Lauren Simone Publishing House and Hospitality Kidz hosted an online workshop entitled, "Intro to Authorship" on Thursday, July 16th at 12pm EST. Marsha Williams Lucchesi is the owner and operator of Hospitality Kidz. Melissa-Sue John is the co-owner of Lauren Simone Pubs. Marsha and Melissa-Sue have been friends since they were 7 years old. It speaks to the testament about the longevity of friendships, the collaboration of colleagues, and the importance of staying in touch.
Hospitality Kidz is a facility located in Trelawny, Jamaica. It is dedicated to the needs of parents and guardians working within the hospitality industry and caring for young children aged 4-15. Now they have opened their services to all parents who have a computer and wifi. Recently, they have launched virtual playdates to keep young kids engaged.
They offer a host of activities from cooking classes to movie trivia to jump rope competitions. Visit their website to see the full programming. The program goes up until August 10th.
About 20 children joined from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Jamaica, and Canada joined for the fun! The workshop began with an introduction from the host. Olivia Lauren, co-owner of Lauren Simone Publishing House, author, and inspiration of the Olivia Lauren series introduced herself and her book series, which are now on sale if you collect them all!
Olivia shared with the children about her experience as an actor, model, author, and publisher. She asked the children to state their names, locations, hobbies, and career aspirations and she told them to "Believe in yourself, always" and that they could be whatever they made up their minds to be.
She then explained the process of writing a good story by beginning with the key elements that every good story has. She read Corduroy by Don Freeman.
We chose this book because this was the first book Olivia received when she was born, so it had sentimental reasons. Also, it was a short story that younger children could follow. It has a good message that all could relate to. After which the children discussed what the setting, characters, problem, and solutions were. Every child answered confidently and correctly. Next, it was their turn to write their own story. In 10 to 15 minutes, every child had a beautifully crafted story that had the essential elements of a story. They wrote about being on a soccer field and losing their ball, shopping for birthday presents but not having enough money, always wanting a dog but not having their parents' permission, and fantasies about underwater creatures.
What a creative bunch! Olivia encouraged them to continue working on their story. We thanked them for joining and shared our contact information if they wanted to get in touch and learn more!
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It was a great experience for Olivia Lauren, the children, and the parents provided excellent feedback about the value and content.