Latest / DA CREW Podcast / BASIC BLAQUE AFTER DARK PRESENTS YOUTH AUTHORS ROCK

Transcript

BASIC BLAQUE AFTER DARK PRESENTS YOUTH AUTHORS ROCK · DA CREW Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Cuckoo like.
0:33
Speaker 2: Think, oh man, this is just this is not the
1:31
Speaker 2: first time you've been been here, so you know your
1:34
Speaker 2: family anyway, So everythe guys are always welcome back to this,
1:41
Speaker 2: to this show, to Basic Black, after doc, You're always
1:44
Speaker 2: welcome back. And to start, can you tell us a
1:47
Speaker 2: little bit and tell our listeners a little bit about
1:50
Speaker 2: yourself and how you began working with children as they
1:52
Speaker 2: write books.
1:54
Speaker 3: Sure, well, as you mentioned, my name is Patricia Harris.
2:00
Speaker 3: I have been working with students probably since twenty fifteen.
2:06
Speaker 3: To start out, we was having an author's expo. We
2:12
Speaker 3: were supporting local and independent book authors and so we
2:15
Speaker 3: would do this annual book expo from different venues. You know,
2:19
Speaker 3: We've done them at the Hotel and Timonium, at the
2:23
Speaker 3: Double Tree, the Crown Plaza Hotel and Morgan State University.
2:28
Speaker 3: We've done some book I supposed there. But what we
2:30
Speaker 3: noticed is that a lot of students were starting to
2:32
Speaker 3: attend these expos with their family, with their friends, with
2:36
Speaker 3: their parents, and so what we wanted to do was
2:39
Speaker 3: develop a program also for youth in reading, writing and
2:45
Speaker 3: just being creative, and so we started Youth Writer's Challenge
2:49
Speaker 3: Youth Writers Challenge was really a platform to allow students
2:53
Speaker 3: ages nine to seventeen to creatively express themselves, whether it's
2:59
Speaker 3: the world like poetry or storytelling, or through dance or music.
3:06
Speaker 3: But we just wanted them to be creative, to be
3:09
Speaker 3: creative with whatever came to mind, basically, and we wanted
3:15
Speaker 3: to give them that platform to do that. So we
3:17
Speaker 3: started Youth Writers Challenge and we would go to Madomin
3:21
Speaker 3: Mall or Security Square Mall, or to Towsand Mall and
3:26
Speaker 3: just provide a platform where they can actually get on
3:29
Speaker 3: stage and get creative. And from that we kind of
3:35
Speaker 3: turned into a writing program and that was Youth Writers Rock,
3:40
Speaker 3: which is now a six month writing program. So while
3:44
Speaker 3: we still challenge students to be creative with the skill
3:48
Speaker 3: set dancing or singing or poetry, we're still developing the
3:55
Speaker 3: writing skills of the students by doing Youth Writers' Rock.
4:03
Speaker 2: Wow, that's awesome. It's an awesome program. So to our youth,
4:07
Speaker 2: we have several of them here tonight. We're so excited
4:09
Speaker 2: to have you here. Can you tell us your name,
4:12
Speaker 2: how old you are, and the title of the book
4:14
Speaker 2: that you've written or the one that you're working on.
4:20
Speaker 4: Let's start Preston, because give us your name.
4:33
Speaker 2: And how old are you? Preston.
4:34
Speaker 4: My name's Preston Stood. I'm fourteen and I published a
4:39
Speaker 4: book Mixed Past.
4:42
Speaker 2: That's past. Now? Was that book published this year? Last year?
4:45
Speaker 2: I believe I read that book.
4:50
Speaker 3: That book was published last year? Last year?
4:53
Speaker 2: Yep, last year. Okay, In Dylan, what about you? Give
4:58
Speaker 2: me some information on you.
5:02
Speaker 1: Hello.
5:03
Speaker 5: My name is Dylan, and I have composed the book
5:10
Speaker 5: Adventures of the Act Love Superheroes.
5:32
Speaker 2: Okay, so you said that. I'm sorry. Are you that one?
5:42
Speaker 2: What was the type of your book, Dylan?
5:45
Speaker 5: It is the Adventures of the Ant Love Superheroes.
5:50
Speaker 2: Oh? Wow? How old ya? I'm twelve years old. Okay, Kendle,
6:02
Speaker 2: give me some insight on you.
6:08
Speaker 3: Hello.
6:08
Speaker 2: I'm Kendall Jackson.
6:09
Speaker 6: I'm an eighteen year old author and I also wrote
6:13
Speaker 6: Mixed Pads.
6:18
Speaker 2: Okay, here we go. Benjamin.
6:22
Speaker 7: Hi, my name is Benjamon. I'm eleven, and I helped
6:26
Speaker 7: make the book Adventures of the Antlast Superheroes.
6:32
Speaker 2: Wow, okay, Bigger may have seen you before.
6:41
Speaker 8: And what about you, Ralph, give me a little bit
6:46
Speaker 8: about you. Got talked to you about that one? What
6:59
Speaker 8: about Nutrician.
7:03
Speaker 2: Welcome board. You're a Nutrician. H right, that's so influencer. Okay, okay,
7:19
Speaker 2: we have some people that enjoined us that said good evening,
7:22
Speaker 2: and that's from Matanya Petricious said hey, hey, hey, hey,
7:29
Speaker 2: and president is a good read and decided to read
7:39
Speaker 2: their congratulations to Preston. Wow, you guys are something else.
7:43
Speaker 2: So I got some famous authors on him ready, So
7:53
Speaker 2: you guys see, especially those who may not think that
7:56
Speaker 2: they're right us.
8:08
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, Black Diamond and can you repeat that if
8:10
Speaker 3: that was a question.
8:13
Speaker 2: But yeah, I was asked, how do you help children
8:19
Speaker 2: unlock their creativity, especially for those who may not think
8:21
Speaker 2: that they're writers.
8:25
Speaker 3: We just we just let them be free, right. We
8:29
Speaker 3: don't try and help them along, you know, making a
8:34
Speaker 3: decision about what they think is a good story. So
8:36
Speaker 3: we kind of get some information from them first. We
8:39
Speaker 3: kind of asked them what movies they like, or what
8:41
Speaker 3: books they like to read, or what they think is interesting.
8:45
Speaker 3: And from there we asked them to throw out some
8:48
Speaker 3: ideas like what what is something you would like to
8:50
Speaker 3: write that you think people would find an interesting read,
8:54
Speaker 3: you know, And so we really kind of just kind
8:56
Speaker 3: of pull that information out of them in terms of
9:00
Speaker 3: we're first finding out what they enjoy, what they enjoy doing,
9:04
Speaker 3: what they enjoy reading, what they enjoy watching on TV.
9:09
Speaker 3: And then from there we asked them what else they
9:12
Speaker 3: think would be creative? What else do they believe would
9:15
Speaker 3: be a really good movie or a really good book
9:18
Speaker 3: to read, you know, And so based on those ideas
9:21
Speaker 3: that they kind of share with us, you know, we
9:23
Speaker 3: kind of put them all up on the wall, and
9:27
Speaker 3: then we get to look at all those creative ideas
9:30
Speaker 3: that they came up with.
9:35
Speaker 2: Wow, you do where did your story idea come from?
9:48
Speaker 2: Can do? Can you hear? Do you hear me? You're mute?
9:52
Speaker 2: I'm scotical you can? Oh?
10:05
Speaker 6: Okay, I stuy. It was like basically just random ideas
10:11
Speaker 6: that we all put together and came up with, like
10:14
Speaker 6: as a collaboration, as an as I'm sorry, and as
10:17
Speaker 6: a teen.
10:22
Speaker 2: So was that the same thing for you, Dylan, that
10:24
Speaker 2: it just came together? Because you're twelve, so you wasn't
10:26
Speaker 2: in the same group that Kindle was in. How did
10:30
Speaker 2: your story idea come about?
10:34
Speaker 5: So our story idea came were are just what are
10:41
Speaker 5: our different ideas? And oh what are the people? What
10:47
Speaker 5: are the ideas that we came up with was aliens,
10:51
Speaker 5: and that became something that we all agreed on. So
10:55
Speaker 5: that's basically how we came up with our plots.
11:05
Speaker 2: So, Benjamin, was this something that you imagined that you'd
11:09
Speaker 2: be doing on your own or did someone help you
11:12
Speaker 2: shape your idea into writing this book? Uh?
11:16
Speaker 7: They helped me shape it because I don't think I
11:19
Speaker 7: could have written this all by myself. Writing a book
11:22
Speaker 7: is a big task, but with my group it was easy.
11:26
Speaker 2: Oh wow, so that's teamwork for you. It was teamwork essence.
11:32
Speaker 2: What part of writing your book was the most fun?
11:37
Speaker 9: The fact that was most fun was like picking the
11:40
Speaker 9: character that I told and like, you know, it's boring.
11:43
Speaker 2: Because and what was the title of your book?
11:51
Speaker 9: Can repeat that?
11:55
Speaker 2: What is the title of your book?
11:56
Speaker 9: The sole influencer?
11:59
Speaker 2: Oh okay, excuse me. Mss pat and her team are
12:04
Speaker 2: very intentional and nurturing of each student. And that's from
12:07
Speaker 2: Press's mom and Michigan is about to get longer. Now,
12:16
Speaker 2: let me tell you about Patricia Grimble. She is more
12:19
Speaker 2: like a critic. She gets books, she reads them, and
12:25
Speaker 2: she just goes through them and she invites you. She
12:27
Speaker 2: has a podcast as well. She's one of my sister podcasters,
12:30
Speaker 2: and she reads the books and she invites guests to
12:33
Speaker 2: come on her show and she talks to you more
12:35
Speaker 2: in depth in what I do about your books. Okay,
12:39
Speaker 2: So Preston, what was the hardest part of writing your book.
12:56
Speaker 4: The hardest part about writing my book was honestly trying
13:02
Speaker 4: to figure out how it could make my character like
13:04
Speaker 4: image me so to speak. So my character was Carding,
13:09
Speaker 4: so me having to put my own personality into him.
13:13
Speaker 4: That was kind of challenging, but with everybody help it
13:16
Speaker 4: made it easier.
13:18
Speaker 2: Okay, Christian, what part of this book did you find
13:23
Speaker 2: to be did you resonated with the most?
13:28
Speaker 1: Hm hmm.
13:34
Speaker 2: I think by rolling up book was I was kind
13:36
Speaker 2: of like.
13:38
Speaker 10: I was one of the main characters, one of the
13:40
Speaker 10: main characters, and I think my rolling the book was,
13:43
Speaker 10: you know, to try to like try to help get
13:46
Speaker 10: things along and like help everybody get along in the book.
13:49
Speaker 10: So I feel like I feel like that's how I
13:51
Speaker 10: would be in real life this if that book were
13:54
Speaker 10: like happening in real life, I would be the one
13:56
Speaker 10: to you know, try to not like lead everything, but
13:59
Speaker 10: like you know, trying to help them get along.
14:01
Speaker 2: To make things go morce the day. Okay, So d
14:06
Speaker 2: ron Howell said, proud of you can do. Ralph, what
14:13
Speaker 2: were you thinking when miss Pat invited you to write
14:15
Speaker 2: your book?
14:30
Speaker 3: Ralph might still be having some technical.
14:32
Speaker 2: Deties, I think so. I think he's probably having So
14:39
Speaker 2: it's probably the weather that's really into So Pat, what
14:42
Speaker 2: does the process look like when working with children from
14:45
Speaker 2: the first idea to the final draft?
14:49
Speaker 3: You know, when we when they first come into session.
14:50
Speaker 3: You know, it's a six month writing program, so we
14:53
Speaker 3: usually go from June, I'm sorry, from January to May.
14:57
Speaker 3: And depending on the number of books that we're trying
15:00
Speaker 3: to pull out of the group, we might do a
15:05
Speaker 3: session every Saturday, or we might do a session every
15:08
Speaker 3: other Saturday. So just by the number of participants that
15:11
Speaker 3: signing up in the number of books that we're trying
15:14
Speaker 3: to publish will determine whether we're meeting twice a month
15:17
Speaker 3: or whether we're meeting four times a month. But the
15:21
Speaker 3: first couple of sessions, when the kids come in, it's
15:23
Speaker 3: really just everyone getting to know each other. Right, These
15:26
Speaker 3: students probably well, it appears that a lot of them
15:31
Speaker 3: are going to different schools, you know, different they live
15:33
Speaker 3: in different areas. So this is the first couple of sessions.
15:37
Speaker 3: It's really just the opportunity for them to get to
15:39
Speaker 3: know one another, you know. So we do a lot
15:42
Speaker 3: of icebreakers with them, you know, and really try and
15:46
Speaker 3: get to see, you know, their things that they like
15:49
Speaker 3: to do and places they've been and just kind of see,
15:52
Speaker 3: you know, the connections between the students, you know, because
15:54
Speaker 3: they're gonna be with each other. They're gonna be with
15:56
Speaker 3: each other for six months, right, so it's kind of
16:00
Speaker 3: way of getting them to know a little more about
16:02
Speaker 3: each other. And then we again go into probably into
16:06
Speaker 3: the third session or so, really start going into those
16:10
Speaker 3: key elements that it takes to write a good book,
16:15
Speaker 3: you know, and what is it? What what are those
16:18
Speaker 3: key elements? You know? We know that unique characters, right,
16:22
Speaker 3: we know that the book has to take place somewhere.
16:26
Speaker 3: Where is that place that you know, the storyline of
16:29
Speaker 3: the book is going to take place? And every good story,
16:33
Speaker 3: you know, a fiction story has to have a villain,
16:37
Speaker 3: you know, So we kind of just go through those
16:40
Speaker 3: key things that every story has to have and kind
16:44
Speaker 3: of get their insight and their input what they think
16:46
Speaker 3: is going to need to go into the story to
16:49
Speaker 3: make it a really good book, you know, for another
16:51
Speaker 3: student to want to pick up and read. And so
16:54
Speaker 3: again we give the students the floor, right, we're simply
16:58
Speaker 3: just writing down with their telling us. Right, we just
17:01
Speaker 3: kind of jotten everything down and we as a group.
17:05
Speaker 3: They didn't have to decide which direction they want to
17:09
Speaker 3: go in with their story, you know, do they want
17:12
Speaker 3: to make it about alien or do they want to
17:15
Speaker 3: make it about four friends who go on the journey.
17:18
Speaker 3: You know, they have to then vote on the storyline
17:23
Speaker 3: that they want their book to be about. And so
17:26
Speaker 3: from beginning the sessions to the end, they have to
17:31
Speaker 3: work as a team and they have to make decisions
17:33
Speaker 3: as a team. And I think that really helps them
17:36
Speaker 3: to develop collaborating and just you know whole team building,
17:41
Speaker 3: you know, just things that they can take with them
17:44
Speaker 3: into school or into the workforce or just doing to
17:47
Speaker 3: life is just really listening to the other people on
17:51
Speaker 3: your team and working with your team. And that's generally
17:56
Speaker 3: how we start. Probably the first month.
17:58
Speaker 2: Of writing a book can be difficult for some Sometimes
18:08
Speaker 2: some people say I'm going to write a book and
18:10
Speaker 2: I'm just going to put it in the back of
18:12
Speaker 2: my drawer. And I'll get to it, or some people
18:14
Speaker 2: may feel as though that they have writer's block. Was
18:17
Speaker 2: there a time that any of you felt that you
18:20
Speaker 2: were stuck in writing a book where you were writing
18:24
Speaker 2: and then you just sat there and you just were
18:25
Speaker 2: stuck and you felt like you wanted to come back
18:27
Speaker 2: to it. Maybe about a week later.
18:32
Speaker 10: Yeah, I felt like that. I think in the beginning,
18:35
Speaker 10: I felt like that since it was my first home
18:37
Speaker 10: ever like writing a book, you know, and like I
18:41
Speaker 10: guess I had so many ideas about what it would
18:43
Speaker 10: be like to actually write a book, since I actually
18:45
Speaker 10: like reading, and I always wondered, you know, what goes
18:49
Speaker 10: into writing a book and trying and making it good
18:52
Speaker 10: and making others want to read it. I guess, I know,
18:55
Speaker 10: had so many ideas, and then like when I finally
18:57
Speaker 10: had the chance to like do it, mysel became kind
19:01
Speaker 10: of stuck.
19:08
Speaker 2: So to keep pressing on was it something you did?
19:13
Speaker 2: What was something? Give me something that you was able
19:15
Speaker 2: to do. Maybe that will help some other people who
19:17
Speaker 2: feel stuck, even adults who get stuck.
19:22
Speaker 10: Or for me, I will say, I will say that
19:24
Speaker 10: I think that I was, you know, like kind of
19:27
Speaker 10: thinking too deep into it a little bit, So I
19:30
Speaker 10: would I would just say, you know, just you know,
19:33
Speaker 10: relax and like just try to try to relax and
19:38
Speaker 10: you know, like don't make it too complicated, you know,
19:43
Speaker 10: try to be creative.
19:44
Speaker 2: And that's a good that's a good point expressive. You know,
19:50
Speaker 2: did anybody else feel stuck? Did anybody else feel stuck
19:53
Speaker 2: when they were writing? Well, did you just go straight
19:56
Speaker 2: through and like I got this and we'll keep it moving?
19:59
Speaker 1: So you.
20:04
Speaker 3: See, I felt that.
20:05
Speaker 2: Was repeat that.
20:08
Speaker 6: I was.
20:11
Speaker 2: Doing.
20:12
Speaker 5: You felt that way, Yeah, I felt that way while
20:15
Speaker 5: writing my chapter because I didn't know what to write,
20:20
Speaker 5: but then I had eventually found out like what to
20:26
Speaker 5: write and how to write.
20:27
Speaker 6: It and can do You were going to say, oh, yes,
20:35
Speaker 6: it's like I started getting writer's black towards the end
20:37
Speaker 6: of the book. But in order how I pushed through
20:41
Speaker 6: it is I would backtrack off of what the other
20:44
Speaker 6: previous chapter was about. They gave me such like a
20:48
Speaker 6: kind of of an idea to what I could relate
20:52
Speaker 6: my chapter.
20:52
Speaker 2: Then that's that. That was perfect because that way it
21:00
Speaker 2: your way to let it flow right into the next chapter.
21:03
Speaker 2: Instead of somebody saying, what are they talking about? They
21:05
Speaker 2: said this in that chapter but this chapter saying something different.
21:08
Speaker 2: Did any of you find it easier to begin or
21:12
Speaker 2: did you find it harder to end? I'll say both.
21:20
Speaker 2: Benjamin cand raised.
21:23
Speaker 7: I'm going to say the beginning. I want to say
21:28
Speaker 7: the beginning was actually harder for me because I kept
21:31
Speaker 7: getting stuck because I couldn't think of what they were
21:33
Speaker 7: going to do next.
21:37
Speaker 2: But then towards we into them looking at towards the end.
21:44
Speaker 7: Towards the end, it got a lot harder since it
21:48
Speaker 7: was hard to think about matching ending for a great beginning.
21:57
Speaker 2: Let me ask this, when you did get to me?
22:02
Speaker 2: I know some people sometimes think he.
22:07
Speaker 4: Was that you person, but yes, for me, I felt
22:12
Speaker 4: like it was harder and in the beginning because I
22:15
Speaker 4: was nervous to start writing because I didn't know necessarily
22:19
Speaker 4: what I wanted to do.
22:20
Speaker 2: Yet did anybody else feel that same way? Yeah? Okay,
22:31
Speaker 2: pat what?
22:33
Speaker 9: Yes?
22:34
Speaker 2: Some of the common challenges children face were writing and
22:38
Speaker 2: how do you support them through those moments?
22:42
Speaker 3: I think they all in different stages of when we're writing,
22:47
Speaker 3: experienced the same thing, you know, like Preston and and
22:53
Speaker 3: and Benjamin and Tristan said, you know, this is something
22:58
Speaker 3: that they probably have not done before. You know, of
23:03
Speaker 3: course they go to language arts and or in English
23:06
Speaker 3: class they have to write stories. But this is this
23:09
Speaker 3: is a little different, right because we're asking them to
23:12
Speaker 3: get creative. We're not giving them a subject and say
23:15
Speaker 3: right about this, you know, We're asking them to pull
23:19
Speaker 3: that from their creative minds and tell us what they
23:22
Speaker 3: want to write the story about. So in the beginning,
23:24
Speaker 3: it's kind of like, oh my god, I don't know,
23:27
Speaker 3: there's just so much, you know, and there is. You
23:30
Speaker 3: know that if we could write a book for every
23:36
Speaker 3: story line they threw out there, we would probably have
23:40
Speaker 3: fifty books right out, you know, in six months, because
23:44
Speaker 3: they just had so many really great ideas for stories,
23:48
Speaker 3: you know. And that's why I know that each of
23:53
Speaker 3: them probably felt that one starting beginning challenge, you know,
23:58
Speaker 3: of like okay, how how do we start this thing?
24:01
Speaker 6: You know?
24:02
Speaker 3: And then with the ending, everyone wants the ending of
24:05
Speaker 3: the story to be perfect and to be like, wow,
24:08
Speaker 3: you know, this was a great book. So you know,
24:11
Speaker 3: we may have had to do the ending for some
24:13
Speaker 3: of the books a couple of times just because it
24:16
Speaker 3: was like, no, I think we should really in this way,
24:18
Speaker 3: you know, because they wanted it to be right. They
24:21
Speaker 3: wanted it to have a really good, powerful ending to
24:23
Speaker 3: the story. And again, what we what we do is
24:27
Speaker 3: we let them know, you know, we are going to
24:31
Speaker 3: walk you through this, right this, this is your book,
24:34
Speaker 3: and we're going to help you through this. So we
24:37
Speaker 3: we kind of got to a point, we would get
24:39
Speaker 3: to a point where we started writing with the students
24:42
Speaker 3: at that point, you know, really building the storyline or
24:45
Speaker 3: connecting the different storyline book. But I think I think
24:51
Speaker 3: after the first you know, a couple of months, the
24:55
Speaker 3: first two months of it, they became comfortable with what
24:58
Speaker 3: they were writing, what they would think think was going
25:00
Speaker 3: to be the next part of the book that was
25:02
Speaker 3: coming out. And so I think after that it got
25:05
Speaker 3: a little easier. So it wasn't like a lot of Okay,
25:08
Speaker 3: we're gonna need to sit down with this group and
25:12
Speaker 3: just kind of walk them through it. Everyone was kind
25:14
Speaker 3: of on point once they got comfortable with their storyline
25:18
Speaker 3: and with their team, you know, and what their teammates.
25:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, wonderful. Hey, thanks for joining us, Janette, thanks for
25:26
Speaker 2: joining us, Shaw says, this is awesome. But I got
25:31
Speaker 2: somebody who just joined in, and that is none other
25:34
Speaker 2: than jas Gardner. How are you? How are you doing? So?
25:41
Speaker 2: I want to ask thank you so much. I want
25:46
Speaker 2: to ask to you, what was it like when you
25:49
Speaker 2: saw your finished story for the first time? When your
25:53
Speaker 2: story was finished, you got that book in your hand
25:56
Speaker 2: and you saw a name on that book?
26:01
Speaker 3: How how did you fet that?
26:04
Speaker 2: Big cheeseburgers? Super exciting?
26:11
Speaker 11: Now?
26:11
Speaker 2: Who's giggling and laughing because I know that they enjoyed it?
26:16
Speaker 2: Can you be white?
26:24
Speaker 11: Wow?
26:25
Speaker 2: What has your family said when they saw that book,
26:29
Speaker 2: especially those who didn't know that you were writing.
26:44
Speaker 9: Surprised?
26:47
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, somebody said white?
26:50
Speaker 6: One thing I could say that my family members like
26:54
Speaker 6: the reaction of the book. It's like they were in
26:57
Speaker 6: awe and shocked, because I mean, I always had a
27:02
Speaker 6: passion for writing, So the fact that I actually wrote
27:07
Speaker 6: a book, it was something that everybody could be proud of.
27:12
Speaker 2: And it was like my moment to shine. O, You're
27:18
Speaker 2: going to keep shining, just keep writing. Listence, what about you?
27:22
Speaker 2: What did it feel like when you got that book
27:23
Speaker 2: in your hand and you saw your name written across
27:25
Speaker 2: the cover of that book?
27:29
Speaker 9: It felt great, like to know, like, you know, I
27:31
Speaker 9: do things like I don't normally do, or like do
27:35
Speaker 9: things that like I woant to expect myself to do.
27:39
Speaker 1: Yeah.
27:40
Speaker 2: Wow, so you guys were pushing yourself to a limit
27:45
Speaker 2: that you weren't even expected. Question, what was your friends
27:50
Speaker 2: thinking when you told them? They didn't even not believe
27:54
Speaker 2: that you were an author? Or did they say you
27:56
Speaker 2: approve it? I don't believe it. What was the reaction
27:59
Speaker 2: to your friends?
28:01
Speaker 9: My friends? They didn't They didn't believe I wrote a book.
28:05
Speaker 12: They thought I was just playing until I actually showed
28:08
Speaker 12: them the book with my name on it, and it
28:10
Speaker 12: was like, oh, you actually wrote a book, and they
28:13
Speaker 12: was proud of me.
28:14
Speaker 2: Oh wow, anybody else want the ship? Yeah, I can't do, Jackson.
28:24
Speaker 2: I'm proud of you. Can't do. I said, we should be.
28:30
Speaker 3: So piggyback off of what she was saying, when my
28:32
Speaker 3: friends found.
28:33
Speaker 6: Out that I wrote a book, they was being really shared,
28:38
Speaker 6: like saying how they was going to buy the book,
28:40
Speaker 6: they ready for the next book and things and that matter.
28:45
Speaker 7: Wow, Benjamin, My family was really happy when I wrote
28:52
Speaker 7: the book, and they wanted me to share it with
28:54
Speaker 7: my school, which I did do and now the book
28:56
Speaker 7: is in my school and I got in the morning
28:59
Speaker 7: announcement because of that.
29:02
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, So anybody else had that experience? Congratulations, congratulation.
29:08
Speaker 2: They probably bugging you at lunch to asking for autographs.
29:10
Speaker 2: You probably can't even get on the bus without somebody
29:13
Speaker 2: trying to get an autograph from you. And I think
29:16
Speaker 2: that's gonna happen with each and every one of you
29:18
Speaker 2: who is planning on continuing to write, that want to
29:22
Speaker 2: continue to write, to be an author, to write another book.
29:29
Speaker 2: Can do a part too.
29:31
Speaker 5: Mhm yeah, definitely, I would love to write another book
29:37
Speaker 5: again because I like this experience, such a great experience.
29:44
Speaker 2: Wow, then you have it. Pat, Now, miss Gardener, can
29:48
Speaker 2: you share a moment that really stood out for you
29:50
Speaker 2: while working with these young writers? Yes, I can hear
30:05
Speaker 2: mm hm hm no, yes, yes you are. Malagos are
30:50
Speaker 2: saying blessed even and Show again is saying getting kudos
30:54
Speaker 2: from from everywhere for lessons in the Impact Pact. Beyond
30:58
Speaker 2: writing skills, what is some of the broader life lessons
31:01
Speaker 2: or values that you hope the children take away from
31:03
Speaker 2: this experience.
31:07
Speaker 3: I hope that they take away one the friendships that
31:13
Speaker 3: they've made. Right, They probably came into this class, into
31:18
Speaker 3: their classes not knowing any of the nine or eight students,
31:23
Speaker 3: but one they walked away with eight or nine new friends, right,
31:29
Speaker 3: and that they can exchange phone upers with and that
31:32
Speaker 3: they can call and they can be a support buddy for.
31:36
Speaker 3: And then we want them to take away what they've
31:40
Speaker 3: learned during this writing process, you know, and use some
31:47
Speaker 3: of those skill sets that they learned in school. And
31:51
Speaker 3: we've actually received letters and emails from parents stating that
31:57
Speaker 3: their students are doing better in class, you know, their beams,
32:03
Speaker 3: they're participating more, they're raising their hands, they're throwing out ideas.
32:07
Speaker 3: They're getting this information from their teachers. From the teachers,
32:11
Speaker 3: the parents are and the parents are sharing that information
32:14
Speaker 3: with us, you know, and that just kind of showed
32:18
Speaker 3: that when they're going through this process of writing this book,
32:22
Speaker 3: they start to become a lot more confident, you know,
32:25
Speaker 3: in themselves, and they understand and they learn a lot
32:28
Speaker 3: more about collaborations. So they want to support one another
32:32
Speaker 3: and they can take that into their classroom and support
32:35
Speaker 3: the other students that are in their classroom with them
32:38
Speaker 3: as well. And so, yeah, so we definitely try and
32:43
Speaker 3: build those skill sets or those techniques or things that
32:47
Speaker 3: they are going to be able to use once they
32:49
Speaker 3: leave that session or once this, you know, graduation is complete.
32:54
Speaker 3: It's not the end. You know, We're still touching base
32:57
Speaker 3: with the students. We're still keeping in touch, just like today,
33:01
Speaker 3: I'm doing interviews, we're doing book signings, and so we're
33:06
Speaker 3: keeping them close and we're keeping them tight because their family,
33:09
Speaker 3: you know, once they come into our doors, their family
33:12
Speaker 3: they want to be or not. You know, they they
33:15
Speaker 3: linked to us forever. So so yeah, that's that's the
33:18
Speaker 3: kind of love and support we want to make sure
33:20
Speaker 3: we provide for them in these sessions.
33:24
Speaker 2: I want to piggyback off of something that Miss Gardeners
33:28
Speaker 2: said that they got up on a Saturday to come
33:31
Speaker 2: in to do it. Wasn't anybody that felt like, I'm
33:35
Speaker 2: just gonna roll over. I'm not getting out of this
33:37
Speaker 2: bed to go to Saturday. I'll go next Saturday. It's Saturday.
33:40
Speaker 2: I just want to stay home. Or is she kidding me?
33:42
Speaker 2: She wants me to come on a Saturday. Is it
33:45
Speaker 2: anybody felt like they just didn't want to get up
33:47
Speaker 2: on a Saturday. Because I commend you Benjamin, well, mom,
33:49
Speaker 2: I commend you all for getting up on a Saturday
33:51
Speaker 2: and then pressed in.
33:52
Speaker 10: I'm not gonna lie.
33:55
Speaker 2: Every Saturday, every other Saturday. I was good. Okay, Benjamin,
34:03
Speaker 2: how did you feel?
34:08
Speaker 7: I sometimes didn't want to wake up because I had
34:11
Speaker 7: a soccer game later and I just didn't feel like
34:14
Speaker 7: getting out, But well, I have to go by I
34:18
Speaker 7: have an early soccer game tomorrow.
34:22
Speaker 2: Okay.
34:22
Speaker 3: Thank you for joining.
34:24
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I appreciate you for sharing and
34:27
Speaker 2: joining us. Thank you. Preston, you had your handbraised. What
34:32
Speaker 2: was it like for you getting up on a Saturday.
34:35
Speaker 4: I didn't want to get up on a Saturday because
34:38
Speaker 4: that's my one day off. And when my mom signed
34:41
Speaker 4: me up and she said I had to go on Saturday,
34:43
Speaker 4: I was sad because I had to wake up earlier.
34:48
Speaker 4: I had to wake up earlier. I'm kind of like
34:50
Speaker 4: it was a real school day, like I had Saturday
34:52
Speaker 4: school or something.
34:56
Speaker 2: But look at the outcome you are on offer. That's
34:59
Speaker 2: something that you can add on to your resume.
35:02
Speaker 1: It was worth it.
35:04
Speaker 2: Has any What did you learn about yourself while writing
35:10
Speaker 2: the book?
35:11
Speaker 1: Any of You?
35:12
Speaker 2: What did you learn about yourself? Where is Essence? What
35:16
Speaker 2: did you learn about yourself?
35:18
Speaker 12: What I learned about myself is that I can do
35:20
Speaker 12: a lot of things. Even when I don't expect that
35:23
Speaker 12: I can do them, and I can do things if
35:26
Speaker 12: I put my mind to it.
35:30
Speaker 11: All.
35:30
Speaker 2: Right, now here we go, Christian, what about you? What
35:40
Speaker 2: did you learn about yourself or writing in your book.
35:52
Speaker 10: That I could be great.
35:56
Speaker 2: When you are great at it because you accomplished and
35:58
Speaker 2: you wrote this book, so you augraded? What about you?
36:04
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, go ahead, Christian.
36:05
Speaker 3: Trust.
36:08
Speaker 10: I said, I guess I learned that, you know, I
36:10
Speaker 10: could see myself being an author, you know, being a
36:13
Speaker 10: stuff that I already like reading a lot, you know,
36:17
Speaker 10: I mean that's kind of the obvious choice.
36:19
Speaker 2: But that's what I learned. That's good. I'm happy to
36:25
Speaker 2: hear that we got somebody that wants to continue. And Kendall,
36:28
Speaker 2: what about you? What did you learn about yourself?
36:31
Speaker 6: Something I learned about myself is maybe like finally finding
36:36
Speaker 6: that carriage to really go out and chase my dreams
36:41
Speaker 6: when it comes to right end and actually sticking to
36:43
Speaker 6: the plane.
36:48
Speaker 2: Okay, bro, if anything changed for you since you became
36:51
Speaker 2: an author doing the same question, that's anything changed for you.
37:45
Speaker 9: For me?
37:47
Speaker 5: Yes, things have changed because I'm getting more recognition than
37:56
Speaker 5: I than I did before. And I also like Ralph
38:05
Speaker 5: had a mindset change that I can basically do what
38:11
Speaker 5: I whatever I put my mind to.
38:21
Speaker 2: Wow, listen to these young people, Preston, what about you?
38:24
Speaker 2: Has anything changed for you since you became an author?
38:28
Speaker 4: As things have changed for me, especially as school, Like
38:31
Speaker 4: I've gotten a lot of recognition from my books. Like
38:35
Speaker 4: it's people at my school that I've sold my books
38:37
Speaker 4: to that have told their family and now they're coming
38:40
Speaker 4: to me for even more books. And then it's times
38:42
Speaker 4: doing more thing assembly whatever has me come up and
38:45
Speaker 4: talk about it. And then also, like Dylan and Ralph
38:50
Speaker 4: said about a mindset change, that I can juggle basketball, robotics,
38:55
Speaker 4: and my book all at the same time.
39:00
Speaker 2: I want to anybody to tell me what is one
39:03
Speaker 2: children's book or book that you really loved or that
39:06
Speaker 2: inspired you other than the book that you've.
39:09
Speaker 1: Written the Cat in the Hat. It may sound funny,
39:22
Speaker 1: it may sound funny.
39:24
Speaker 2: Who said that.
39:26
Speaker 1: That's me, Ralph, that was me? Oh my gosh, I'm sorry.
39:33
Speaker 1: The reason why, like when I was younger, the reason
39:40
Speaker 1: why I liked Cat in the Hat so much was
39:42
Speaker 1: a because it was kind of strange, abnormal and kind
39:46
Speaker 1: of the concept of a giant cat taking these kids
39:51
Speaker 1: out into the world to learn.
39:53
Speaker 3: It was like funny.
39:55
Speaker 1: But the reason why it was just a tabit of
39:57
Speaker 1: an inspiration for my my book was because one of
40:01
Speaker 1: my characters is one of those people that like to
40:06
Speaker 1: learn about everything and they want to dive deep and
40:10
Speaker 1: discover the truth. And also it kind of helped me
40:14
Speaker 1: think of the abduction idea in our story.
40:18
Speaker 2: But we have some people who are viewing that are
40:22
Speaker 2: saying commending you on your mindset change, how powerful it is.
40:26
Speaker 2: Schall says, yes, to hear them speak and to say
40:29
Speaker 2: they had a mindset change is that's powerful. Longress is
40:34
Speaker 2: saying change, that's powerful. Patrica's cracking up. I guess it
40:38
Speaker 2: gotta be on that Cat and the Hat because she's
40:41
Speaker 2: she's definitely a reader. Shall said that she loves this,
40:45
Speaker 2: and again Patrice says that she loved that one. Also,
40:49
Speaker 2: Shall says, my favorite book when I was younger, I
40:52
Speaker 2: guess it was a Cat and the Hat. So see,
40:54
Speaker 2: you're not alone with the cat, you know. So they
41:02
Speaker 2: know what you've been through and what they're going through
41:04
Speaker 2: to their authors, and they applauding each and every one
41:07
Speaker 2: of you. So welcome to the family of being an
41:09
Speaker 2: author because they're loving it and they're loving on you.
41:13
Speaker 2: So that's something that is really special. So if you
41:16
Speaker 2: can write another book, what would it be about and
41:19
Speaker 2: who would it be for?
41:28
Speaker 6: If I was to write another book, my book would
41:31
Speaker 6: just be like a book of poems, like leaning more
41:34
Speaker 6: towards the poetry side, to really get my voice out there.
41:39
Speaker 6: And I feel like it would really be for myself
41:42
Speaker 6: more than others, because you know, some people, like older,
41:46
Speaker 6: they want to do writing, they want to write their
41:49
Speaker 6: own book, but it's like when the writer's blackhead, it
41:54
Speaker 6: suddenly just changes everything and they just put the pen down.
41:57
Speaker 6: But I just want to get myself off out there.
42:02
Speaker 2: Mm hmm. Keep writing because it would and you'll get
42:06
Speaker 2: yourself out there. Anybody else if they had to write
42:11
Speaker 2: another book or want to write a book, would they
42:13
Speaker 2: write one? And who would it be for?
42:15
Speaker 12: If I had to write another book, I'll probably write
42:18
Speaker 12: about I'll probably write about the perspective of like arounds.
42:29
Speaker 2: Okay, we want to write about other people in their
42:32
Speaker 2: lives and their journeys.
42:35
Speaker 12: Like from like a bird's eye view, like how other
42:37
Speaker 12: people live, like but not like their challenges and all
42:43
Speaker 12: that stuff. Maybe I can inspire other people to like, you.
42:46
Speaker 2: Know, that's a lot of soul searching thing.
42:53
Speaker 3: If I were to write.
42:55
Speaker 2: Search and a lot of research, wonderful, But Ralph first,
43:02
Speaker 2: and then who is that Preston next Ralph?
43:08
Speaker 1: If I was going to write it, well, one, yes,
43:10
Speaker 1: I would absolutely love to write another book. And two
43:14
Speaker 1: if like, I don't really know if I would, I
43:18
Speaker 1: think I would make it more or less just for myself,
43:22
Speaker 1: like just for entertainment purposes, because I feel like books,
43:27
Speaker 1: out of everything, they should be mostly used for entertainment.
43:31
Speaker 1: So maybe like make another little book, a little fun
43:35
Speaker 1: mystery book or something.
43:39
Speaker 2: Okay, anybody else if they had to write another book,
43:43
Speaker 2: would they write another book? And what would it be about?
43:47
Speaker 2: All right?
43:49
Speaker 4: If I were to write another book, it would probably
43:52
Speaker 4: be about something more like mythical, like about like wizards
43:58
Speaker 4: or something. I feel like I don't want to go
44:01
Speaker 4: more in that area and.
44:05
Speaker 2: More like to have a thing. Yes, so do we
44:10
Speaker 2: and somebody that's going to collaborate to collaborating on a book.
44:15
Speaker 2: And that's how it starts. You collaborate on a book
44:18
Speaker 2: and you continue. And I believe that miss pat would
44:21
Speaker 2: be able to help you with that.
44:24
Speaker 10: I like books that engage the mind.
44:26
Speaker 2: M h MS Gardner and kids write their own stories.
44:33
Speaker 5: See if I were to write another book, it would
44:36
Speaker 5: be like about adventures and stuff.
44:39
Speaker 2: Miss pat or either Miss Gardner, what advice would you
44:43
Speaker 2: give to teachers or parents who want to help kids
44:46
Speaker 2: write their own stories.
44:49
Speaker 3: I'm gonna let Dylan finish what he was saying. Go ahead, Dylan, Oh,
44:54
Speaker 3: I'm sorry, Okay, And then I'll let Miss JC answer
44:59
Speaker 3: your See what I.
45:01
Speaker 5: Was saying was that I would write a book about adventures.
45:05
Speaker 2: You had to write another book.
45:10
Speaker 5: Yes, So if I want to write another book, I
45:13
Speaker 5: would write it about adventure and getting outdoors and doing
45:18
Speaker 5: types of stuff like that, because a lot of people
45:22
Speaker 5: don't have the inspiration to read about like other stuff
45:29
Speaker 5: like learning and stuff. I want to write a book
45:32
Speaker 5: that wants to engage the reader and connect it to
45:37
Speaker 5: their personal lives and gives them a motivation to do something.
45:51
Speaker 2: You have had a lot of creative youth here who
45:55
Speaker 2: has stories beyond recognition. And I gotta feel that you're
46:01
Speaker 2: gonna be very busy, and they're going to be very
46:03
Speaker 2: busy because you have, uh, you have some writers here day.
46:08
Speaker 2: I don't even think that they even knew that they
46:10
Speaker 2: wanted to write, but in this stage and taking this journey.
46:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's probably amazing. It's probably like that. For
46:22
Speaker 3: a number of them, they come not knowing what to expect,
46:28
Speaker 3: you know. So it's it's not coming in the first
46:31
Speaker 3: day like, yes, let's get started.
46:33
Speaker 6: You know.
46:34
Speaker 3: It's really the unknown for a lot of them, because
46:38
Speaker 3: it is the first time that they're they're doing something
46:42
Speaker 3: like this, like actually writing a book that will be published,
46:46
Speaker 3: that will be in the libraries, you know, that will
46:49
Speaker 3: be on Amazon. You know, that will be available for purchase.
46:53
Speaker 1: You know.
46:54
Speaker 3: So for a lot of them, it was a mind
46:58
Speaker 3: blowing experience. And now that they have gone through that process,
47:03
Speaker 3: you know, they feel like, Okay, I can do this,
47:07
Speaker 3: you know, like I've accomplished something big. So right now
47:10
Speaker 3: there's no boundaries, there's no limits to what I could
47:13
Speaker 3: do next. So I can write a book about being
47:15
Speaker 3: out in the adventure. Or I can write a book
47:19
Speaker 3: similar to Harry Potter with wizards and teachers and things
47:25
Speaker 3: like that, you know. Or I can write a book
47:28
Speaker 3: or that could be a documentary, you know, like what
47:30
Speaker 3: ESAs was saying, just following the lives of some people,
47:34
Speaker 3: you know, whether it's people that experience devastation, you know,
47:39
Speaker 3: with floods or Hurricane Katrina or different things like that.
47:43
Speaker 3: You know, she's thinking of something more along the lines
47:47
Speaker 3: of a documentary. So when we kind of get these
47:50
Speaker 3: thoughts and these ideas for students, we do kind of
47:53
Speaker 3: figure out how can we take it and make it
47:56
Speaker 3: into something other than a book, which is what we
48:00
Speaker 3: did with The Tormentors. You know, we took that book
48:04
Speaker 3: and we turned it into a short film that we
48:07
Speaker 3: show at schools because the book is about bullying, right
48:10
Speaker 3: and we know even today, bullying is still very very relevant.
48:15
Speaker 3: So when we do go through the concept of the books,
48:18
Speaker 3: we are already thinking beyond the book and thinking about
48:23
Speaker 3: what's the next step with this book. Can we turn
48:26
Speaker 3: this book into a play? Can we turn this book
48:28
Speaker 3: into a short film? You know, and that also gives
48:31
Speaker 3: them the experience of not just writing and being an author,
48:35
Speaker 3: but then also flipping that and saying, okay, now I
48:38
Speaker 3: can be a part of the screenplay, or I can
48:41
Speaker 3: be a part of this movie, you know, this short
48:44
Speaker 3: film that we're going to do. And so it's definitely
48:49
Speaker 3: starting with writing a book, but it's also that we're
48:52
Speaker 3: trying to take that and turn it into other things
48:56
Speaker 3: that can give them some additional experience with not just
49:01
Speaker 3: being an author, but being a screenplay writer or being
49:05
Speaker 3: a part of a movie, you know, or or a
49:08
Speaker 3: short film or something like that. So I'm excited that
49:12
Speaker 3: they're still they still have that energy and they still
49:15
Speaker 3: have passion, you know, to want to keep writing while
49:19
Speaker 3: they're working with you.
49:21
Speaker 2: While they're working with you, I think they're going to
49:23
Speaker 2: continue to have that passion. Joy was saying that she
49:26
Speaker 2: is so happy for you all. She says that I
49:28
Speaker 2: pray God continues to bless.
49:30
Speaker 13: Each and every one of you all. Jack Jackie, let
49:36
Speaker 13: me ask you question, Ques, what would.
49:44
Speaker 2: Help kids write their own stories?
49:48
Speaker 11: Can you repeat that once again?
49:52
Speaker 2: I'm saying, what advice would you give to parents or
49:55
Speaker 2: teachers who want to help kids write their own stories?
49:58
Speaker 11: Oh, definitely tap into their creative space. Sometimes I feel
50:04
Speaker 11: like schools, schools, especially English, can be really stifling and
50:09
Speaker 11: it can seem you know, boring as well. So my
50:12
Speaker 11: thing is to bring in that fun creativity into that
50:16
Speaker 11: into that lane. Don't let everything be so serious and
50:20
Speaker 11: stringent and strict. Writing can be fun. It doesn't have
50:24
Speaker 11: to be a chore. It can actually expand your mind
50:27
Speaker 11: and you can actually feel like you can tell the
50:30
Speaker 11: story from a different perspective. A lot of times people
50:34
Speaker 11: think you can only tell the story one way, but
50:37
Speaker 11: actually there's multiple ways to tell a story, and you
50:40
Speaker 11: can add humor, you can add different scenery, you can
50:44
Speaker 11: add different characters as this group has discovered, and just
50:48
Speaker 11: allow allow the the student or your daughter or your
50:52
Speaker 11: son to just be free with their with their writing,
50:56
Speaker 11: and allow them to express themselves through the power or
51:00
Speaker 11: the pen, you know, ask them, what do you want
51:02
Speaker 11: to write about? You know, how do you see this story?
51:05
Speaker 11: Because there's different ways to see a story, even historical stories,
51:10
Speaker 11: you know. So I just like to encourage, you know,
51:13
Speaker 11: expressing that creativity, allowing them to show what they want
51:19
Speaker 11: to do and how they want to say things, because
51:21
Speaker 11: you will be absolutely amazed and stunned by what they
51:26
Speaker 11: come up with, because it's not just your way. Now,
51:28
Speaker 11: That's what I love about working with these wonderful youth
51:32
Speaker 11: year after year after year. I've been with pat for
51:35
Speaker 11: many years, and what they come up with, you know,
51:39
Speaker 11: is amazing. We we like she said, I just can't
51:42
Speaker 11: emphasize it enough that they have the creativity, they have
51:46
Speaker 11: the ideas just allowed them to express it. And I
51:51
Speaker 11: want to also note this group, some of the authors
51:54
Speaker 11: on this group wrote in a different genre. We had
51:59
Speaker 11: we had young men writing as women, that is really
52:04
Speaker 11: hard to do at this you know, at this juncture
52:07
Speaker 11: that actually they actually wrote as girls. And then we
52:11
Speaker 11: had some authors writing as older people or as grandmothers.
52:15
Speaker 11: I mean, it's a lot of talent. It's just a
52:18
Speaker 11: lot of talent that you have no idea that your
52:21
Speaker 11: student or your son or daughter possesses already within them.
52:26
Speaker 11: And they were able to actually transform themselves into writing
52:32
Speaker 11: in a different way. I mean, writing yourself is an
52:34
Speaker 11: alien that takes a lot of creativity.
52:37
Speaker 2: That's not that's not you know, you may not think
52:40
Speaker 2: that it's take a lot.
52:42
Speaker 11: It does, but they are definitely able to take a
52:45
Speaker 11: line and more and writing type like writing against a
52:52
Speaker 11: character that's not who you are, but you have to
52:55
Speaker 11: learn that this is who the character is. So I mean,
52:59
Speaker 11: or they did all of that and more. They did
53:01
Speaker 11: all of that.
53:03
Speaker 2: And more.
53:04
Speaker 11: So I hope that helped.
53:06
Speaker 2: But I would just say, you guys, allow that people
53:09
Speaker 2: popping up on the side here saying it definitely does
53:15
Speaker 2: to be creative and for them to allow that creativitativity
53:21
Speaker 2: is just them expressing themselves. And we have people here
53:23
Speaker 2: on the side saying, stay inspired and keep writing, Dylan,
53:27
Speaker 2: that's my friend. His name is liv Laugh Love Nadia,
53:32
Speaker 2: proud of you all from edit Jay sixty four and
53:36
Speaker 2: this is Lily not not here and they just shouting
53:40
Speaker 2: you guys out all over the place. For any of
53:43
Speaker 2: you young people, what would you say to another kid
53:47
Speaker 2: or young person who wants to write a book they
53:49
Speaker 2: don't feel as though that they can. What would you
53:51
Speaker 2: say to them? Dylan, what would you say to somebody
53:56
Speaker 2: see what they don't think that they can? What would
53:59
Speaker 2: you say to.
54:01
Speaker 11: See?
54:01
Speaker 5: Basically, I would just say that, oh, just put them
54:06
Speaker 5: onto it, and that it's not about what and how
54:12
Speaker 5: you feel and what you it's about what you want
54:16
Speaker 5: to do and having that motivation.
54:20
Speaker 1: To just go in and do it.
54:25
Speaker 5: So basically I would just say that you could, that
54:28
Speaker 5: they could do anything. They didn't like Nikes, just do it.
54:36
Speaker 5: And you're twelve years old, yes, ma'am doing is twelve
54:43
Speaker 5: and just just listening to him row, Okay, Ralph, what
54:48
Speaker 5: about you? If you had a friend that said that
54:50
Speaker 5: they were interested in writing, what would you say to them?
54:55
Speaker 1: So I would say when first, I always like to
54:59
Speaker 1: start off with the bad news and then tell them
55:02
Speaker 1: the good news right after. So I'd probably start off
55:05
Speaker 1: with how you're probably gonna have like writer's block, and
55:09
Speaker 1: there's gonna be a couple different challenges in the way.
55:12
Speaker 1: But the great thing about writing a book is that
55:15
Speaker 1: you don't have to rush it. You can put down
55:18
Speaker 1: all your ideas, and also you can take inspiration from
55:24
Speaker 1: pretty much everywhere, so there's no need to stress out
55:28
Speaker 1: too much. If and when the problems come up, you
55:36
Speaker 1: have people just I.
55:37
Speaker 2: Don't know whether to read more of what they're saying
55:39
Speaker 2: or to ask you more questions. Because you have people
55:41
Speaker 2: saying it's beautiful, they shout names out, they're saying, preach brother,
55:44
Speaker 2: preach twelve years old. While it's unbelievable, wooing. They're saying
55:49
Speaker 2: so much about you, guys. I could just imagine what's
55:51
Speaker 2: happening when you're out there and yeah, and you're signing that,
56:01
Speaker 2: or read these amazing stories, these amazing books, Pat, How
56:15
Speaker 2: can I listen to support your work or read these amazing.
56:17
Speaker 3: Books I'm sorry, I didn't even hear that question. They
56:27
Speaker 3: can always visit us. We're on social media Youth Writers
56:32
Speaker 3: Challenge or youth Writers Rock we Are or myself Patricia
56:39
Speaker 3: Johnson Harris or on the web at youth Writers Challenge
56:44
Speaker 3: dot org or youth writers Rock dot com. Yeah, any
56:52
Speaker 3: or anyone that might know us. But we're definitely on
56:55
Speaker 3: on Instagram. We're on Facebook, so we can be reached
57:00
Speaker 3: that way as well. We are starting with registration for
57:04
Speaker 3: our session that will begin in January of twenty sixth
57:07
Speaker 3: in September, so I would say if anyone that has
57:11
Speaker 3: a student that's in grades four through twelve to please
57:16
Speaker 3: reach out for more information on the registration so that
57:19
Speaker 3: we can be sure that we have them on our
57:22
Speaker 3: email list, so that you know they can get an
57:25
Speaker 3: information about the upcoming registration for students.
57:31
Speaker 2: And if you wasn't able to catch all of that,
57:33
Speaker 2: you can watch the replay or either you can contact
57:37
Speaker 2: me and I'll make sure that you get that information.
57:43
Speaker 2: This has been we witness the beauty of creativity through
57:47
Speaker 2: the eyes of children and the dedication of mentors who
57:50
Speaker 2: believe in nurturing this story to and keep using your
57:58
Speaker 2: voices stories matter, and to every listener out there, remember
58:02
Speaker 2: sometimes the biggest impact we can make is simply helping
58:05
Speaker 2: someone tell their truth. If you love this episode, don't
58:09
Speaker 2: forget to subscribe, share and follow us on social media.
58:15
Speaker 2: And then the Basic Black Empowerment Doctor Carolyn Steves. She's
58:50
Speaker 2: going to be with us throughout the journey until next time.
58:56
Speaker 2: Stay inspired, stay true, and remember you may bend, but
59:01
Speaker 2: you are not easily broken. Thank you so much the
59:11
Speaker 2: titles of those books, because I collect everybody that come
59:14
Speaker 2: on here. I collect everybody's books, so I'll be getting
59:16
Speaker 2: in touch with you. Pat, thank you for twit being
59:19
Speaker 2: here now, having this Friday night, going into Saturday, and
59:23
Speaker 2: look at Dylan. I don't know whether you be happy,
59:27
Speaker 2: happy that is over, or that this was your first time,
59:31
Speaker 2: but in us tonight I appreciate it. Go ahead and
59:34
Speaker 2: enjoy your Saturday. I think you may be free tomorrow.
59:36
Speaker 2: I think it's all overweight. That's you guys. Have some
59:41
Speaker 2: dates because you guys are gonna be busy your authors,
59:45
Speaker 2: and it never stops. Somebody's always gonna want you out there,
59:48
Speaker 2: signing autographs, coming in, speaking engagements, talking schools, libraries, wherever
59:53
Speaker 2: have you? Pat, you're doing a great job. Thank you
59:56
Speaker 2: so much for his gardener, for joining us and being
59:58
Speaker 2: one of the mentors as well and help in these Youthah.
1:00:01
Speaker 2: I am so proud of each and every one of you,
1:00:03
Speaker 2: got my side, just blowing up. Super goats, get two
1:00:09
Speaker 2: or something or some. Thanks for sharing your truth. This
1:00:13
Speaker 2: is so cool. Wait wait, this is so much that's
1:00:15
Speaker 2: coming up on this screen for you guys. So I
1:00:18
Speaker 2: appreciate you all, and you guys have a great night.