Recently at my day job (as those of you who have been following my blog, or are connected with me on LinkedIn or Facebook know, I work in secondary education by day, and lead my literary life by night) children’s author, Caroline Lawrence visited with words of inspiration for the youngsters, not to mention a fresh perspective for the adults.
Her motivational words for the budding young writers included talking about how her love of ancient Greek and Latin kick-started the idea for her Roman Mysteries novels and how, in order to write a successful storyline, she always follows her 7 plot beats. What impressed me the most is how she engaged with the pre-teen audience: sharing fascinating facts about Pompeii and humorous Latin inscriptions to entertain and educate the children.
Needless to say, there was a stampede in the aisle to get signed copies of her books after the event. I had also noticed quite a few girls, and some boys, in the audience jotting down her writing tips as she spoke: maybe a few more archaeological tales might be following from the young creative minds over the coming weeks – let’s see!
Leilanie Stewart 