From the mouths (or pencils) of middle school students

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to be a visiting author at a middle school. Today, I received thank you notes from the students.

These were wonderful! All of them were sweet and thanked me for coming.

As well, I got a kick out of several of the comments.

Here are some of them:

“Can you write a book based on us in 7^th period?”

“I hope your next books will get some good reviews.”

“I learned that to become a good writer you need to write.”

“I learned that everyone makes mistakes and you just got to keep trying.”

“I learned that you can do anything if you put your mind to it.”

“Thank you for coming. You were really funny.”

“I learned I needed to use my imagination more.”

“I learned that being an author is cool.”

“I learned being an author is a hard job.”

“I learned that not everyone will like your work.”

“I learned that to be a better writer you have to write, write some more and write even more.”

“I didn’t know they once used typewriters in schools.”

“Thank you for teaching me to try my best and never give up.”

“You’re funny. Come back again soon.”

High School Comments

Writing novels is an exercise in solitude. I spend a lot of time alone with my keyboard and the words on the virtual paper in front of me. I’ll admit that if I don’t pop my head up once in a while, self-doubt can begin to creep in. 

Questions like, “Is this any good?” or “Does anyone really read this stuff?” or “What the heck am I doing?” are common. So, when I get an opportunity to go out to schools to talk about creative writing, I jump at the chance. And recently I jumped all the way to Virginia. 

My awesome niece, Samantha (who I wouldn’t dare call as “Sammy” in a blog—no, I’d never do that!) was able to get me an invite to speak to her high school English class. While I was up there, my sister-in-law had another friend who taught English at a different high school and I was asked if I could go there the following day. Which I did, gladly. 

It was a blast to talk with the students. My presentations are very interactive, and I got a lot of wonderful questions asked of me. At the end, I was given some nice thank you notes and comments from students. 

One thing I love about high school students is their honesty. I thought I’d share some of these comments for others to enjoy—keeping in mind that they may have taken some of what I said differently than I intended. 

And I’m totally cool with that. 

Most of the notes were very polite and thanked me for coming. A few students got a bit more, well, creative. 

“Thank you so much for coming and speaking to us. I had a story in mind that I wanted to write over the summer. I now have great, new ideas on how to go about it. Thanks a bunch.” 

“Thank you so much for coming and talking to us about creative writing. It was very informative, but in a fun way! Good luck with your books!” 

“Thank you for coming! You’re super funny.” 

“Thanks! It was very inspirational, do what you want and not care what others think.” 

“Dear Mr. Morgan, You are one of the few guest speakers I’ve actually ever listened to. It was fascinating.” 

“Thank you for keeping us involved because in most other presentations I would fall asleep. It was also very enjoyable because of your jokes.” 

“Never give up! Let other’s criticism drive you to show them they are wrong.” 

“Thank you. By the way, all your books are probably banned in China.”