Why I Write Apps for Teens & Tweens

It all started on the streets of Paris...

One day, as I was crossing the Seine from Paris’ Right Bank, I heard the voice of a US compatriot behind me. 

“I think that’s the Conciergerie, straight ahead,” the man said, indicating the imposing four-turreted stone building just in front of us. “But I don’t see the Chatelet. It’s supposed to be around here somewhere.” 

It wasn't. So I turned and told him that the Chatelet had been torn down during the Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte (1802-1815) and replaced by twin theatres flanking the pleasant plaza on the northern side of the bridge on which we were standing.

“What was the Chatelet?” he asked. 

“A dreaded medieval prison, so hated the people would have pulled it down themselves if they hadn’t already exhausted themselves bringing down the Bastille.” 

That's when I noticed two disinterested boys, both about my height, fidgeting at the side of their father.  Tweens, maybe teens.  I turned my attention to them and pointed back to the Conciergerie. 

“That was a prison, too,” I said. “And during the French Revolution no one came out alive except to have their heads chopped off at the guillotine.” I drew an ominous line across my neck, then told them the name of each tower, stressing that the far one, the Tour Bonbec, meaning “good beak”, was once the kings' torture chamber.

The boys were suddently interested.  All they needed was a story, a little gorey, juicy context. 

“You know,” I said, “you can visit the revolutionary prison. You can see where the prisoners slept on beds of straw. And you can roam the vast room where the kings’ medieval policemen, or Gens d'Armes (men-at-arms), once took their meals. You can even find what's left of their once enormous black marble dining table."

“Can we go, Dad?" the boys asked their father, voices cracking slightly. And as he approached the Conciergerie entrance to buy tickets for his family, his wife pulled me aside.

“I'd like to hire you for the day,” she stated. “The boys haven’t been this engaged since we arrived.  All they want is to get back to their facebook pages and video games!”

Et Voila! Just like that, the Time Traveler Tours were born:

Self-guided interactive StoryApp itineraries for youth and the young at heart on your hand-held mobile device. 

Put History in the Palm of your Hand!

Discover the Past with those who Made it!



What’s App all About?

My name is Sarah. I’m a writer, history-buff, language teacher, singer, horse-back rider, wife of the Uber-Mensch and mother of a teenage girl, the Lucky-one-and-only. My teenager, Loo, doesn't think much of me at the moment: not what I wear or how I spend my time or how I chew or what I do.

What do I wear? I dress comfortably, mostly. You have to when you spend most of your day in a chair. Loose-fitting exercise pants are best. Even pajamas.

How do I chew? About that I cannot comment except to say that I don’t chew enough, apparently. I’m so busy I forget to eat most days and Loo doesn’t like it. Especially when I bang on about how important it is for teenagers to have a regular balanced diet and to stay away from sweets. (It’s true, Loo, I’m a hypocrite. But how 'bout surprising me with a sandwich or an apple from time to time.)

How I spend my time is mostly alone, in my chair, as I said. And, honestly, I really don’t mind.

But what I do is not what most other moms do. I work, but I don’t have a "real job" that I go to in an office with an assistant. I’m self-employed -- self-employed and currently self-funded. That's right, I'm gobbling up Loo's future college fund while I sit at home all day alone in my chair.

I am in the business of publishing educational and tourism Apps for iPhone and iPod Touch targeted to youth -- to Loo and her peers. More specifically, the Time Traveler Tours are historically-based StoryApp itineraries.

The first, Beware Madame la Guillotine, is a tour of Paris during the French Revolution guided and narrated by a 24-year-old murderess, Charlotte Corday. It's coming out soon and is only the first. If successful, many more StoryApp Tours to many more cities will follow.

Put the past in the palm of your hand with Time Traveler Tours.

Discover history with those who made it.

Did I mention that writing an App is hard? Did I make it clear that building a small-business is a tremendous amount of work? Did my list of credentials, above, say anything about me as a Marketer or legal mind or IT guru? No.   

Some days the challenge is wholly Sisyphean.

But there’s no convincing Loo. Too her, I’m just a slacker who sits around the house all day in my pajamas eating up her college fund.

If she only knew... 

Image by Loo while vacating with me in Carcassonne, France, April 2010.