The girl walked up to the front of the Rolla Library basement where David Harrison was sitting Thursday.

"Did you write all of those books?” she asked him, pointing to the table where 25 children's books placed upright.

"Yes I did,” Harrison said.

The girl looked at him with uncertainty, but accepted the answer and sat back down.
In his decades-long career as an author, Harrison published many more books than were displayed, more than 70 books.

His works run the gamut from children's books, poetry and environmental subjects, oftentimes mixing up different genres — in 2007 he released a book of poetry that focused on bugs.
Harrison came to the Rolla Library to speak with children — not about the importance of reading but on the importance of writing.

"I want to take the ‘concern’ out of writing,” Harrison said before his presentation, adding kids can often feel peer pressure at a young age that can inhibit them from exploring writing.

"Kids need to understand that writing can be just as satisfying as reading,” Harrison said.
For kids interested in writing, he suggested they approach it like reading, something fun to “see what you can create,” and the technical aspects should be secondary.

Harrison said he was rejected numerous times early on in his career when he submitted books to publishers, but continued on because of his own enjoyment.

The session was more like a writer’s workshop, with Harrison describing how he gets ideas and develops them for books.

"I just think of people, characters, personalities,” Harrison said.

He picked up one of his books, “Vacation: We're going to the Ocean,” and explained about the collaboration between him and the book’s illustrator, Rob Shepperson.

In the beginning, Harrison started with an idea for a character and sent it to Shepperson, who would garner a drawing in return, which would then prompt Harrison to move the story forward.
Harrison also tried to allay concerns by assuring the children’s mistakes and revisions were nothing to worry about.

"Part of being a writer is revising,” Harrison said.

The event wasn't all talk about writing — Harrison gave a book reading, with some audience participation.

Some of the stories Harrison read required audience participation, turning the kids from audience members into participants, who added noises to the stories such as car horns and bug sounds.