Last week, Lauren Simone Publishing House collaborated with Love of Literature, Inc. (LOL) and Brown Girl, Brown Boy (BBBG) hosting a one-week camp called Lil Authorpreneur Virtual Camp.
Facilitated by Melissa-Sue John, Ph.D., the meetings started on time and went smoothly.
Each day there was a different lesson and guest speakers who were professional authors, editors, or illustrators. Among these presenters were Tashia Beaty, Dr. Renae Skelton, Kristy High, LaShawn Toomer, Zoe Knibb, Yvette Phillips, Dr. Tamira Butler-Likely, Carrie Fisher, and Leslie Crawford. We had more than 24 participants from 4 countries and 10 U.S. states.
The first day 12 year old, Olivia Lauren John, co-author of the Olivia Lauren Series, taught children how to write a story using the setting, characters, problem, and resolution.
J Randall assisted teaching about figurative language and other elements to the story.
The second-day local author and poet, James Black, taught how to write poetry using figurative language (alliteration, metaphors, similes, etc.).
On the third day, 12-year-old, Clara-Jane Quinn taught how to illustrate a comic strip.
On the fourth-day author Teresa Baker from Flint, Michigan taught about various publishing options (traditional, self, and hybrid).
And the final day, Imani Ariana Grant, an 11-year-old child entrepreneur and author of two books, Disco Balls of the Universe and The Golden Life of Sally Sunflower opened up talking about branding.
E-commerce expert, Shaneika Burchell-Kerr from Breakthrough to Entrepreneur, followed up explaining how to market yourself as an author using multiple models of business.
It was an awesome event. All of this occurred in the midst of a pandemic, Hurricane Isaias, technical difficulties, and yet the children remained resilient, engaged, and were disappointed when it came to an end. So many parents expressed their gratitude saying we helped children get back into the school mode, gave them a few hours to themselves, and commented that their children learned a ton of new skills, gained a breadth of knowledge, had fun, and made new friends.
Thank you to all who attended as a student camper, featured author, and guest presenter. We are successful because of your efforts! We appreciate you.
Sincerely,
