Kristin’s workshop consisted of two parts:  First, she conducted a creative writing activity with all of the classes.  She encouraged students to develop a scenario by choosing characters (man, woman, boy, girl), followed by an action verb that demonstrated contact (slapped, hugged, shoved), which was done to another character (man, woman, boy, girl).  Based upon these three decisions, students were able to create widely different, and in many cases, very imaginative story lines in less than 40 minutes.  She showed them that it’s easy to get the creative juices flowing by simply diving in.

Day two of the workshop was spent sharing stories that students had worked on overnight, talking about her new book, Thirsty, along with the publishing process, the importance of perseverance, and  life as an expatriate in China.  Two of Kristin’s key messages were extremely profound and undoubtedly left an impression on our students:  First, she encouraged the students to believe in themselves and stressed the importance of not relying on someone else’s belief in them. Kristin spoke about being tenacious in life and of the 16 year long process that ultimately led to the publication of her book.  To 16 year olds, the idea that it could take a short lifetime to meet one’s goal is totally incomprehensible, but her story drove home the message that life isn’t about instant gratification; that sometimes the most precious rewards are those for which we fight long and hard.   Kristin’s second message was to be more appreciative of the rights and privileges afforded to us as American citizens. Many citizens of the world simply do not have the same opportunities.  Her discussion of the censorship she endures as a writer in China was very eye opening, especially to the journalism and media studies students.