Who We Are

    We are Dave and Neta Jackson, the husband/wife writing team of the award-winning TRAILBLAZER series of 40 historical fiction novels for young readers about great Christian heroes that have sold over 1.7 million copies! Also the authors of HERO TALES: A Family Treasury of True Stories from the lives of Christian Heroes (Vols. I, II, III, IV).

What We Offer

    A one-day seminar for kids consists of three workshops:

    1. Your Character Makes Your Story--how a story plot grows when you develop your character's character.
    2. Point of View--choosing who's telling your story; how a story can change depending on whose point of view it is told from.
    3. Dramatic Writing--how to "show, not tell," through description, dialogue, action.

    All workshops have fun exercises, both individual and in mini-groups.

Suggested Schedule (We like 75-90 minutes per workshop):

Size of Workshops

Our minimum is 30 students with a maximum of 50 per day. We ask that the sponsoring homeschool group guarantee our minimum number by being prepared to cover the difference if the minimum is not met. A group that schedules two days could average this minimum (e.g., 25 one day, 35 the next, etc.).

Age Level

Our workshops are geared primarily for the 4th through 9th grade age range. A workshop works best if the students are within a three- or four-year age range (e.g., 4th through 6th or 5th through 8th). If your homeschool group is large, we recommend doing two days and dividing the students between days (e.g., 4th through 6th on Day One; 7th through 9th on Day Two) if there is an average of at least 30 students each day.

The Cost

We charge $40 per student for a day-long workshop ($30 for the second child in the family), and pay all our own expenses including airfare and lodging.

NOTE: For any location to which we need to fly and/or stay overnight, we need to schedule at least two days, preferably three (e.g., could be three different groups OR two groups, with one group scheduling two days--with one day for younger students and a second day for older students), so we may ask you to help us book additional events in your area. E-mail us to discuss.

Equipment Needed

You would need to provide:

• 4-8 tables in V-shape with chairs
• Room for students to move around, get in mini-groups on the floor
• Markerboard (or chalkboard) and erasable markers
• Overhead projector and screen (or blank, white wall)

Book Table

Please provide two tables for a Book Table, as we will bring Trailblazer Books and Hero Tales (vols. I--IV) to sell and autograph for the kids.

Parents' Workshop Option!

We also offer an evening workshops for homeschool parents!

• Have Fun with Creative Writing!

    Allow 90 minutes for the presentation, plus time for book signing and answering informal questions if you desire.

    We charge $200 for this workshop and provide helpful handouts.

    A parent workshop could be held the evening before the student workshops or the evening of the same day, depending on the individual situation. We can discuss how that would best be arranged.

For Christian Schools

    Christian schools that would like to schedule us either for an Author Day or a Writing Seminar should e-mail us for details.

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    We hope this information is helpful. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or to discuss possible dates.

How to Contact Us

   Please respond first by e-mail: DaveNeta(at)daveneta(dot)com
(In an attempt to reduce the amount of spam we receive, the above address is no longer a hot link which Web crawlers can harvest automatically, but you can use it by substituting the @ symbol for (at) and a period for (dot). Of course, remove the parenthesis marks.)

    Or send conventional mail to: