A former student of mine (now past 30 years of age), Heidi, just contacted me through Goodreads. It seems she's got a book club going, and one of her former classmates, Richard, suggested they read Confessions of an Average Half-Vampire. A few other former students from that same group or close to it in age, Amy, Erik, and David, are joining in to read my book. And they invited me to join them.
(Hey, I guess having the author show up at your book club meeting is kind of interesting -- even when that author is really just your former English teacher.)
This is so cool. I feel so famous. It's still an honor, even though they're just doing it because they all know me. (Okay, and because they know I used to make them laugh when they were kids, and I bet they're secretly hoping the book will still make them feel that way.)
Personal note to Richard: the book does indeed contain a reference to poodles. I dare you to find it. :)
Awesome! And the snowball starts rolling down the hill...
ReplyDeletePoodles? I don't remember them.
ReplyDeleteYou probably wouldn't have noticed unless you were looking for the reference -- and no one would look for the poodle reference except my students and former students. In almost the first week of their 7th grade year, I always do a grammar exercise on sentences vs. fragments. One of the fragments is about "the small and dainty poodle." I can get the kids giggling hysterically over poodles for the rest of the assignment -- and I work poodles into their grammar and writing assignments all year. Whenever I put a sample sentence up to model for them on a writing assignment, I will make up something dumb about poodles. It's a standing joke, and many of them remember it LONG after the year is over. I once was reading the above-named Richard's blogpost, and he mentioned his wife's poodle, then put in parenthesis "I can't type that without smiling." Mind you, Richard was in 7th grade more than 2 decades ago, and the joke about poodles still makes him smile.
DeleteI had to put a poodle reference in the book for my students. Had to. :)
There's actually one in Becoming Brigid as well. :)
When my book gets here tomorrow, I will have to find the poodle reference.
ReplyDelete