My first school visit as an author is tomorrow at Havre de Grace Elementary School in Havre de Grace, MD. I’m as ready as I can be: I’ve hit my 45-minute time limit several times in rehearsal; I’ve practiced on my father (retired teacher) and one of my friends who is an elementary school substitute; and I’ve pestered critique partner (and school visit pro) Linda K. Stanek to distraction. The car is packed with AK artifacts, magazines, books, slide screen (just in case). I’ve got my projector and computer, along with the program on disc and flash drive (just in case, just in case). I’ve got book marks to give the kids, a puzzle for the media specialist to photocopy and distribute after I’m gone, and an evaluation form so that I can get better at this. I’ve got water and food, directions, digital camera.
See what I mean? I’m as ready as I can be! (Hooray for OCD.)

I’m terribly excited to spend the day in school. I’ve been eager to do school visits for a long time. Mike would say it’s part of the reason I became an author–so I could be an occasional teacher (play “school”) and read kids’ books. He might be right.