Monique Polak

For someone who enjoys TALKING as much as I do, preparing for a talk is not usually too difficult! In a little over an hour, I've got to be at the McCord Museum here in Montreal, where I'm doing a talk called "Capturing the Teenage Imagination: Writing for Young Adults." As you know, this is one of my favourite subjects. I've scribbled a bunch of points on a sheet of paper andI'm pretty much ready to roll. (I rarely enjoy talks where someone just reads from a prepared script.) Here's my basic outline: First, I'm going to talk about the market for children's writing and point out that it's a growing, healthy market. Then I want to talk about using the first person point of view -- something many children's writers do. Then I want to discuss HOW adults can gain access to the teen world -- either by remembering back to their own childhoods or by SPYING ON TEENS, or of course, they could get a job like mine teaching in a college! After that, I'm going to talk about how I got the ideas for some of my books -- and then I'll do a short reading. Have you ever noticed  how when you list your points before a talk it gets you geared up and ready to go? So thanks for listening while I prepared! Another batch of correcting lands tomorrow, so you may not hear from me for a few days while I dig out from under it. Feels like spring today in Montreal, but apparently, they're predicting more snow for tonight. YIKES!!