We love our Mom-son author visits with students!
This year, we visited kids from all over the US–plus students in Qatar and other countries–via Skype in the classroom and the Microsoft Educator Community ! To date, we’ve “traveled” 470,000 kilometers, visited 12 countries and earned a Certified Microsoft Innovative Educator badge!
During our visits, we tell kids and teachers about our journey: how our dog, Lucy, died suddenly at age 6 and how we were so sad we decided to write a book series to keep her alive in our hearts. We also introduce students to our new dog, Hudson, and give some writing tips. For example, Michael likes to explain conflict in a story:
Character development, strong verbs, and brainstorming are all issues we address. The kids often ask questions about where and how we write together. They want Michael to tell them what it feels like to be an author.
An important topic during our visits is writing drafts and sharing them. We encourage kids to share their drafts with others, and describe how excited we were when Ally, Michael’s 19-year-old sister, a huge book lover, told us she loved our first draft. Michael likes to show photos of Ally, telling kids, “These are her glamour shots!”
We’re now working on our third book–a chapter book–that features a sensitive boy who grapples with a tough conflict: His favorite cousin, Paula, says that Lucy–the best coach in the world–should coach her all-girls team under the provisions of Title Nine! Want to learn more about Title Nine? Want to learn more about girl power and some of the inspiring women in Bash’s (aka Michael’s) life? Stay tuned!
We’ve asked a few of our Skype in the classroom teachers to share our first draft with their students, and we’re excited about getting their feedback!
Kids love to give us ideas for our next book during our Mom-son author classroom visits with students. In fact, our second book, “Bash and Lucy Fetch Jealousy” was based on ideas from kids–plus a request from a mom who wanted her autistic son to be a character in our book. We happily agreed to feature her son, and she says it inspired him to read! 
To get updates about our third book and our audiobooks (recorded with the help of Michael and friends), be sure to follow us on Twitter @BashAndLucy_ and on Facebook!https://www.facebook.com/BashAndLucy/ Email us with questions and comments at BashAndLucy@gmail.com! We haven’t been blogging as often because we’re busy writing, but you can always find us on twitter!