When Sarah Seaton Myers, author or coauthor of 17 books and ghostwriter of 10 books, was invited to speak to students at Eagleton College and Career Academy, she immediately accepted. As a former Eagleton student, she was pleased to have been invited back to her alma mater, where she attended kindergarten through eighth grade before its transition to a middle school and most recently, Eagleton College and Career Academy.
“I remained Facebook friends with one of my favorite teachers, my sixth-grade English teacher, Callen Parsley,” Myers said. “She had been keeping up with the books I’ve been publishing, and she reached out one day and asked if I would be willing to come out and speak to the students. I ended up speaking to all of the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders,” about 400 students.
Parsley said, “I chose Sarah as a presenter because she is an example of an outstanding alumni of Eagleton. I also wanted students to be presented with an understanding of how writing can connect to real life. The program was about the importance of writing and how she has used it to make a lucrative career. I discovered her career as a writer through her Facebook page.”
Advice to budding authors
Against a backdrop of many of her published books displayed on a table, Myers spoke about her school days at Eagleton. “I shared one funny memory of Mrs. Parsley explaining what verbs were and then doing a cartwheel in the middle of the class and saying, ‘That’s a verb!’” Myers said with a laugh. “She had a lot of energy, and I was drawn to that. She always stuck out in my mind when I think about my time at Eagleton.”
She spoke about her education, work history and being a homeschooling mother to four children. She told the students her career as an author began two years ago when she wrote “Letters from Papaw: Stories from Cades Cove and the Great Smoky Mountains,” a tribute to her beloved father-in-law, Leon Myers, after his death in 2020. “I told them about how Leon’s death had spurred me writing and how after I wrote ‘Letters from Papaw,” other avenues opened up,” she said.
“I talked about being creative with their writing, and I encouraged the ones who are interested in writing to keep some kind of journal, maybe keep it by their bed almost like a dream journal so when they have ideas, they can jot them down,” Myers said. “I explained the difference between self-publishing and publishing by the traditional route, and told them why I decided to self-publish. I created handouts for them, one on writing a book and the other an overview of self-publishing just to get them started.
“I also talked about ghostwriting, and they were very intrigued at what ghostwriting meant.”
Myers encouraged the students to read as much as possible, whether they aspired to be authors or not, by physically holding a book, listening to an audio book, having someone read to them or listening to YouTube channels where someone is reading a favorite book.
“If they can have reading in their lives, they can become better speakers and better writers,” Myers said. “Whether they want to be a physician or a plumber, this will put them above and beyond others who are interested in the same jobs.”
After the presentation, the students asked some excellent questions, including about how much money they could make writing, how to overcome writers block and if Myers would promote books they may write.
“I’m hoping to have an opportunity to follow up with some of them if they decide to pursue writing,” Myers said. “I really would love to see their work.”
Opportunities
Eagleton College and Career Academy, served grades 6-11, this year, Parsley explained, then added, “We will be adding our first senior class next school year. Serving students in the Eagleton and Rockford communities, ECCA is a true community school with a mission to celebrate, challenge and serve our students. The 6-12 model allows us to serve our students and families from the beginning of middle school through high school graduation.”
Myers said she was amazed at the opportunities offered at the school.
“They are constantly bringing in different people from all different walks of life, people who have taken different career paths, and exposing the students to that,” she said. “I think that’s really important, and something I want for my kids, to be exposed to different avenues, to professionals who will say, ‘this is what I do, what a typical day looks like,’ and then give the students an opportunity to ask questions.”
Parsley was pleased to have one of her former students return to the school and speak to students.
“I am so proud of Sarah and her writing career,” Parsley said. “She definitely is a shining light for our school with her success. It was so wonderful she was willing to give back to her former school by presenting to our students.”
In addition to “Letters from Papaw,” Myers has written four books in her Buried Reserve Series, “Below,” “Above,” “Beyond” and the most recent, “Within,” scheduled for release June 5. For information about these and other books she has written, visit her website at sarahseatonmyers.com or her Facebook page, Sarah Seaton Myers, Author.
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