Connect Canyons
Learning is about making connections, and we invite you to learn and connect with us. Connect Canyons is a show about what we teach in Canyons District, how we teach, and why. We get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great: students, teachers, principals, parents, and more. We meet national experts, too. And we spotlight the “connection makers” — personalities, programs and prospects — we find compelling and inspiring.
Connect Canyons
Episode 48: Eastmont Middle Teacher-Turned-Author Living a Fantasy with Book Deal
Imagine a world of floating islands, sky serpents, and thrilling duels - sounds like something out of a fantasy novel, right? Well, our guest, Mark Gregson has turned this fantasy into reality in his trilogy 'Above the Black'. As a seventh-grade ELA teacher by day and an author by night, Mark exemplifies how to turn passion into purpose. With tenacity and perseverance, he's inked a three-book deal and is teaching his students invaluable lessons of grit and determination.
This episode takes you behind the scenes of Mark's inspiring journey. From the reveal of his first book's cover art to his students, to his unique perspective on teaching, writing, and revising, Mark's story is a testament to the power of pursuing dreams. His real-life example of patience and improvement is a lesson not just for his students, but for all of us. Even as he stands on the precipice of potential literary stardom, his love for teaching and inspiring young minds remains unwavering. Join us on Connect Canyons and let Mark's story inspire you to chase your own dreams with grit and determination.
Teacher who inspires students daily through different methods, but nothing is as powerful as leading by example. Mark Grexton, a seventh grade ELA teacher at Eastmont Middle School, shared a life lesson of grit when pursuing dreams. When he's not teaching, grexton is writing and creating young adult fiction, something he works on in the wee hours of the morning and late into the night. After ten years of trying, he signed with an agent and scored a three-book deal with a publisher and has shared his journey with his students. On May 26, grexton shared an exciting part of his book publishing journey when he arranged for the kids at Eastmont to get a sneak peek at the cover art of his first book. He made an agreement with his publishers that the students could see the cover art early under one condition, and that he sees it for the first time with them. The excitement in the room was evident as the kids cheered through a countdown to the cover reveal. It was obviously a moment that many will remember and be inspired by as they pursue their own goals.
Speaker 3:Three, two, one.
Speaker 1:I'm Stephanie Christensen and this is Connect Canyons.
Speaker 3:Welcome to Connect Canyons, a podcast sponsored by Canyons School District. This is a show about what we teach, how we teach and why We get up close and personal with some of the people who make our schools great Students, teachers, principals, parents and more. We meet national experts too. Learning is about making connections, so connect with us.
Speaker 1:Recently I caught up with Grexton and here's that discussion. Tell us about your books.
Speaker 2:My book is called Sky's End and it's book one of a trilogy, and the trilogy is called Above the Black. My book is set on floating islands in the sky sky ships, sky serpents. We've got vicious duels, dueling canes, a twisted meritocracy where there's only winners and losers. It's kind of like Attack on Titan meets Hunger Games. That's how my publisher is pitching it.
Speaker 1:So, as a teacher, how did you find time to write a book, let alone a trilogy?
Speaker 2:Well, i think that people often try to make time for the things that they really enjoy, and so I love writing. It's a big passion of mine. When I first started teaching, my first couple of years, i didn't write as much because I was so preoccupied with my lessons and making sure that I was effective. But I have sense, i wake up early in the morning and I try to write before work, and then I try to maybe write for an hour or two each night if I can. I just try to be consistent and write as much as I can, and because I like it so much, it's not as difficult for me to find time in the day to do it.
Speaker 1:I think that's what a great lesson for your students too, to say. You know, if you really have a passion, no matter what you're doing in your life, you can continue to chase that dream and make time for it, because creativity takes time, and I don't think people often remember creativity's work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you have to really want it, and getting published is so difficult, like getting an agent. I had to get an agent first and getting an agent took me 10 years, and so I actually before Sky's End. I wrote five books before Sky's End And I kept getting better and better and better.
Speaker 1:How much have you shared with your students, and how do you translate this into lessons for your students?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, my students are actually there the perfect age as far as like giant monsters and things like that. My books got with these giant sky serpents And so I actually have a whole wall of like fan art of students who've been drawing things. You know, and one of the things I try to emphasize to my students as well, because a lot of them are like, like to write, and that's actually one of my fast finishers. If you finish your work early and you don't have one working in another class and you got five minutes, then you know, sit down, you can write something, and anytime they can just get excited about writing is great to see, but I tell my students it's. You know. I watched this video with Jack Black. He's so great And he was just dropping some wisdom while he was drinking a Slurpee.
Speaker 1:How did you do?
Speaker 2:And they asked him how to break into into like filmmaking And he said embrace being bad. It's like it's okay to be bad when you first start out. Just get out there and just start creating. Just be bad and be okay with it. And then the more that you practice it, the better at it you're going to become. And then eventually you'll surprise yourself. You'll be having fun while you're being bad and then you'll surprise yourself after a couple years that suddenly you're not bad anymore. You're starting to get pretty good at this.
Speaker 1:So have you found that when you're teaching students about writing, you're able to say hey, i'm an actual, a published writer, now that you get a little more cred with your students.
Speaker 2:I think it does give them some credibility, especially when I talk about revising Students. A lot of students think, once they finish the hit period, at the very end of the essay or whatever, that all their work is done For myself. Like when I'm writing, i have like a very, very, very rough first draft and then I spend probably twice as long editing what I wrote out there. So you know, the process of writing is usually our first ideas are not our best ideas, and so it's just a process of revision and going back and making the best you can.
Speaker 1:Say your book does take off like the Hunger Games.
Speaker 2:Do you continue to teach? I love teaching. It's it's been my favorite job that I've had and I would like to continue teaching as long as possible. If things picked up to the point of where it's not feasible I'm getting sent to conferences all the time and I have lots of obligations then I'd have to look at it, but I love teaching.
Speaker 1:Did I read that your books already are optioned?
Speaker 2:So yeah, so book one we got our deal back in my agent and I. We got the offer back in January last year actually happened in my seventh period class and it was like I noticed it. I told my students and the whole room was like cheering. It was crazy. So I got the offer last year during my seventh period and then I got the offer for books two and three this year and I think it was my seventh period again, so it came at the same time each time.
Speaker 1:I think seven might be your lucky number for now Apparently.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, i the first book. they were hinting, my publisher was hinting, my editor at the publisher was hinting that they wanted more and then outright, like in September of last year, he said I'm ready to see book two and an outline for book three and my agent and I were like whoa and she's like no, don't miss this out Future is really good, no pressure, no pressure because she's like, if you do this right, we might get a two book deal and then you have all three.
Speaker 2:And so I I spent just hours. I was writing maybe four hours a day, and I'd already been writing it before. But that was really like the kick in the pants that got me to finish the whole thing and I got it to my editor in February and when he finally got to it he read it in just a few days and we had the offer the next week and for books two and three. So it was pretty amazing. And first one's coming out January 2nd next year, and then the sequel among serpents is planned for January 25, and then the finale, which I'm writing right now, downfall, is coming out January 26.
Speaker 1:Will this be assigned as a class reading assignment?
Speaker 2:No, no. So, um, it's funny thinking about like book reports for next year because, like once we get past, you know, january, i'm assuming that my last two book reports I'm going to start seeing students who are going to be doing book reports on. That's going to be surreal. Looking at book reports on my own book and I'm like, if you do my book, guys, i know it pretty well, so don't try to fake your way through this one.
Speaker 1:So what advice would you give to kids that are interested in being authors?
Speaker 2:Well, if they're interested in being an author, just you know, really enjoy the process of creating and understand that it's not easy. Think about like the zone, like in teaching, in the zone of proximal development when we first start something, it's very frustrating for us and it can make ourselves very miserable and unhappy. But LeBron James didn't become LeBron James just immediately picking up the basketball. Yes, he's probably was like born athletic, but he still had to go in there and spend thousands of hours in the gym practicing. And I think if we feed our inner critic, we feed that imposter syndrome telling ourselves that we're not good enough, then that's going to make us quit. So you just have to keep practicing until you reach that zone where it's challenging, but not so challenging that it's not fun.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. And as far as for parents that have children that are interested in becoming authors, how would you suggest that they help nurture that talent?
Speaker 2:Well, reading, i think, is going to be the primary thing. Read good books and read bad books, books that you don't like, and try to figure out why you don't like them. That's that's a really good thing to do. You practice and figure out what exactly about the book you didn't like or the writing that you didn't like. So I think that's really key. That's a good idea.
Speaker 1:It's interesting you said that about reading even bad books. Martin Scorsese has a big thing about watching tons of B movies, because that's like one of the best film educations you can get is from watching, because you learn from the good and the bad. Yeah, being able to dissect things and figure out well, this worked because why, or this didn't work really is that critical?
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, it's like when. so like as a teacher, when I'm projecting something for students, I give them an example and a non-example, And so we can learn a lot from the non-example. Sometimes it can be overwhelming looking at the great example, the 100%. There's a lot that they put into it. But then when you look at the non-example, most of the students are like oh yeah, that was kind of lazy.
Speaker 1:I can do better than that. How exciting will it be, though, when you're walking through the library at Eastmont and your books on display?
Speaker 2:I mean it's going to be surreal. It's really a strange feeling. You know, like after I got the book deal, i kind of was just like chuckling because it was something I'd been daydreaming about for like 20 years. And it was funny. Like after I like celebrated with my wife stuff, i went and sat outside in my backyard And it was just like the wind was just blowing like normal, there's a dog barking, everything was normal. But I felt like I had just achieved this thing that I had been dreaming of my whole life and it was just me sitting there, just happy.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, very Zen. Well, thank you so much for coming in. It was great to meet you. We're excited Now. When does the book we got to get the important details out there? When's the book come out and when, how can people get it?
Speaker 2:Awesome. So Sky Zen is coming out January 2nd 2024. And it is available for pre-order now. So even though the cover is not out, the it has jumped up and it's available for pre-order. Barnes, noble, amazon, walmart Books Million. I actually have. I do a lot on social media, so if you go into my profiles on Twitter, tiktok, youtube, you go into my profile on there and my top link is pre-order.
Speaker 3:Thanks for listening to this episode of Connect Canyons. Connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram at Canyons district or on our website, Canyons districtorg.
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