In February (2012), I was blessed to be invited to host a Middle Grade Writer’s Workshop in conjunction with five other writers from Maine. We met at the Oak Hill Middle School in Sabattus – lovely school. These MGers were working on pieces for a writing contest.

Prior to our arrival, the teachers talked about each writer with the kids, giving them a get-to-know-the-author sort of factoid list so each kid could choose which author they’d like to work with. I was fortunate enough to work with ten of the approximate 35 students in attendance. *They liked me, they really liked me!*

I prepared writing prompts, charts, Do’s & Don’t lists, and even a character sheet to get their creative juices flowing. To my surprise, these kiddos were totally prepared, in love with telling stories. So in a quick adjustment of my lesson plan, I handed out copies of all I’d prepared–for their future reference–and acted more like a CP, allowing the other students at my table to join in with opinions, concerns, or suggestions for each writer. It went better than I could have imaged.

That will teach me to prepare for a workshop again. <_*

I was then invited back to be present when the winners were announced. I was part of a four member panel with included myself (published freelance/short story writer), two self-published authors, and a television newscaster reporting on the event. Yes, it was cool.

What I found most rewarding about teaching this middle grade workshop was that I got to see MGers in active writing. All I had to do was give the kids an introduction and then let them go with it, really finding their writing wings.