"Put It Out There!”

There he was! Graham Salisbury, author, speaker, and mentor, stood several feet in front of me draped in leis! About nine months ago, on September 14, 2014 I attended the premiere of the movie, Under the Blood Red Sun, at the Hawaii Theatre.

I was at the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans’ “Meet and Greet” Reception with well-known author, Graham Salisbury, who was being inducted as an Honorary Member of the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans organization 
http://www.100thbattalion.org/.

I watched as he smiled and greeted members of the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans organization, fans and old friends. I wrestled back and forth with my desire to have a photo op with him. The formal program was about to begin. I had waited too long. Shucks!

I was so excited to sit in the second row. Graham Salisbury spoke about growing up in Hawai’i and discovering his love of reading at the age of 30! I made a mental note to share this with my students. It was never too late to love to read! He discovered he was a writer at the age of 40. He later chuckled as he said, “Revising is the best part of writing. Coming up with an idea for a book is the hard part.” What?! I couldn’t believe that I didn’t record this interview! I’ve missed so many great quotes that I could’ve shared with my students! I sat there disappointed and annoyed. No photo op or video clips of the interview. Sigh...

During the dinner reception, I watched as the President of the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans organization, Lloyd Kitaoka, guided Graham Salisbury toward the dining area. It looked like they were headed to our table! My friend and I quickly glanced and smiled at each other. I couldn’t believe my luck! Lloyd brought him over and sat him down right next to me! I was so excited and so nervous! I reached out and touched my iPad. Maybe, I could finally get a photo with Graham Salisbury. I tried to keep my cool as we ate dinner and made small talk. He was so friendly, humble, and easy to talk to.

His passion for writing and revising were evident during our conversations. I shared that one of my student athletes was inspired to read his novel, Under the Blood Red Sun, after attending the Hawai’i premier of the movie (the DVD is now available). This student’s enthusiasm sparked other students’ interest in reading the novel. As a result, Under the Blood Red Sun is on our 2015 summer reading list. His eyes twinkled and he smiled as he spoke to us about his life, his writing, and his latest project. He was really excited about what he was currently writing, and hoped that it would be well received.

I asked him if, once his stories were finished and off to the publisher, did he ever miss the characters that had lived in his mind for so long? He smiled and said, “Just a little.” However, he had so many stories to write, there didn’t seem to be time to miss those characters. He enjoyed writing the Calvin series because he had a chance to continue to "live" with the character.

He and our librarian discussed the series and how much our younger students enjoyed looking at the map of Calvin’s neighborhood, since many of them were familiar with Kailua, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu.

As I listened and watched, it occurred to me that having Graham Salisbury share a personal message about revising, would inspire my students. I wavered back and forth. He was still eating his dinner, and I was nervous about his reaction. I wish that I could've whispered to my friend to ask what she thought, but she was sitting across the table. Finally, I built up my courage, took a deep breath, and put on what I hoped was a charming smile, and asked if he wouldn’t mind recording a short message for my students.

I held my breath as my friend looked over with a surprised expression. Graham Salisbury glanced over with a big smile and said, "Sure." To my delight, he seemed excited to do this. Forget the photo op! I get to have a video message with Graham Salisbury! I could barely contain my enthusiasm, as my friend fumbled with my iPad to record the message. I could tell that she was taken aback by my boldness or maybe his by willingness to do the video. It took several takes, but he was such a good sport. We laughed and rolled our eyes at each other between takes. He gave me a high-five at the end of the final take. He was just as excited as I was to watch the video message. We grinned and laughed as we watched the video. I couldn't believe my good fortune. My students are going to be thrilled. I couldn't wait to see the expressions on their faces. I will definitely record that.

During dinner he had asked me if I viewed myself as a writer. I shared that I was an aspiring blogger and that I had a list of what I wanted to write. However, taking the next steps to publish my thoughts publicly, still terrified me. His response? “Put it out there! Not everybody is going to like it, but that's okay. Just put it out there." At the end of the evening, Graham Salisbury gave me a warm hug, an encouraging smile, and challenged me. Smiling and pointing his finger, he said loudly, “Put it out there!” He then added, “I’ll read your blog soon, right?”

All I could do was clutch my iPad nervously. I nodded and smiled back, “Yes, yes. I’ll send you a link to the blog.” I turned to my friend who looked amazed at what had transpired.

Talk about anxiety! The pressure was on. I had a famous author, challenging me to write and take a risk. Knowing that he would be part of my audience was exciting and overwhelming. I reminded myself, as I walked to my car, that I asked my students to take risks every day. Now it was my turn for risk taking and putting myself out there.

Thank you, Graham Salisbury, for inspiring my students to find joy in reading and for encouraging them to view revising as the best part of the writing process. Mahalo nui loa for challenging me, their teacher, to just “Put it out there!”

So here it is...my 2nd blog. Inspired by Graham Salisbury, author, speaker, and mentor.

**Thank you for reading my 2nd blog. I would love comments, but I'm not sure what I did to block them. Please leave a comment on my twitter account @mrsdyr or at google+. With appreciation and aloha!