Mr. Beckeman's Blog

Ms. Sherri Winston, graduate of Muskegon Heights High School and Michigan State University, came home to visit friends and family and made time to visit our campus to talk about her new book The Kayla Chronicles.

Mrs. Burton, English department team leader organized the visit and hosted a packed room of interested students to hear Ms. Winston speak about her writing background.

Mr. Krispin kept notes and provided a few excerpts from her dialogue with our students:

Ms. Winston said she wanted to write books that feature African-American characters, who “just were” black but you did not have to be black to understand them.  She usually writes about intellectuals who have interest in journalism like she was.  Her book The Kayla Chronicles centers around the question” “What kind of a woman do I want to be?”  Her character did something she “didn’t have the courage to do in high school”, join a dance team.

Ms. Winston spoke about the business side of writing, which she admitted was all new to her.  She said it was strange to be promoting a book she wrote three years ago.  It takes her about a year to work through the process from beginning to end.

She was asked by students if being from Muskegon impacted her writing.  She said she has to get in touch with her younger self when she writes, and that means thinking about Muskegon.  She pictures herself walking to school in the snow, cheeks cold, feet slushy, etc.

(Ms. Sherri Winston addresses the class )

Ms. Winston said, “I am the most undisciplined write I know!”.  She writes about an hour a day and at night when her kids won’t ask her questions and distract her.

Senior Aurora Lammi shared, “It was fun to see an author that thoroughly enjoyed writing ever since she started writing.  She had a great personality and wrote books that were interesting and pushed her to write to her fullest ability.”

Junior Eric Hester said, “I had never met a published author in person before.  It was interesting to see a person behind the page, and to find that this person was so fun and energetic.”

Her final comments validated what our instructors have been teaching, the 6 traits of writing.  She said, “These fundamentals are the avenue to creating not only published novels, but all writing.”

Our students were fortunate to have the opportunity to listen in and enjoy a question/answer session with Ms. Winston.  Thanks to Mrs. Burton for organizing the event on behalf of our students!