letters in the making!

Visha, my parents did come from China. Take a look at my other video for The Great Call of China to learn more about my family and upbringing. I also only have one daughter. And I did fly from Chicago to Tulsa to see you all!

Mackenzie, the author of A Crooked Kind of Perfect is Linda Urban. And she is a very nice lady! I really enjoyed that book, too. It is one of my favorites.

Hector, I was 28 years old when I started writing my first book for publication. My favorite sport is bowling! (I’m not very athletic.) I also like to ski and rollerblade. I’m 34 years old this year!

Beyonce, thanks for the compliments, and I hope you keep thinking about becoming a writer! Thanks for the note about my makeup, too! I had just bought some new eye shadow and was excited to wear it for the visit!

Andrew, I drink a lot of Diet Dr. Peppers while writing my books. For every book, I probably consume at least 30-60 cans over the course of many months. However, I may need to cut back because all that pop gives me headaches, too! Bah! (I do like my Diet Dr. Pepper though.)

Keila, I hope to come back again one day! It was a lot of fun for me, too. I’m also flattered that you think I am the best author in the world. Authors like to hear words like that!

Finally, a special thank you to Leslie Cohen and Tammy Beadles for putting together such a wonderful event for Briarglen. I so appreciate the opportunity you gave me to share this experience with your students!

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