Career Day

In the morning, I go to Hot Rod's school to try and engage about two-dozen third-graders with the glamorous life of a freelance writer.

*insert the Imperial March here*

Yeah, that is sort of how I feel. Marching to my own long, slow, torturous demise. *deep sigh* Nah, it really won't be that bad. Actually, I do this each year and most of the time, the children are pretty engaging and ask a lot of questions.

Then again, I regale them with tales of stupid teenagers walking along train tracks in the rain and fog and exploding when a train hits them. Or I share the story of the bum who got hit by three different cars and my next-door neighbor, the EMT, picking up the pieces on the highway. Occasionally, I share stories of oil field explosions and bomb threats. All great fun for 9-year-old boys.

I will tell them about fun stuff I've gotten to do like hang out with penguins at SeaWorld or ride in a pace car at 120 mph on Texas Motor Speedway. Then, of course, I tell them about the importance of meeting deadlines, spelling, fact checking. But, that is the boring part. :)

I was looking around for a tip sheet on ways to engage children with a career day presentation as a writer - last year I followed an electrician who showed kids exploding stuff and a fire truck was coming up after me - gees. Anyway. I found a column by a St. Louis Post Dispatch columnist about his experiences with career day. Good stuff. I think he nailed how I feel right on the head!

Wish me luck. This is going to be like herding cats, I think.