COEUR d'ALENE - Scarlet Harris wasn't a big fan of writing, but after an author discussed a few tricks with her class, she shared her 'a-ha!' moment.

"I have always used flat words, and today when I thought of my 'heartbeat' words, it made me want to be a writer," said Scarlet, 11. "I've never really liked writing, but that got me to start."

Children's book author Gary Hogg visited Skyway Elementary School during its annual writing festival this week to encourage students and get them excited about writing. He conducted a workshop Thursday afternoon in Jeri Kilburg's fifth-grade class, where Scarlet had her writing epiphany.

"It was awesome, it was amazing. Gary Hogg really inspired me," Scarlet said, her eyes wide and excited with grasping the concepts he presented.

Hogg spoke to the class about using their author's voices, revising, managing distractions, and not being discouraged by what others might say. He also emphasized using colorful adjectives.

"Remember, a pencil is a tool, not a toy," Hogg said. "It can create wonderful things for you in the world."

He discussed what it means to have an author's voice, "putting fluency into our writing, making it have a flow and a sound that appeals not only to the reader's ear, but makes them want to keep reading. When you use your author's voice, you make it your own."

He compared general words and specific words to watching a heartbeat on a heart monitor, where a person can watch a heartbeat spike or flatline.

"What you want to do is put a heartbeat in your writing," he said. "When you choose words that give the reader more information, you always sound smarter."

He asked the students to free-write a personal narrative for five minutes while being completely silent and allowing their minds to enter the "author zone."

Eamon Condon, 11, wrote about his first experience on a dirt bike. He said the presentation was really cool and now he understands how exciting different words can be. He also said he learned how important it is to be independent while writing.

"Just close out your friends for a minute and just think about what you want to do and not what your friends want to do and what you want to become," he said. "If you're playing basketball for your whole life and all of a sudden you want to become an author, they can't change you and say, 'Don't be an author because it's not cool.'"

Kilburg said she loves Hogg's presentations for the writing festival. He made an appearance at Skyway last year, as well.

"I know (the students) have a lot of ability within them, they just need to stay focused, like he was talking about," she said. "They just need to get rid of the distractions and focus on what they can do."