Zoom!

 Okay--I have to admit, I'm riding a little bit of a high right now. 

I know it's stupid--as far as monetary returns go, the time it takes to prep for a class, rehearse it, and then teach it is really not cost effective.

But I really really love it. 

I taught two classes over the last three days. One of them--a class on character derived from Crafting Category--I put together special for the local RWA chapter. Although I'm no longer a member, I do love these women, and they were kind enough to extend their invitation for me to teach even though my time with the organization was over. Many of them had seen my Conflict class, so I put together the next class in line--character--and gave my first class over Zoom.

*jumps up and down  in excitement* Oh, you guys--I think it went really well. If the monetary return isn't the reason I'm teaching, the real reason I do it is the same reason I did it when I was teaching high school. I love it when I give people something they can take away with them to apply to the real world. Particularly if it's in my wheelhouse, like writing. 

So that went well--at least I felt like it did. The weird thing about teaching on Zoom is that you have to keep scrolling through the gallery to see how people are reacting to you, and I did that, and as far as I know, not too many people ran away to use the potty while I was blathering on. Eeeeeeeeeee!!! Yes--I rode that high all weekend.

And then tonight, I taught a class that I came up with as just sort of an every day sort of thing. It was brought about because I'd be caught flat footed--people would say, "I understand you write. I want to write!"

And I'd get excited! "Yes? You do? What do you write?"

Them: "..."

Me: "..."

Them: "..." 

Me: So, is it fiction or non-fiction? 

Them: "What's fiction?"

Me: "..."

And it occurred to me that just because people didn't know the labels and the applications, that didn't mean they didn't have voices. It just meant they needed someone to direct their voices, and that's what this class was about.

It was called, "So you want to write a book?" and it was taught through local community outreach, and I had eight students. (I was supposed to have nine--one guy got left behind, and I feel bad, but I don't understand--I selected the "select all" button to send out the Zoom link, and he didn't get his. I think it may have gotten caught in spam. *sigh*)

Apparently that's a big deal--the usual class number is around four or five. Anyway--I felt like, by the end of the class, everybody had a direction to take their writing, a next step, and a way to find their way after that, whether they were writing self-help, autobiography, children's books, cyberpunk, true crime, or, (be still my heart!) romance! I was very frank--I told everybody the romance writer was the teacher's pet from the get go, and they all understood.

Anyway--I put a webinar up on YouTube, and sent them an outline and a worksheet, and the hour was spent addressing their needs as writers. And y'all--it felt GOOD! 

So, yes. The world continues apace, and things are dire, and politics is a life or death cesspool.

But I feel like for a little bit of time over the last weekend, I got to do one of the two things I'm best at. (No, knitting is not one of them. For the record, while I love knitting, I'm a DREADFUL knitter. Gauge is a river in Egypt for me, and stitch uniformity is to be avoided at all costs.) And I feel like I got to help people do one of those things better.

So I'm going to take the win. I've got another class in about two weeks, and I'm super excited about that one too. I mean, yes, it would be better in person, but in the meantime? WHEEE!