School Visits
Interacting with children at schools, libraries or film centers is an exciting perk of being a children’s author. Despite the fun, I know a lot of planning goes into putting on a successful author’s visit. With that in mind, the following information will hopefully serve to answer questions and provide an overview of the programs I offer. Please feel free to contact me with additional questions.
PROGRAMS
Books We Love to Watch; Movies We Love to Read
Students love to watch movies, especially ones based on their favorite books. Sometimes, they forget that all movies start with a written script. In fact, writing is a critical part of moviemaking. By weaving in examples from books and movies, and including her own video moviemaking tips, Julie leads students on a high-energy, interactive exploration of the writing process. She offers valuable advice on how to brainstorm story ideas and eliminate fear of failure from the creative process. Julie highlights the importance of character, plot, conflict, and resolution in both stories and screenplays. Finally, Julie offers funny anecdotes from her own journey to publication to prove the importance of persistence and never giving up.
The Big Build (writing workshop)
Where do story ideas come from? How do you take an idea and shape it into a written story? Using creative exercises, Julie demonstrates how to build a story from the ground up, beginning with the essential foundation of a strong idea. She shows students how to generate ideas by leading them through a fun, fast-paced brainstorming session. Photos, paintings, personal experiences—they’re all raw material the imagination can use. Julie discusses the important building blocks of narrative writing, and allows time for students to construct their own stories with the blueprints they have created. Lastly, Julie hammers home the importance of revision in crafting a strong story.
For information on school visits, please contact Julie using her Contact Page.
Reaction to Julie Mata’s presentations:
“Bringing in an author, published by Disney-Hyperion, with a book about a young girl making movies was a winning combination for us. Julie Mata was a gracious guest, a wonderful speaker, good communicator, and showed up on time for everything, so professional, and approachable to students.”
Julie Anderson Friesen, Founder & Programmer, Cinema Falls
“Author Julie Mata presented a wonderful writing workshop for children during the Sheboygan Children’s Book Festival, including useful information about getting a story started and how to brainstorm ideas. The children really enjoyed the interactive participation and were excited to begin their individual works. By the end of the hour, the children had each made a good start on a story. It was a great program.”
Karin Menzer, Co-chair, Sheboygan Children’s Book Festival
“I highly recommend having Julie Mata come and speak to your students! Her presentation, “Books We Love to Watch, Movie We Love to Read, fits perfectly with the Language Arts Common Core standards on writing. It is quite enjoyable and informative for students, and gives them a renewed eagerness for writing!”
Heather Hansen, Library Media Specialist
“Julie Mata inspired the students with video clips, excerpts from her book, and walked them through the writing process of editing and revising. Following her presentation, the principals and teachers shared with me how students were all discussing ideas for their own next book. Some of them started to follow Julie’s tweets and video tips on Instagram. Julie’s passion and kind presence allowed students to see authors as creators of new worlds.”
Michelle Doman, Literacy Coach and Specialist
“Julie Mata artfully wove her experiences as a writer into an interactive workshop that had the kids thinking, talking and writing about ideas, characters, plot, conflict and satisfying endings. Mata’s visit was the perfect way to launch my sixth-graders into the world of fiction writing.”
Kathy Horejs, 6th grade reading & language arts teacher