Sweeping out The Old Year(s)

 

    What else does one do on a cold-for-Florida Sunday afternoon but clear out files, right? 

    Most of our neighbors with kids have boxes and boxes piled in their recycling bins. I have pages and pages.

 

 

    I sent a lot of the more interesting ephemera from my books to the University of Southern Mississippi's deGrummond Children's Literature Collection. But I kept a few "gems." 

Like a whole file of rejection letters for GLORY BE. The original title was Junk Poker. No wonder it was rejected. 

Actually, it was rejected also because 

1. The time wasn't right. 

2. Historical fiction wasn't selling. 

3. Nobody wanted to read about the 60s. 

4. That editor who requested your manuscript has left the publisher. etc etc etc. 

 

    I also found many, many chapters with comments from various writer friends/ critique partners/ cold readers. It was like a walk down memory lane as well as a reminder that this journey didn't happen overnight. Or even over-a-year. 

But I loved that story a lot so I refused to give up. That, I suspect, was the trick. That's how you have to feel about what you've written. You have to feel in your heart that it's a book kids need to read. A book teachers will want to share. A book families can read together. And a book that, with a new title like GLORY BE, will end up in school libraries and classrooms. You'll get letters from kids telling you they love it, telling you what you messed up, telling you you need to write more stories about Glory, her sister, her sister's boyfriend, and Emma. Even if you can't do that, the letters make you feel like a million dollars.

 

    So for all you writers out there. Turn the calendar page to a new and glorious year and write like kids are waiting.  You never know what 2021 will bring. 

 

 

 

On one of my favorite, ever, Author Visit days, a boy gave me his very realistic drawing of the fabulous cover art. He told me he'd originally left out the "L" in Glory. But not to worry, he said, and he laughed, "It's fixed now."  It makes me smile every time I remember that day. Titles are pretty important. Not sure Gory Be would have caught an agent's eye any better than Junk Poker.

 

 

 

 

Junk Poker

(Note, I'm reposting this from May, 2011, written as I prepared for the book's launch. I'm reposting because I just had the nicest comment from a reader, today, and can't resist sharing. Oh, and by the way, the actual wallpaper, deemed valuable, has been retired. But I now have a great facsimile supplied by the kids at one of the schools I visited last year. )

When I changed my Facebook profile picture this week, I had a few questions. Like what in the heck is that shoebox tied up with a big purple ribbon all about?

It's all about Junk Poker.

When we were very little and shared the Sleeping Porch as our bedroom, my sister and I created a game. I remember it vividly, so what if she doesn't?  I was older. I get to elaborate on the memories. So I'm telling the story: we played Blackjack with our "treasures." We hid the shoeboxes under our beds. We took them out during nap-times (every day of the summer to escape the heat and survive polio- but that's another story).

In my upcoming novel, Glory and her big sister play Junk Poker. In fact, I first titled the book Junk Poker, way back when I first began writing it. Back then, it was a short story narrated by an adult caregiver, who also happened to be  the organist/ wedding planner/ maker of tissue paper carnations for the First Baptist Church. What can I say? The story has evolved. Have you never started with one idea and come up with something completely different?

New title, new genre, new characters.
But Junk Poker and the shoebox survived.

Inside my box is my prized possession. I thought it was lost until I rediscovered a manila envelope tucked in the bottom of an old footlocker from Camp Skyline Ranch. The trunk had traveled many miles since my Mentone, Alabama days. When it finally fell apart in our last move, I salvaged the envelope.

I found corsages from old boyfriends, a photograph of my dad's Army jeep that I learned to drive on, and the best treasure of all: wallpaper from Elvis's house in Tupelo, Mississippi.

So that's what I shared in my Scholastic talk in New York. Green floral wallpaper from Elvis's childhood home, tucked into this Buster Brown shoebox just like Glory's, wrapped in a big purple ribbon. Why Elvis's wallpaper? You'll have to wait for Glory and her big sister to tell you...

Meanwhile, it's only fitting that my Junk Poker box serves as my new Facebook profile picture. 

Celebrating, Southern Style

I love my amazing friends in the Tampa Bay writing community. Thanks to the Florida SCBWI for all these connections.

My critique group(s) -- I've slipped into more than one since moving to St. Petersburg-- have been with me every step of the way. 
(Thanks, Sue Laneve. Thanks, Sylvia Salsbury for your original hostings!)

Last night my current group and the writers who've supported the journey, organized by our fearless leader Rob Sanders, gathered for a southern supper. Where else but Cracker Barrel!

Here we are, rocking the evening!

 (Missing, Sue Laneve and Greg Neri who were off doing exciting things. But definitely part of this book's journey.)

Writers are so creative.
Check out a few of their fun mementos of the book. They are very careful readers of GLORY BE.

Evening in Paris perfume. (I will have to visit THIS shop! http://yesterdazevintage.com)

Candy, lots of vintage candy.
A note, folded into a tight triangle.
A quarter, from 1963, which would surely have been in Glory's Junk Poker box.

The perfect candle: CLOUD 9
A shell, beautifully decorated
A poem, a picture frame
Southern-themed napkins
A tiny worry doll
Very special Elvis memorabilia. Wow.

AND
Floating body parts... eyeball. Teeth. (enough said)

(Not pictured: the cupcake, which I ate. Yum. 
Thank you, Nancy Cavanaugh! But that's the box, decorated with kites and a Way to Go sticker, pictured.)

It was a very special evening, filled with fried okra, turnip greens and lots of laughs. The Southern Theme was carried out in full. You writers totally rock. Not just the chairs.

                                                             (Rob's napkins. Sigh.)


I'm eternally grateful to these creative people. 
Thanks for celebrating GLORY BE's Crystal Kite. 

Wow. Cloud 9, indeed.

Elvis is in the building...

I have so many great stories (and maybe half-great pictures) from this week in NY/NJ. 
School visits, Book Group chats, walks in my winter coat. Okay, maybe that's not so great.

But for now, in the interest of time (mine) and quality, I'll share two that made me smile.

Often kids give me things to add to my Junk Poker box. This trip, I added grass and surprisingly-close-to-Elvis's wallpaper from the fabulous group at Christa McAuliffe Middle School's amazing after school book club party. 
Those kids had totally read my book's tiniest details.

(They also made the little Junk Poker boxes for everybody. And gave me that book they'd created. Great readers!)

And yesterday, as I was leaving the Nightingale Bamford School in NYC where I'd spoken to the 3rd and 4th grade classes, the teacher handed me thank you notes. 

This one takes the cake, big time. Not sure if she's a big Elvis fan or whether the reference was purely accidental. 
I'm going with the Fan option. 

And thank ya, Thank YOU very much, kids!

Buster Brown

Often when I travel to a school or library to talk about GLORY BE, I bring along a shoebox. If you've read the story, you know Glory and her sister save their treasures (and play poker, but I really try not to over-emphasize this activity...) inside their Buster Brown shoeboxes.

I was thrilled to find this one on eBay.

It came stuffed with match covers from all over the world. Which were kind of fun, but I had to air the box out for several days. (It smelled.)

I tied it with a purple ribbon, stuffed it with my own treasures, and took it on the road. The box has served me well. I love it.



But I was getting worried. Even though I have a handy-dandy, waterproof bag to carry my Junk Poker box and its treasures around in, it's traveled from NYC to Missouri to Mississippi, twice, all on various airplanes.

My talentedly artistic friend Leslie suggested I decoupage the box to make it sturdier. But since that's not happening until she moves closer and does it for me (hint hint), I decided to stalk eBay and try to find another.

It arrived this week.
It's not nearly as pretty as the first, but it will do for now.

I have to wonder: What do the nice folks who put these things on eBay think.
Geez, I bet somebody will buy a small little shoebox for ten bucks, plus shipping.

Or
This will never sell, but we'll put it up there for $5 and charge a ginormous amount for shipping and see who bites.

Either way, I now have a Junk Poker treasure box. And a backup. All is well.

For more on "treasures" found in books, 

check out my friend Leslie Davis Guccione's blog today!

Elvis Week!

In honor of ELVIS WEEK, I share with you a piece of my childhood.

I almost titled this post Things I Love. 

But truly, I don't love 45s of Elvis all that much anymore. 

I am delighted to re-discover My Platter Box
from the days my sister and I shared a room.
She found it and returned it, but I suspect some of these are hers.

At least one of records is going straight to my Junk Poker box. 

If the kids I share my treasures with don't know what this is...

do you think they'll have a clue what a record is?

Related Posts: Junk Poker
Me as Elvis Impersonator (Now that got your attention, didn't it!) 

And if you're still reading, here's a little something to make your day.

My bags are packed!

Heading north for a few days. Three schools, two in Maryland, one in Virginia. 

Plus lots of fun friends and family along the way.

Yes, my Junk Poker box is secure in its waterproof bag...

And I'm never without my GLORY BE wristlet!

HERE'S the website, should you need one of these adorables. Every time I hold mine up in the midst of writers, they want one.

(Mine's looking a little well-loved these days...)

Be back soon!

Possibly related posts:

Going Home Again- Baltimore. 

Wristlet, a thing I love!

More about me? And Elvis...

Specifically, about writing Glory Be.

 Here's a link to Holly Schindler's fab blog. ☜☜☜

With a cute picture of my little Elvis statue, now appearing in a Junk Poker box near you.

(How do these remarkable bloggers think of such great questions?)

A Thing I Love: Happy birthday, Elvis

In my past life, I adored Elvis Presley. I've mostly grown out of that, but there are moments when it comes back to me.

Like when this Christmas a gift arrived from Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi.
(FYI: I'll actually be there signing books on March 1! Click here for the link!)

I suspected something exciting when I saw the wrapping.

When I was MUCH younger, I had a Plaster-of-Paris Elvis statue. Maybe it's my imagination, but I remember the bust as being almost as large as a basketball. Other than that, it looked exactly like this one. My mother loved to discard unnecessary things. I'm sure she ditched my Elvis statue as soon as I left for college. Yes, it was a dust-catcher. But thank goodness she didn't get her hands on my Elvis scrapbook. Because now I've finally found the perfect spot for my new statue and my old Elvis wallpaper: Glory's Junk Poker box.

So, on Elvis's birthday, I want to share my newest Thing I Love. Thanks to my niece Amy who sent it from Square Books for Christmas.

Elvis on my Christmas Table-

Or maybe you prefer Elvis the King? He has outfits!

Not as large as a basketball, but small enough to fit into a shoebox. Perfect!

Happy Birthday, Elvis!

Absolutely must know more? Click away!

Possibly Related Blog Post:

My Junk Poker Box

One of my Elvis Essays

Movie Time

I'm so honored by the support Scholastic has given my book, GLORY BE. These snippets of upcoming books were created for librarians, which makes them even more special to me.

(Click here to go there.)   That's me on the Middle Grade tab, not too far into the clip.

Note the carefully arranged backdrop.  (Except for the view of my kitchen through the open door. Whoops.) The fig my friend Marge gave me. The books I was reviewing at the time.

 And I loved sharing one treasure from my Junk Poker box: wallpaper from Elvis's house. Details shall remain secret but I unearthed the wallpaper from a scrapbook buried deep into an old footlocker. Thank you, sophomore college roommate Lyn Martin, who lived in Tupelo.

Also inside this box is a real skate key- courtesy of Christine and Jane. And postcards and crackerjack prizes from Glory's secret life as a gambler.

Dreaming up things that Glory and her big sister Jesslyn kept in their boxes was a special way of creating their personalities.


What tricks do you have for seeing your characters as real people?
What's in your character's special box?