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Email:
donnadriver68@gmail.com
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Goodreads
Amazon Author Page
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Email:
donnadriver68@gmail.com
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For Teachers and Librarians! My School Presentations! |
I do presentations for several of my novels. I am happy to adapt for large groups, individual classrooms, or small book clubs. My rates are negotiable. I do charge additional travel fees if I need to go more than 50 miles from my home near Nashville.
Speaking at W. A. Wright Elementary School.
I am available to speak at elementary and middle schools about my middle grade novel No One Needed to Know. This book is about a girl dealing with the pressures and responsibilities that come with having an older autistic brother. It is based loosely on my personal experience growing up with an older Autistic brother.
My presentation includes:
I did a 30 minute podcast version of this presentation for Tennessee Library for Accessible Books and Media. Click on this link to listen.
"I felt really good about the entire presentation and the way the kids behaved," Librarian at Stoner Creek Elementary School.
My presentation includes:
- Sharing some of my memories as an autism sibling and teacher of special needs students and how that inspired the writing of this novel.
- A quick overview of autism
- A discussion about bullying with an emphasis on being kind to people with special needs
- Taking a pledge to not be a bully.
I did a 30 minute podcast version of this presentation for Tennessee Library for Accessible Books and Media. Click on this link to listen.
"I felt really good about the entire presentation and the way the kids behaved," Librarian at Stoner Creek Elementary School.
Speaking at West Wilson Middle School in Tennessee
From concept to publication, it took 13 years to make Cry of the Sea the story I wanted it to be. My presentation for schools, libraries, and special events is about the process of revision. Sometimes the first version of a story, poem, song, drawing, etc. isn't the best it could be. Sometimes it takes stepping away for a while and looking at it with fresh eyes. Sometimes it takes several times to get it right.
I tell the story of how I came up with the idea for this novel about a teen environmental activist who discovers real mermaids and the process I went through to write it and revise it until it was of publishable quality. It is an educational and motivational presentation perfect for students 6th-12th grade or any creative people!
In addition to speaking about writing and revision, I have an alternate presentation available about the environmental themes in this award-winning series. I will be happy to speak to classes about the effects of ocean pollution, oil spills, and logging.
I tell the story of how I came up with the idea for this novel about a teen environmental activist who discovers real mermaids and the process I went through to write it and revise it until it was of publishable quality. It is an educational and motivational presentation perfect for students 6th-12th grade or any creative people!
In addition to speaking about writing and revision, I have an alternate presentation available about the environmental themes in this award-winning series. I will be happy to speak to classes about the effects of ocean pollution, oil spills, and logging.
Lost on the Water - A Ghost Story is a spooky contemporary adventure story perfect for middle school and younger high school readers. It's the story of a girl visiting her grandmother in rural Tennessee who sneaks out in a rickety old rowboat to catch up to a group of boys camping overnight on an island in the lake. Only, the boat just might be haunted.
The writing of this book got a little lost, too, as I went through many rewrites to find the right setting and traits of the main characters to tell the story effectively. I do a presentation about choosing setting and characters and why they make a difference. This is an especially fun book and presentation for schools in middle Tennessee, as this book is set at Center Hill Lake, TN.
The writing of this book got a little lost, too, as I went through many rewrites to find the right setting and traits of the main characters to tell the story effectively. I do a presentation about choosing setting and characters and why they make a difference. This is an especially fun book and presentation for schools in middle Tennessee, as this book is set at Center Hill Lake, TN.
I have been a speaker or panelist at many schools, libraries, and special events. Some of my favorites include: Middle TN Youth Writing Workshop (at MTSU), Alabama School Library Association conference, Tennessee Association of School Librarians, Wizard World Comic Con Nashville, Southern Kentucky Festival of Books, LibertyCon, Chattacon, and Hypericon. I would love to speak at your special event, so please contact me at donnadriver68@gmail.com.
What am I working on right now? (as of June 21, 2020)
The school where I work was closed for two months this spring, and I took advantage of that time to finish my first women's fiction novel, Attitude of Grace. I'm feeling good about the way it came out and have started querying agents. Fingers crossed. I'm going to continue in this direction for a while and have been coming up with other story ideas.
On that topic, just yesterday, I wrote the first 2,000 words of a new project. This is also going to be a romantic story, but I'm writing it specifically to be turned into an audiobook. I'll share more about this later. I've got a collaborator working with me on it, though, and I'm very excited about it.
Collaboration is the word of the year for me. Along with the project just mentioned, I have authors working with me on revising two old middle grade manuscripts of mine, one a contemporary fantasy and the other a historical fiction. They are both in the process of reading what I've previously written and making their revisions. Out of my hands for the moment, but I'm very eager to see how it all turns out. Also out of my hands are the illustrations for my first picture book, Matching Costumes, which is slated to be published this fall by Huskies Pub and MacLaren Cochrane Publishers. I'm told the illustrations are done and they are in the process of finishing up. I can not wait to see how it turned out!
Earlier in the spring I cleaned up a feel-good short story called "The World in a Day", and you can read it for free on my blog. www.dgdriver.com/write-and-rewrite-blog/the-world-in-a-day-a-free-short-story
And here's another story called "Candid Moments" that I posted a few months back. http://www.dgdriver.com/write-and-rewrite-blog/candid-moments-a-short-story-by-d-g-driver
To keep up with my progress, please follow me at Facebook https://www.facebook.com/donnagdriver/
As always, I post cool mermaid and fantasy pictures regularly on my Instagram account along with other silly stuff. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter to participate or enjoy the posts.
The school where I work was closed for two months this spring, and I took advantage of that time to finish my first women's fiction novel, Attitude of Grace. I'm feeling good about the way it came out and have started querying agents. Fingers crossed. I'm going to continue in this direction for a while and have been coming up with other story ideas.
On that topic, just yesterday, I wrote the first 2,000 words of a new project. This is also going to be a romantic story, but I'm writing it specifically to be turned into an audiobook. I'll share more about this later. I've got a collaborator working with me on it, though, and I'm very excited about it.
Collaboration is the word of the year for me. Along with the project just mentioned, I have authors working with me on revising two old middle grade manuscripts of mine, one a contemporary fantasy and the other a historical fiction. They are both in the process of reading what I've previously written and making their revisions. Out of my hands for the moment, but I'm very eager to see how it all turns out. Also out of my hands are the illustrations for my first picture book, Matching Costumes, which is slated to be published this fall by Huskies Pub and MacLaren Cochrane Publishers. I'm told the illustrations are done and they are in the process of finishing up. I can not wait to see how it turned out!
Earlier in the spring I cleaned up a feel-good short story called "The World in a Day", and you can read it for free on my blog. www.dgdriver.com/write-and-rewrite-blog/the-world-in-a-day-a-free-short-story
And here's another story called "Candid Moments" that I posted a few months back. http://www.dgdriver.com/write-and-rewrite-blog/candid-moments-a-short-story-by-d-g-driver
To keep up with my progress, please follow me at Facebook https://www.facebook.com/donnagdriver/
As always, I post cool mermaid and fantasy pictures regularly on my Instagram account along with other silly stuff. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter to participate or enjoy the posts.