Two Captive Audiences

I feel like I'm cheating. Like this is just too much awesome to be fair. 

Also, I don't know why I didn't think of this years ago. 

I've got two beta reader groups (7 to 10-year-old kids, right in the target audience) reading my WIP The First Kid on Mars and giving me instant feedback. And I mean instant.

(record scratch) You're probably wondering how I got here.

Well, even if you're not, I'll tell you. I've been a K-8 drama and audio/visual arts teacher at a Chicago public school for a long time. I make movies and play drama games with kids, and I direct the school musical every year. And now my kids are students at the same school I teach at-- one in first grade, and one in fourth.

It's fun to see them in the hall sometimes, and it's a blast to make movies and play games with them, and they both had fun in Mary Poppins.

Earlier this school year, I signed up to be a guest parent reader for my son's first grade class. Usually the guest reader brings a favorite book from home or picks one out from the classroom library, but I thought it would be fun to read them the first chapter of The First Kid on Mars.

And it was. 

They sat quietly, listening the whole time. If you've ever spent time in a first grade classroom, you know this is not a common occurrence. They told me they loved it and asked me sharp questions about how and why I wrote it, what's going to happen next, and when it's going to be a real book.

They asked me to come back to read chapter two. I did, and they loved that too. 

I ran into the teacher in the teacher's lounge after that, and asked if I could sign up for more guest reader times. Like maybe once a week, and read all twenty chapters by the end of the school year? It's easy for me to stop by during my lunch break, and it keeps her students quiet and focused for twenty or thirty minutes. 

If you've ever spent time in a first grade classroom, you know what her answer was. 

So once a week, I read them a chapter and watch their expressions as they listen. I can see when they sit up and lean forward; I can see when they get bored. When we're done with each chapter, they can ask me questions and I can ask them questions. 

After chapter two, his sister found out and got jealous. She asked her teacher if I could come in to read it to her class too. 

Her teacher also did not mind if I kept her students quiet for twenty or thirty minutes once a week. 

And now her class tells me they love it too. And they're giving me great feedback and asking great questions.

And now I get to do this twice a week. That's a lot of awesome.

Taylor's Not the Only Famous Swift in the Family

 You may have heard of my cousin, who got famous for growing up on a Christmas Tree farm and now sings songs or something, I think. I hear she gets recognized at airports and football games, and I bet people scream her name when they see her all the time. 

Well, she's not the only one. 

We were walking on the sidewalk in front of our school the other day (I teach there and both of our kids attend), when I heard someone scream my name from behind us. 

"Is that Mr. Swift, the author!?!"

We turned to see who my fan was. It wasn't a tween or a Gen Z fangirl, but a middle-aged man with maybe even more grey in his beard than I have in mine.

He's also the father of twins in my daughter's fourth-grade class; we've known each other for years, and he's never seemed starstruck at all. But on this day, his daughters had just finished telling him about THE FIRST KID ON MARS. 

Earlier that day, I read chapter one to their class - my daughter asked her teacher, and we've got plans to read the whole thing together one chapter at a time before the end of the school year. I talked about the process, plans for future books in the series, and hopes to publish soon. 

The students loved the first chapter - they were an incredibly good and attentive audience while I read, and they had great questions and comments afterwards. 

(I'm reading it to my son's first-grade classroom too - it's intended for a slightly older audience, but they're loving it too. We asked his teacher first, so they're up to chapter four already.)

So I guess the twins must have said some nice things about the book, because he seemed genuinely impressed that it made such an impression on them.

In fact, come to think of it, he probably wanted my autograph. I should be ready to give it to him next time. 

I should ask cousin Taylor what to charge.