Lori Wolf-Heffner is the author of the young adult series Between Worlds and the sweet romance series Love on Belmont. She was an inaugural member of the Canadian National Tap Team, wrote and submitted a Star Trek novel in her teens (it was rejected—she needed an agent), and spent one day twice in Luxembourg and 15 minutes once in Switzerland. She can still do cartwheels.
Elementary Schools: The Importance of Editing
In this workshop, we'll read an early draft of an excerpt the teacher chooses from my contemporary/historical series, Between Worlds. We'll discuss what they do and don't like about the excerpt. It's all fair game! The students will then make their own edits to it. Those who wish to read them to the class can. (This part is up to you--if you feel students should do this in groups, that's fine, too.) Then I'll read what was actually published. We'll discuss how my changes differed from the students' changes.
The point is to show how important editing is. I know that students don't often see the edits in their own work--they want to get outside to recess! But hopefully by seeing how a professional writer works, they might better understand how helpful this process is.
Because Between Worlds is a contemporary/historical series about two 14-year-old girls dealing with huge transitions in their lives, it's very possible that we'll find an excerpt that relates to something the students are learning about in school. This will help them connect even more to the lesson. For more information, visit www.BetweenWorldsYA.com.
High School: Writing as a Career
I am both an independent author and a copywriter. I run my own business (please visit LoriStrausCommunications.com). I'm happy to speak to high school students about the realities of working as a writer. Spoiler alert: it's not all doom and gloom, but rags-to-riches stories are rare.
