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Fleur, you have lined up some interesting topics for your upcoming presentations and workshops. I particularly liked "How is a story born?" and "How do you build a novel outline?" Just what I need to start writing. I'd love to know how the 3rd to 6th graders respond to "What makes a great scene in a book" and "Let’s plot a novel together!" That should be fun! Do American kids read books? I am not so sure about Indian kids though I find more parents buying books for their children these days.

Kids here read quite a bit, and it's a big part of curriculum here, too. Middle-graders and high school students are so smart and fun... :-)

In The Netherlands (where I grew up), we don't really have author visits, so this is new to me. I love doing author visits.

What's funny is that I read a ton before high school and my pace - while it never stopped - slowed waaaaaay down during high school. And, yeah, I think a great deal of it had to do with the required reading list. Then I hit college and the reading train hasn't stopped since.

Nope. I have always read. The pace speeds up and slows down but is pretty steady. So too my kids and husband. My grandson seems like a reluctant reader though. Have a book to recommend for a six year old, just learning to read?

High school is such a drag, reading wise. You're trying to have a social life, and there's already so much reading for school.

Patti: Try SKIPPYJON JONES (pretty funny) and the BAD KITTY series--not sure if they're too hard, but you can read together, maybe. BIG NATE and CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS are good too.

Funny is king with reluctant readers (gross too, sometimes :-) Reading together is a great way to make it more of a social thing, thus enjoyable. Shel Silverstein is fun too and holds up well for today's kids, and it's short.

During the time I was going to college full time and working full time, I only read fiction during breaks. But, for the most part, I enjoyed the reading for my classes so I was still reading a lot.

If I ever stop reading altogether, have me checked out because something is drastically wrong. ;-)

Hehe :-)

Fleur, like many others I read a lot in my teens, as many as three paperbacks a week that I borrowed from the local circulating library. I used to read books at random. It was a while before I rediscovered the joys of reading, with discpline, and I now make it a point to read a minimum of three books by each author unless it's a Christie or a Wodehouse. My problem is I read across all genres, except romance, so I miss out on reading more books by the same author or reading new fiction in the market. Besides, I also hop from one writer to another who have absolutely nothing in common. For instance, I read a couple of westers recently and right now I am reading READING LIKE A WRITER by Francine Prose and THE PEARL by John Steinbeck. There is no straight path to reading books.

I love how eclectic your reading is, Prashant. One of my new year resolutions is to read more outside my 'box.' I bet you never get bored :-)

The only "con" we have in India are the ones perpetrated by our politicians. But writing workshops, literary festivals and book readings are held more frequently nowadays, though nothing on the scale of Bouchercon or Comic-Con. I'm glad you had a good time. Nothing like a suitcase full of books as a parting gift to oneself.

It was good, Prashant. Though I think I prefer the smaller events--if nothing else, it's easier to find people :-)

Glad you had fun. Have only been to Cleveland once but the Hall of Fame should have been in Detroit.

I agree! Actually, I was thinking they should bring Motown back to Detroit, too...