I recently had the honor of addressing a masters writing class at Overton High School in Memphis. We spoke together from lunch until the day-end bell about writing, publishing, and the industry. What an amazing, determined group of minds!

The teacher, Shannon Marszalek, who arranged for the meeting, fills a necessary role of encourager; it’s obvious she adores and respects the talent of her kids.

I spoke with poets, mainstream writers, and a science fiction writer (in whom I recognized a kindred spirit). Each young adult was as interested in the business of writing as well as writing itself, which I feel is such an important element.

I have often spoken of “writing as a business” at conferences and conventions, but one refreshing aspect to this particular engagement was how open the students were to the idea. One student, Johnathan Anderson, has already begun the long journey of building a platform by organizing a web site for teen writers—still in the creation phase—and is soliciting the writing community for support. When the site goes live I’ll be sure to update everyone!

I also extended a warm welcome for them to check out a writers group I’m involved in: Memphis-Area Word Catchers (www.wordcatchers.org). We’ve got teen writers, beginning writers, professional writers, and we’re all about friendship and encouragement.

And I’m sure hoping Ms. Marszalek and the students alike will join us for the writers’ conference at MidSouthCon in March of ’10. There’s so much fun and learning to be had, plus I’d like the opportunity to meet them each again—because I’m pretty certain this bunch of teens, who we view as “writers of tomorrow” might sooner than we think be the writers of today!