School visits, author residencies, and writing workshops

Hard to believe the new school year is already here!

I had a very busy—and fun—2021-2022 season as an author, visiting schools, libraries, and learning institutes in Canada, USA, and Korea. Many were done virtually, but I also was thankful to see a return to in-person workshops (especially in Korea!). Many of my workshops were built off the release of my latest middle-grade book, Spell Sweeper—which meant a focus on magic potions, mysterious monsters, enchanted pets, and spell-binding shopping trips!

If I had an official resume, it would read like this for 2021-2022 . . .

• World Read Aloud Day (virtual readings for schools across the US and Canada)
• Canadian Children’s Book Week Tour (virtual workshops for schools in Alberta and Ontario)
• Several in-person workshops for libraries and learning institutes in Korea
• Several virtual author presentations for schools and libraries in Canada, in which I rolled out my trademark interactive brainstorming sessions

Writer/Artist-in-residencies for:

• Vancouver School Board gifted learning program
• Star of the Sea School, Grade 5
• Kamloops School of the Arts (grades 8-12)
• Hume Home Learning school (K-8)

I delivered activities for The Imagine in the Park festival in Hamilton, Ontario, and I even led events for adults, delivering presentations for CANSCAIP, The Writers’ Union of Canada, and WriteOnCon.

What magic will this school year hold? I’m prepping for my scheduled creative writing classes, writer-in-residencies, and school visits now, but you can still book me for an in-person or virtual author visit! Just visit my website.

My Grade-Seven Space Opera

I’ve been annoying the intraweb this past year with posts about Spell Sweeper (but don’t worry, I’ll still talk about it, because promotion is just part of a modern author’s duties). . . but let me take a break from Spell Sweeper matters and talk about a different project that I worked on, a project of EPIC proportions.

My friend Mike recently unearthed a precious artifact from the past…a script we wrote for our own epic Space Opera when were in elementary school. I introduce to you EXTROIS, taking place in the distant future (uh . . . 2000 A.D.). Yes, the future—where “everything is destroyed, and the people are destroyed” (so I’m not sure how a plot is possible with no characters or setting available, but let’s not nitpick). 

It might be the best thing I’ve ever worked on.  Though, as Mike pointed out, to try and release this now may result in various lawsuits from Lucasfilm and the estates of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. As I recall, one impediment to this project was that we didn’t actually own a camera to film on. This is now easily rectified, but it’s going to be hard to get the old crew together.

Our costume designs might need some reworking to fit our, uh, advanced body shapes.

Other books and stories from my childhood have survived, and I regularly show my creative writing students, to prove to them that I wasn’t born with some magical talent, but this is the first time where there is a direct comparison between my creative output and a peer’s. I mean, honestly! Mike must have been a joy to teach—his printing is neat, considered, and cleanly spaced. My sections looked like I was writing with my hands tied behind my back! (So, apologies, Mrs. Clough…I can’t believe I made you struggle through my scrawl on a daily basis!)

For all of you out there who think your writing is good enough, and you’ll never get there, then please use this as Exhibit A.

I remembered Mike and I working on this, but thought the script had been lost in time, so it was quite the gift for it to suddenly turn up. 

By the way, yes, my last name is spelled differently here. It’s the name I grew up with, but when I was a young adult, I legally changed it back to its original Hungarian form (when my Grandfather immigrated, they anglicized his name, which was often the case back in those days).