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.

 

 

 

 

Saving Stuff

At a recent gathering of authors, the topic of STUFF came up.

As in, what do you do with all the critiques from your Writers Group, the notebooks, the scribbles, the literally stacks of boxes filled with what can be called the ephemera of writing. 
(Although the purest form of that word means useful for one day, which is WAY LESS than most of us spend on the treasures that turn into our novels...)

I know of at least three places that preserve and share and digitize and save all this.

One is the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota. Among many esteemed writers, you can find Barbara O'Connor's goodies there. You can also read all about it on THIS BLOGPOST.

Many Tampa Bay and Florida authors, as well as those from all over, have given their saved manuscripts, signed galleys, and other fun stuff to Joan Kaywell at the University of South Florida's HIPPLE COLLECTION. My friend Shannon Hitchcock wrote about it here.

(Joan has an extensive collection of signed finished books as well as Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) there. Including mine. Thank you, Joan.)

I'm proud to say that my books' extras are housed at the DeGrummond Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. 

MAKING FRIENDS WITH BILLY WONG IS now in the mail!
Off to find a new home where it will be available to researchers, lovers of kid-lit, or anybody who's curious about exactly how we write.  

It's hard to say goodbye. 
But nice to know somebody is saving it all.

Thank you, Mississippi librarians

Last week I was honored to receive the Mississippi Author Award in the Children's Literature cagetory for my novel, GLORY BE.

I talked all night to such nice librarians and to my two fellow honorees, Julie Cantrell and Carolyn Brown.





I was especially flattered to be introduced by none other than Ellen Ruffin, curator of the deGrummond Children't Literature Collection at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Here we are, smiling after my speech. Note the fabulous Ellen decked out in some of our table decorations, Mardi Gras style. Librarians do know how to party, don't we...

 

My sister, Jane Carlson, and brother Jack Russel were my honored guests at the dinner. 

Jane and I wandered around the exhibits as only two geeky librarians would do. 

(Did I mention Jane's also a former librarian?)

At the dinner, I spoke about my inspiration for Miss Bloom-- LePoint Smith and Anise Powell.

Click HERE if you'd like to read my post about them. 

 

 

 

Did I mention that my celebration started at the New Orleans airport? 

Any day that begins with beignets is bound to turn out right. And this one certainly did.

THANK YOU, MISSISSIPPI LIBRARIANS!