Rear view of class raising hands — Image by © Royalty-Free/Corbis

Under the heading of “Firing Line,” I will be placing myself in front of my computer on Thursday afternoon and using the wonders of technology to video conference with a pair of classes at North Lake Middle School in Lake Steven, Washington. I’m going to be interviewed via Google Hangout, with the class asking questions about the writing process, creating characters, plot development. Their teacher ha already sent me a generic interview outline and it seems pretty sophisticated for 7th grade.

Of course, there’s the usual housekeeping stuff (some of it literal – my office needs to be somewhat presentable to the students), but I also need to remember my homework – speak slowly and clearly, remember where the camera pickup is compared to the monitor, use a headset, etc. Besides the technical, we’ll see about promoting my existing books (Triangle series, Tao of Maud) as well my upcoming projects. Time permitting, I might even do a read from Hex for them.

I love doing these sorts of talks, where I get to share my enthusiasm for the craft and maybe inspire others as well.