Literature and Composition teacher Sarah Anderson recommends a reading list for her students and other young adult literature fans who follow her Twitter. After seeing her name and the title of her book, A Psalm for Lost Girls, author Katie Bayerl contacted her to offer to Skype with one of her English classes.

“I’ve been skyping authors since 2010, but Katie Bayerl contacted me about posting something about her book, and offered to Skype with my class,” Anderson said. “The class asked her a lot of questions about the book itself and she connected her advice directly to her book. She talked about the publishing process and how long it takes for traditionally published books, which is usually a couple years.”

While conveying to the freshman honors class what it is like to be an author, Bayerl was also able to give advice about their short story assignments they have been writing.

“She told us to take a break from writing a piece or organize the plot if you have writer’s block,” freshman Karenna Mansour said. “It connected with the unit we just finished because we were writing short stories in which a lot of us were stuck.”

The advice Bayerl was able to give was not only applicable for writing assignments but also for students hoping to become a writer someday.

“A lot of my students want to be write well and are aspiring authors,” Anderson said. “Overall it made them feel a little more confident because they asked mature questions and were able to gain a lot of information. They realized that she’s a normal person like they are and anyone can be a good writer.”