Writing for the guys

I walked the corridors of schools throughout Fox Cities wishing I'd written more books, wishing, especially, that I'd written the right books for young male readers.  They were so eager, so embracing, in the schools I visited—the first to raise their hands, the first to offer to read their work aloud (which is not to suggest that the girls weren't just as eager, in their own ways; the girls were remarkable, too).  One seventh grader ran behind me as I finished my morning here, to follow-up on a question he'd asked during the assembly.  Another wrote his idea for a book onto a bookmark, and shared it with me, saying, "This is the story that must be written."

I've had two ideas for boy-protagonist young adult books, but I've not yet gotten them to work.

I came home determined to try even harder.

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