I was doing an event today for an auditorium full of 400 very enthusiastic ten-year-olds — you know, saying wise and inspirational shit, telling chaotic stories from my medic years and about how I became a writer — and this kid raised her hand during the Q & A and started her question: “Where did you get your inspiration…”
And I’ll be honest — the where did you get your inspiration to write xyz book question is without a doubt the most asked question of writers by readers aged 5-55 and hey, it’s not a bad question at all — I love talking about inspiration! But it is ruthlessly common and sometimes happens back to back within the same session.
And someone had literally just asked it about the book I was reading from, so after the first part of the girl’s question, I was like here it comes again.
But then she finished: “…to go bald?”
Okay, first of all: LMAO!
I wasn’t ready. I mean, I was, thank goodness, because I know how kids are, but I also wasn’t. The whole room fell out, so did I, and a tiny, well-earned victory dance commenced, props were given (I did not have a wise inspirational answer), and then we got on with the Q&A.
Later, as the second group of kids was leaving for the day after another raucous session, one yelled: “YOU LOOK LIKE MY DAD BUT SHORTER!!” which, you know, also LMAO!
All this to say, kids will get you, and I mean that in the best way. If you ever plan to do school visits, there are a few things you can pretty much count on happening, and the first one is — you’re gonna get dragged. This is, of course, a way of bringing someone into a community (usually), and should under no circumstances be taken personally. You’ll probably learn something about yourself (or about someone else’s dad) and it’s always hilarious, even the misfires. But it helps to know it’s gonna happen and prepare yourself accordingly.
The second most common question never fails to make the adults in the room squirm and cringe, which is probably half of why it’s so popular. It’s “How much money do you make?” And I know, in polite adult society or whatever that’s a rude a question, and yeah I’d be taken aback if a grown stranger just blurted that out to me, but I fully support kids asking it. First of all, why not? It’s totally fine to say I’d rather not talk about that, but it can also be great to rundown some money stuff with them. I’m not doing a slideshow of my 10-99s, just the basics. And yeah most of it goes over their heads, but there are things that matter about it anyway:
—Someone took their question about money seriously and gave them a real answer.
—They’ll get a sense, even if it’s a very initial one, about more or less how some money things work in the creative industries, and that’ll get them started thinking in those directions.
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