Silver Rose

My local RWA chapter has a holiday tradition known as The Rose Ceremony. Throughout the year, members earn roses of various colors for writing-related activities. Today, I earned a silver rose for public speaking. Yes. I went to X-Chromo's middle school Career Day as an author.

As many of you predicted, I had a BALL. I did not take Tarot cards with me.

I arrived early, because I had to drop off X-Chromo, so I stayed. Another participant came in and introduced himself to the guidance councilor with whom I was speaking. He's with county probation . I asked if he knew Chris Wenger. He said: "I love Chris Wenger." She trained him when he first started at probation 18 years ago.

I placed flyers for my local RWA chapter in front of my laptop. At first, I thought I shouldn't do that, because you have to be 18 to join RWA. Then I remembered that military recruiters would be at the school, and you have to be 18 to join the armed forces, too. A woman two tables over came to talk to me, primarily wanting to know if there was a national writing organization or a branch in Seattle. Her daughter writes and is constantly spending "way too much money" to learn the ins and outs of getting published. The woman picked up a flyer -- it has the Internet address for RWA on it -- to send to her daughter. I warned her national membership alone was $75 or so a year. She said that was nothing compared to what her daughter has been spending.

Principal D seemed fascinated with my Power Point slide presentation, especially my lists of words to avoid. He suggested that I come in and present to an English class. Unfortunately, the laptop battery didn't hold up the way it should have, so the second wave of students (including X-Chromo) didn't get to see the presentation.

The representative from the company that sets up Career Fairs for many school districts came to talk to me and the rep for the School of Visual & Performing Arts at Major University with whom I shared a table. He didn't realize I was there as a parent volunteer. He said: "We are always being asked for authors. Could you . . . ?" I handed him a chapter flyer, told him to go to our website, as the flyer was a bit out of date, and he would find contact information there for all of our published authors, many of whom would be delighted to appear at Career Days.

The students were surprised by the need for basic math -- until I explained that's how you figure your royalties (income), how much to pay your agent, and prepare your taxes. They had pre-printed "interview" questions they needed to ask. The Visual & Performing Arts rep and I revised our answers based on what we'd hear the other one say. The students loved my answer about what I like best about the job: I get to make things up, and I get to work in my pajamas.

But nicest of all? X-Chromo's friend DS handed me a sheaf of his poems to read.