Finding Collaboration Along the Way with Chris Tebbetts

Chris Tebbetts, co-author of Dr. Zeus (Jimmy Patterson), with James Patterson, joins Matthew to talk about free-form school visits and moving stuff off the desk.

Listen along:

About the book: Dr. Zeus by James Patterson and Chris Tebbetts. Published by Jimmy Patterson.

Middle School meets Percy Jackson in this exciting adventure from #1 New York Times bestselling author James Patterson, where Greek gods task an ordinary twelve-year-old with a big mission.

Nick Andino isn't exactly "hero" material. He's perfectly happy working at his family's Greek diner, pining over his crush, and avoiding his bully. His life isn't very exciting...until destiny comes calling.

Dr. Zeus, the over-the-top king of the gods, zooms into town with a quest that Nick must complete to save Andinos past and present from being erased from history.

Accompanied by a fast-talking Hermes, Nick journeys back to ancient Greece, where his ancestors await--along with new friends and a whole host of Greek gods and monsters.

Can Nick be the hero the Andinos need, or will his story be another Greek tragedy?

This fast-paced, feel-good adventure from the world's favorite storyteller has black-and-white illustrations throughout, and amphitheaters full of humor and heart.

More:

Visit Chris Tebbetts online at christebbetts.com 

Other helpful links:

• Chris Tebbetts at Boyds Mills

• Just Do It! Your Collaborative Support Group for Finishing Your Draft (Spring) - Reach your writing goals! This workshop provides the structure, support, and accountability you need to get to a finished draft.

Learn more about Boyds Mills and their upcoming programs by visiting www.boydsmills.org. 

Transcript:

NOTE: Transcript created by Descript. I've attempted to clean up any typos, grammatical errors, and formatting errors where possible.

Chris: I was at a conference at Boyd Mills once formerly known as Highlights. One of the faculty was the amazing Linda Sue Park, and somebody said, what have you learned in all of this? And without hesitation, she said, it's not about me, it's about serving the reader.

Matthew: That is the voice of Chris Tebbetts, author of the Middle School series of books with James Patterson, the Stranded series with Jeff Probst, and the all-new middle grade novel Dr. Zeus, written with James Patterson. 

Welcome back to the Children’s Book Podcast, where we celebrate the books and creators who help young readers feel seen, supported, and understood. This episode is brought to you in partnership with Boyds Mills, positively impacting kids by amplifying the voices of storytellers who inspire children to become their best selves.

I’m your host, Matthew Winner—teacher, librarian, writer, and a fan of kids.

This is Chris’s first time on the show and throughout this conversation I felt so much like a student at one of his school visits, soaking up all of the knowledge and insights he shared. Dr. Zeus (Jimmy Patterson), co-written with James Patterson is the first in a new, un-put-down-able series and I cannot wait to introduce my readers to this one! 

Here are a few things I learned in this conversation that I think you’ll enjoy: 

Number one: Chris has been exploring a new “free-form” school visit approach that has reinvigorated his love of visiting schools. Seriously, this might be something you want to try out, too!

Number two: Chris talked about “moving stuff off the desk” as an approach to productivity and I can’t stop thinking about it. It feels like a great way to “un-stick” when your writing or creative exploration gets you stuck.

And Number 3: Chris shares some of the tools he invented for himself to help with writing. Specifically, he teaches a course with Boyds Mills called “Just Do It!” that is literally meant to get writers writing and creators creating. And, unsurprisingly, teaching the course has had the same effect on Chris himself!

So, a little about Dr. Zeus (Jimmy Patterson) from the publisher:

“Middle School meets Percy Jackson in this exciting adventure from #1 New York Times bestselling author James Patterson, where Greek gods task an ordinary twelve-year-old with a big mission.

Nick Andino isn't exactly "hero" material. He's perfectly happy working at his family's Greek diner, pining over his crush, and avoiding his bully. His life isn't very exciting...until destiny comes calling.

Dr. Zeus, the over-the-top king of the gods, zooms into town with a quest that Nick must complete to save Andinos past and present from being erased from history. Accompanied by a fast-talking Hermes, Nick journeys back to ancient Greece, where his ancestors await--along with new friends and a whole host of Greek gods and monsters. Can Nick be the hero the Andinos need, or will his story be another Greek tragedy?

This fast-paced, feel-good adventure from the world's favorite storyteller has black-and-white illustrations throughout, and amphitheaters full of humor and heart.”

Chris set out to make the wildest, most LOL middle grade novel and, I’ve gotta say, that feels to me like a connection of all of his improv experience, keeping the audience engaged and the story moving forward.

Please welcome Chris Tebbetts to the Children’s Book Podcast.

Chris: Thank you. Hi my name is Chris Tebbetts and I am the author and co-author of many books for young readers, as well as some adult work. I think I'm best known for the middle school series.

I co-wrote with James Patterson over the years. And we have a brand new book called Dr. Zeus that's has been out for a couple of weeks. So I'm excited about that. I also have a couple of queer friendly YA titles. Two Trilogies I wrote with Jeff Props from a TV survivor about kids stranded on an island.

A couple of adult mysteries, an audio drama thriller. I guess I like to call myself somebody who [00:01:00] aspires more as a chameleon than a specialist. But middle grade fiction is really where my heart is. I would say. 

Matthew: I have been welcome, Chris. Sorry. Thank you. I've been a librarian for about 15 years.

I've been in education for almost 20, and I've known those middle school books. They've been around since I've been a librarian. They've been, it's circulated in every school that I've been in. So to have your name come up was really exciting to me. 'cause

I thought, oh, I've, Chris has been a friend of my library for a very long time.

I love that. So thank you for being in there. It is great too, to talk to you're the second person I've talked to in my career who has worked with James Patterson. Chris Grabenstein being the other, Oh 

Chris: sure. 

Matthew: He's a great guy as well. We love Mr. Lemon Cello's Library and all of those books.

But before we go too much deeper, I'd love to hear where I'm catching you today. Chris, what's giving you hope today? 

Chris: You did give us some questions ahead of time and there was only one answer that came to mind immediately and I've stuck with it. School visits. School visits are giving me hope these days.

They're giving me [00:02:00] joy these days in a whole new way. Not only have I grown in the way I'm doing school visits, but I've really started leaning more as I've grown in the way I'm doing more school visits and bringing the kids out more and getting to know them more individually. And working with them on a little bit more of a high wire with the spontaneous writing, and then I spontaneously respond to them.

Something has really shifted for me while the world has also caught on fire in these recent months, and as I've been leaning more and more into this more freeform school visit game, I have really begun to see the thing that gives me the most joy, which is seeing kids bringing creativity. Beauty and creative support for one another into the world.

The older I get, the mushier I get about it. I've been cornered at a couple of events and had to fight back tears. That just what I've seen in these schools and there's just something inherently hopeful about seeing young people be creative. And then also about even for myself finding my way.

I didn't always love school visits, finding my way to love them. And so getting out from behind my computer, getting outside of [00:03:00] myself into a school to whatever degree we creatives these days might wrestle with, how self-indulgent is it to be a creative in this political time. And I'm not saying that we should worry about that, but I do.

A lot of us do. I certainly don't worry about that when I'm in a school interacting with kids and watching to them write and hearing what they come up with. So that. All over the place. 

Matthew: What a terrific answer, and I love that. Throughout this time, you've found a new way to show up in front of children and to connect with them.

I think that. For all of us that write, we write to tell stories. We don't write to also be a book promoter and we don't write to be a school visitor and to be a book festival attendee. And there's many things that go along with the trade. But to know that. You have not allowed yourself to settle in the school visit space, but rather to keep exploring or mining what could bring life into that space.

That sounds really great, and I bet those [00:04:00] kids it sounds like you're setting your school visit students up to continue engaging long after you've left, and that's a wonderful gift to give back to us teachers. 

Chris: I certainly hope for that. Always. Yes. 

Matthew: Love it. Hey, you have a new series with James Patterson called Dr.

Zeus, and I would love to hear more about it. I haven't as a recording, I had a chance to read it yet, but I'm excited to dig in. Could you give us a little book talk? 

Chris: Yes Dr. Zeus is written by James Patterson and myself, Chris Te, and heavily illustrated by Brendan Doman as well. And it follows the adventures of our unlikely hero, Nick Andino, who lives in Athens, Ohio, where Zeus and his son Hermes, the God, the messenger of the Gods.

Come down to Earth to help Nick fulfill the prophecy he doesn't know about yet, which is going to keep his own family line from fading away from memory and never having existed in the first place by sending him back and forth in time to 4 55 BC Greece as well as present day Athens, Ohio, as he [00:05:00] figures out whether or not he's gonna succeed at this hero gig or not.

Matthew: That's so fun. How did the book or book series start does, how do books start with James Patterson? How does, what does that collaborative process look like? I'm sure maybe different for every series, but what about this one? 

Chris: Yeah, I certainly get a lot of questions about collaboration, and I'll add as a footnote that while I didn't set out for a career based largely on collaboration, that's what I found along the way.

Great. I think in retrospect, being a theater artist before that and a filmmaker before that sort of set me up as a collaborative storyteller. What might not be the right system for a lot of writers I know is perfect for me. And every co-writing gig I've had has been a little bit different with James Patterson.

Who has more ideas than he will ever get around to? This is what I hear. Yes. What I get from him is a detailed chapter by chapter outline of a perspective story that I then take and say, with a middle grade novel, I might have a six month contract. I send one sixth of the book once a month, drafting those chapters.[00:06:00] 

He gets a, I get a call the next day and I'll stop to say A lot of people think that James Patterson is. Signing off on these books and as co-authors are writing them, I'm here to tell you that's not true. I honestly don't know how he does what he does. I'll send pages next day I get a call from him.

This is the next 

Matthew: day. 

Chris: Yeah, he, one of the things I've learned from these highly successful people and I try to adopt myself is move the stuff. Off the desk, move the stuff off the desk and that's what he does. I hear from him it might be, this sounds great, let's keep going. Or I, I need a little more of this.

Or can you rewrite for that until we get through that six month process? And then he either asks for some additional rewrites or he does additional rewrites himself or both, at which point it then goes to our third team member, the illustrator. And about two years after we've begun the entire project, it comes out in bookstores.

And the quirk for me, and I'm just getting to see the book for the first time now that it's out is I write the illustration notes, which I love to do, and then I don't see the illustrations until the book comes out. It's it's unusual to a lot of my writer friends, but I love it. 

Matthew: [00:07:00] And to be writing illustration notes for a novel I feel like that's different for me to hear.

I can picture what I'm picturing as you're describing this book, is The Last Kids on Earth. That feels heavily illustrated to me. Is that about the sort of illustration pace that we're keeping in Dr. Zeus? 

Chris: Certainly. These are 500 to a thousand word chapters and we have an illustration or two or three in each chapter, 

Matthew: So cool.

Then that you get to actually give illustration notes as if writing a graphic novel. Here's what's gonna happen as I'm picturing this that I haven't heard that process before. 

Chris: It feeds the, I was a film major in college. I'm a visual thinker, like a lot of writers, so that filmmaker in me, it I, it's one of my favorite things that I get to do, and I recognize that I'm working for James Patterson, and that's rarefied air, which is to say not all writers are invited to.

Participate with illustration notes To the degree that I've been able to on these books I just consider myself lucky to get to do that. 

Matthew: Neat. That you're able to use that tool. Then as part of the storytelling, I know we're gonna get, if we can get a an illustration [00:08:00] here, it's gonna really help the reader propel into whatever story event is happening.

That makes sense to me. So I love that mythology. A again, through this course of being a librarian I've been a librarian during the time of Percy Jackson, which is one of the greatest times to be a librarian because we're seeing goddess girls pop up and Percy Jackson and Greeking out the wonderful podcast from from National Geographic or there's just different.

Things that are coming up that feel exciting, like an exciting space for kids also to be engaging. And so I wanted to ask you about just the process of a writer finding that unique take in that mythology infused space. 

Chris: Yeah. If it's okay, I'll start with a slight tangent of a, of an analogy, which was I did eight books in the middle school series with Jim, with our character Rave Korian, who I got to know very well.

And then I jumped over to Dr. Zeus and it took me a long time on this book to stop writing RA into a Greek [00:09:00] mythology adventure. And the reason I'm saying that is when I found the character was when I stopped. I gave myself permission to stop worrying about it, and the character then began to distinguish himself.

So my initial question, my initial answer on this question about finding a unique space for this type of book was not worrying about it and letting it tell me what it's going to be. That said I would like to think that this is the, this wildest comedy, the most LOL Greek mythology novel that kids will have read.

That's my personal preference. I love writing comedy. I, and I love writing spare the way James Patterson likes to write spare. His chapters are famously short, so I would imagine that this is also a faster reading book than others of these type might be. Very action oriented, very.

Boom boom. Which is like what I loved to read as a kid. It's what I liked to write as an adult. And I can't say that nobody else is doing that, but I do think that it's a sort of a wild rollercoaster of a ride in a way that I haven't necessarily seen 

Matthew: that's fun to propel a reader like that [00:10:00] is great.

I haven't ever heard the phrase writing spare. I wrote that down. I thought that was an interesting phrase. I think that, with the abundance of graphic novels we have out there, and I love the graphic novel format. It makes readers out of reluctant readers. That's wonderful. But to be able to also in the pro space, write in a propulsive way, in a spare way, as you're saying, to help keep that reader turning the page.

Or maybe, who was the author that told me the phrase, oh, I bet it was Kwame Alexander to talk about books being unputdownable. I love that James 

Chris: Patterson uses that as well. Yeah, 

Matthew: that's a wonderful notion to know that you all are approaching craft from a care for the reader in that way, not just a care for your characters.

Chris: I was at a conference at Boyd Mills once formerly known as Highlights. One of the faculty was the amazing Linda Sue Park, and somebody said, what have you learned in all of this? And without hesitation, she said, it's not about me, [00:11:00] it's about serving the reader. And I talk to, I do a lot of teaching. I talk to writers as well.

If I see something on the page that is there, or if I ask a writer, why does, why is that there on the page? And they say I need the reader to know as soon as I hear I need red flag. What do, what serves the story, not your purposes. That's the work of the writer. When people say I don't know how to fix that.

I don't know how to get this scene without, a little bit of my own agenda. And the more I teach, the more I lean into that's the writer's work. You gotta figure it out. 

Matthew: Yeah. That's it's terrific. I, for some reason, feel like when I'm in these spaces, I'm often, maybe 'cause I'm coming from the classroom, I'm coming from teaching often, I'm.

I, I can't help but see the kids in front of me and thinking about when I'm reading a picture book, what it looks like to perform that book in front of children. I just don't often hear maybe as much thinking as reader forward as I am from you and I [00:12:00] appreciate knowing that. It sounds like, 'cause you're bringing up Linda, that maybe some of the most prolific writers are the ones that maybe the most resonant with readers are that way, perhaps because they are thinking readers first.

What a wonderful thing. 

Chris: Take a lot of, Linda Supar is literally my kid lit hero. 'cause I think she knows everything about every area of kid lit, including, diversity and editorial and what it is to be a human in this business. So I take a lot of a lot from what she has to say about craft and also the fact that she's a more literary writer than I am, but she is insistent on this idea that stories need to move forward.

That more than one paragraph of internal monologue is too much that we need to keep re moving the stories along, whatever kind of story we're writing. 

Matthew: What a great tool to have that editorial voice in your head or as she does as well. Yeah. To move you to, to move you through writing. And also that I'm coming back in my brain to move the stuff off the desk.

I like that. Move the stuff. Feel as a teacher, I [00:13:00] could take that with me too. Move it off the desk. There we go. 

Chris: Yeah. 

Matthew: You've got this upcoming retreat with Boyd Mills. Just do it. I'd love to hear more. About just do it. I was just seeing on their Instagram page that they're starting to promote it more.

What is this retreat? Who's it for? What does that time together look like? 

Chris: Yeah, just do It is a twice a year, eight week creative support group. It's actually online. There is in the spring a retreat for anybody who would like to join us at Boyd Mills, who has already taken just doit at any time.

We've been doing it for about three years, twice a year now. Sarah Aronson is my teaching partner, as is Darya Peoples, who is our she's a writer, but she's also an illustrator. And so we put on this eight week creative support group and the bulk of the interaction happens on Discord, where the writing community that we form from the people who have signed up for this course.

Usually we have about 50 folks in the class, which is a lot. It's a big community of people with lots of different ideas. And we try to respond to as much as we can and every class is different. I have a theater background I [00:14:00] mentioned before, and I love to use improvisation as a craft point. I also like to use it as a teaching point.

I mentioned in my school visits I'm getting a little braver with, I don't know how this is gonna go. Same thing with the course. We see who shows up and then we craft it to. To meet their needs. Daria also does weekly live sessions studio nights where she listens to the conversation over the course of the week and then comes up with an art driven prompt for us writers to explore our characters and stories.

And the core that it's hard for to speak briefly about, just do it 'cause we do so much, but, the core I think of just do it's helpfulness for a lot of people has been, and these are becoming more and more common, have been the daily writing sprints that we host on Zoom. Sarah and I host these through the two months, twice a year on just do it.

And then we also have a subscription service for people who want to continue between rounds of just Do It. And we're offering 60 to a hundred hours a month between our two selves and three other volunteers. And there is something, I know you're gonna be asking me about accountability. There is something about.

The [00:15:00] soft accountability of showing up on a Zoom. Some people refer to it as physical mirroring. There's a mirroring. There's something about doing it together. We chat for five minutes, we write for two hours, we chat for five more minutes. And for the right people it's magic. It's just enough. Like we can talk and talk and talk All we want about writing, you still have to get your butt in the chair.

And I've never, as a teacher found a way to help people with that until this. And then PS win-win. I have to get my button in the chair for these sessions. You participate, so I'm getting more writing done. Yeah. 

Matthew: How did, how you said this is go, this has been going on twice a year for some time. Did, was this something that you and Sarah started dreamed up?

Chris: Sarah started it a while back when it was highlights. And the original name of the class was Craft Community and Career. Trying to and you've mentioned this before as well, what Boyd Mills is doing and even what you're doing meeting writers who are past the beginning phase and really the main idea of just do it is to move you along.

Wherever you are, move you toward that finished draft. And yeah, it's been three years, [00:16:00] six iterations. Each one's a little bit different. 

Matthew: It makes sense that it would be a little bit different. And I love the missionary of peoples. I like her. She's a good one. She's a keeper. 

Chris: Geez. I will just say these studio nights, a lot of people are skeptical about them.

Yeah. I've never been an artist in my life. Literally, Daria turned me into an artist. I've been practicing visual art for three years now, thanks to Daria Peoples. 

Matthew: No kidding. Ugh. 

Chris: Yeah. 

Matthew: She's such a good one. I love it. Talk to me about accountability and goal setting for writers. Is it something that you emphasize a lot when you're speaking to other writers?

Clearly something you value. I would imagine 

Chris: I emphasize it as an option for people. I know that a lot that the word accountability is a bit loaded for me 'cause people get into accountability groups all the time, or they get an accountability partner and 95% of the time it fizzles out. It just, through nobody's fault at all.

However we can find accountability, I am all for it. But when I used to work in human services and we'd have these yearly strategic planning meetings where we talked and talked about what we're gonna do, and then we never did it. [00:17:00] That's where I try not to fall down with myself and with other writers.

So the thing that. I am trying to push and hat tip to Jennifer Jacobson who has told me a long time ago, teach what you're learning and what I'm learning to do in terms of accountability is try to create myself, make myself accountable, not for words or chapters, sometimes for time, but for proactivity with my story.

That's really what I'm looking for. What do I know to be true right now? What am I willing to do about it? Leaving aside what I'm not willing to do? Maybe I can't write some prose today, or maybe I don't know my climax yet, but I, there's always something, there's always something I can do. And more and more, again, with writers who I'm working with when they say, I don't know how to solve this.

I don't mean to be glib, but I'll say, yes, you do. My best answers are have come from tools I invent for myself and getting proactive and dissembling the engine That is your story. Looking at the parts or just doing something. That's really what I'm, when we talk about accountability, I'm trying to shift my sense of accountability [00:18:00] toward to toward people's own.

Sometimes unknown ability to do what they can do, which echoes the thing with the school visits and the kids I've been working with, showing, focusing on what's positive, what's working well in these quick three minute sprints I do with them, shows them the genius that can come out when we get out of our own way.

And I'm all about that. 

Matthew: And it certainly takes away the sage on the stage mentality and precisely and instead puts it back in. I love the i the notion of. Communicating to someone, it's in you. You just have to find it, write through it, or work through it or do something. It sounds I like that you're saying sometimes it might not be sitting down and working on that chapter or working on whatever, but just doing something.

Getting one foot, yeah. In front of the other. That's great. I what? What are some of the things, because you mentioned I didn't write it down. Oh, no. Tools I invent for myself. I did Write it down. Yay. Yay me. What are some of these tools that you're talking about that you've invented [00:19:00] for yourself through this time or just through your time as a writer that you found That certainly works for me.

And then sharing it to other people in case it might work for them. 

Chris: And these are all versions of things other people are doing as well, of course. Okay. But the thing that I at least have the sensation of having come up with for myself that people have responded the most positively to is a color coding exercise I do around the proportion on your page of when time is moving forward on your story.

One time has stopped, and when we're reflecting back, I use black, blue, and red ink. It doesn't matter what colors they are, but what that shows the writer then immediately is, where am I advancing the story? Where am I advancing time? Where am I going internal? For instance, if I stopped to describe the room, I haven't left the scene, but time has stopped and where am I looking back?

A lot of first this comes up with first chapters. In particular where people have so much they want to tell the reader. I see a lot of first chapters that are unlike the rest of chapter, the story from a lot of writers. 'cause they've done some info dumping at a moment when we really actually [00:20:00] should be concentrating on making sure that our reader doesn't put down the book.

Matthew: Yeah. 

Chris: So looking at the page for, dialogue, things happening on camera descrip and then separately for description, internal monologue, and then separately again for flashback or reflection or meaning making and looking. Not for some perfect balance there, but this is where I turn it back on the writer.

But looking for a proportion that suits the story in the style that you want to tell it, the story you want to tell and the style you want to tell it are you keeping the reader stuck on the page enough with forward moving story? 

Matthew: That's great. Do you, you said you're writing through this process, have you found that working in the company of these students and everyone talking about process and what they're working on has helped you as well then?

Chris: Oh, absolutely. Always including, a reminder of my audience, a reminder of my peers. What's going, one of the things about doing it for a while the longer I have written, I think this is true for a lot of people, the more I know myself as a writer, the more I know my [00:21:00] process, the more I can say, oh, she does it differently.

That's cool. I don't wanna do that. But I like what he's doing to, I've be able to be a magpie and borrow and knowing by instinct what works best for me. 

Matthew: Yeah I think about that though. Again, not to keep putting on my teacher hat, but I think about that as an asset that you have that not everyone maybe inherently has teachers.

I get better. I tell my students that I become a better teacher by teaching you, by, by how you show up and how I'm able to respond. But I know that what I'm also saying is reflection is what makes me a better teacher. Being able to reflect and respond, and I think that. Similar. Not all teachers have it and not all writers have it, or maybe I should say, not that they don't have it, but perhaps it doesn't come naturally.

So it's nice to hear that that is a skill you've honed. Whether it came naturally to you in the beginning or not, it's one that you're able to maintain and it helps you continue to grow. 

Chris: I I like to think that's true of me. And if I can squeeze in this mention, I have a, [00:22:00] another workshop that I am been doing for a couple years for adults now that I'm starting to work into schools as well, theater camp for writers, which asks what do writing and or what do I'm directing and improv.

And what's the third acting, directing and improv have to teach us as writers. And the reason I mention it now is when we do these workshops and people take parts in other people's scenes while the author watches, the, what I have learned is that's a good example of where people get just as much out of helping other people with their scenes as they do getting help with their scenes from the group.

Matthew: Yeah, that's terrific. Chris, I've had a wonderful time talking to you. I'm so excited that. You have a new book we get to welcome into the world That me, I assume. Me too. I didn't even ask you. I assume it's not a standalone. Will there be more with Dr. Zeus or is it maybe I'm waiting to hear starting with one.

Yes. One of those fun. Waiting to hear things. Yes. I wish you luck regardless with it. Just in the book reaching readers and resonating with, I think it's a magic that happens when books can find their readers and, i'm grateful to be [00:23:00] often on the front lines where I get to witness that happening and see children becoming really excited about books that they find unputdownable to bring back the word we shared earlier.

So I hope that Dr. Zeus finds its readers and that those readers are able to share that back with you. 

Chris: Thank you and thank you for what you do as well. It's I've been, I was thrilled to hear from you and oh my gosh, I'm finally on this podcast. 

Matthew: First time, not the last time. Chris, this is great.

You perhaps have heard me ask this of others and I'm excited to ask you that I'll see a library full of children tomorrow morning. Is there a message I can bring to them from you? 

Chris: When I saw that question, the first thing I thought was tell them they are all geniuses, which is a little. F and as a, in pure writer fashion, and as I think about what I've been talking about today in my school visits, show them what geniuses they are.

Let them write, let them be creative, and then point out the good stuff. There's something about that I really enjoy, and there's something about the luxury of my position as somebody who works with kids, not as a full-time [00:24:00] teacher where I can really focus on what's working well.