SCBWI + Birmingham, Alabama

                               

By J.G. Annino

                        It was a sunny and warm day when my husband and I drove

past fields of  cotton fluffs in North Florida and then crossed the line into South

Alabama. We enjoyed comparing the commercial plants to the tiny cotton patch

that shows little white bunny tails here in the yard.  We sight-seers arrived in the

afternoon at our North Alabama locale - leafy, hilly, greater Birmingham.

                        My SCBWI workshops weren’t until the next day. We had time to

eat (local Bar-B-Cue) and to tour the Civil Rights Institute. We saw the impressive

sculpture of civil rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth. Current renovations closed the

building to us, otherwise.

                                                 A National Historic Site

            So we were able to concentrate all our time on the beautiful 

and historic 16th Street Baptist Church.

           

            The church congregation keeps a proud history that stretches back to the

first one, a different building, in 1873 . The impressive double-towered building

is a National Historic site. More important, it is an enduring memorial to the four

girls who lost their lives in what should have been the sanctuary of the church,

in one of this nation’s most heinous acts of domestic terrorism. It remains

a very active church. It is also exceptionally welcoming to strangers.

            What struck me as I walked around the basement (this is the level of the

church the girls were in, for Sunday School, just before their murders), what

stays me now were expressions of love on the walls.

            These framed and displayed items were created by children and adults all

over the world. And then carefully wrapped and mailed. Needlepoint and

other crafts, original poems, works of art were sent and are still sent to the

congregation, more than 50 years after the bomb blast by hatred-filled men. 

One amazing work of art, a gift from the people of Wales, is on an upstairs

balcony wall. My husband and I had time for silent meditation, prayer and

reflection, near this stain-glass black Jesus, after one touring couple

left the balcony.

                                                    SEEDS OF FREEDOM

            So it was quite in keeping with my reflective mood, that Saturday’s

event featured both the artist and author of a new picture book about a

little-known corner of segregation history but also, integration history, in the 

U. S. 

            Quietly and without much outside attention at the time, a group of white

children integrated a black school in the far northeast corner of Alabama, at

Huntsville. But not without the help of many black children and the parents of both groups.

           The everyday details of segregation and the unique details of peaceful integration

in the 1960s are told with breath-taking water color paintings and lyrical writing.

            The story is SEEDS OF FREEDOM, the Successful Integration of

Huntsville, Alabama. This picture book is already honored with multiple well-deserved

awards for author Hester Bass and  artist E.B.  Lewis. 

                      They previously teamed up for THE SECRET WORLD of WALTER 

ANDERSON, one of my favorite illustrated biographries for young readers. The new

book is just as stunning and sends a beautiful message out to the world of

peace-wanting people, about how this historic group made peace happen.

            Hester is an energetic actress-turned-author who lives in Santa Fe, New

Mexico, with her artist husband. (She lived in Huntsville for 10 years and also, 

elsewhere in the south.)  I attended only one of her several events at the Writing and 

Publishing for Kids 2015 conference. 

            Our group loved shaking shoulders, rolling heads and practicing Hester's

techniques to wake up our bodies before writing.

            Then we thought about the many ways to borrow actor techniques - to

observe people and listen to language, which can add sensory details to our characters.

                              SEEDS OF FREEDOM author Hester Bass (left) , J. G. Annino 

                                                    #wik15 #scbwi #southernbreeze

           

                                                        MORE WORKSHOPS

                           

            Middle grade novelist-funny girl author Kami Kinard was the second author

I felt fortunate to study with that day.  She also conducted more than one workshop.

Ours involved techniques and tips about layering a novel with elements other than

everyday normal text.  And of course this applies to picture books, too. 

                                                            

Here are a few from her long list of eyedears:  a quiz the character

takes/gives; fortune cookie  fortunes; & notes on a bulletin board. My own notes 

were scrawled after that because it hit me for the first time ever, that my main

character in my MG novel has never had Chinese food, living as she does, in a tiny

coastal town in the 1970s. And then I was off & scribbling with dialog, etc. This

aspect may not appear in the story, but such fun to catch a wave of writing flow,

unexpectedly. And to discover new parts of her back story, which I need to know.

Like Hester, Kami is another author you will want to hear speak, if you have the chance.

           

                                                         EDITORS 

            Every SCBWI workshop features editors and agents. I listened to

freelance editor Harold Underdown (above) discuss the future of children’s

publishing. (It’s great! Picture books are soaring! ) And I also attended packed

breakout sessions with talented house editors who look at manuscripts for children,

from poetry through novels. Each of them generously offered such minutiae, such

specifics related to them, that those two sessions were worth the low price of

Southern Breeze admission.

                                     TITLES

            I returned home with a buncha titles I promptly

thought our local library system should have, especially

the new historical fiction novel, that tore my gut up before

it put it back again. 

         This YA novel is HALLEY, by the much-appreciated

Faye Gibbons. I am so titlted in its favor, with the evocative

rural terms  (my Dad grew up on a tenant farm) and language

 used in this Depression-era story. They are similar and 

even exactly the same words & sayings I haven't heard since my 

dear Dad passed on. He was a great storyteller, about incidents in his daily life,

that are similar to experiences of the Oweby Family of this rugged story.  I love

the character, never-give-up, yet flawed, Halley.  Faye welcomes visitors to her

blog which is blog.fayegibbons.com. You may also enjoy her website, which is

separate-  Faye Gibbons. It is a real treat to meet her.

                    I also tipped off our youth librarian about the teen memoir

TAKING FLIGHT, by Michaela DePrince.  Michaela went from living bleakly

as a Sierra Leon war-orphan, neglected, hit & bullied, to soaring joyfully in glittery

costumes, as a principal ballerina with a European company today. MGM has bought

movie rights to her story. She wasn't able to attend, but I so much appreciated a chat

with her mother. And this was cold, not knowing what the book was about when I

picked it up from the table. She and her husband began the fairy tale dream come true,

via adoption, when Michaela was only four. And without spoiling the story, that

was unexpected. Read it to see what I mean. This enormously hard-working & talented

dancer became a professional ballerina at age 19. A story from love's heart. I cried.

Fortunately, I was able to smile, too. If I share more details, they are spoilers. But I

was thunderstruck how ballet reached out to Michaela across the Atlantic Ocean, at age

four, while suffering emotional & physical neglect in an impoverished setting.

A true goose-bumpy story.

                                                           MORE ON AUTHORS

              Group Bloggers know I have already recommended Lisa Lewis Tyre’s

LAST IN A LONG LINE OF REBELS. It was fun to meet high-energy Lisa. I wish

I could have attended her talk. And all the presentations. There are a girnormous

amount of them every October at this much-anticipated Southern Breeze event. 

             HALLEY author Faye Gibbons is center in red. To her right is
             SCBWI RA-Emeritus Joan Broerman, who is a legend in her own time.
             At far left is Wanda Vaughn. Your blogger is holding HALLEY.  If you
             are in Homewood, Alabama, a Birmingham suburb, you will enjoy visiting
             this site - Little Professor. It is two floors of wonderfulness!  Cafe, included.

                                                             STILL, MORE!

            On top of all this goodness, WIK 2015 featured an arty party,  snazzy

handouts, huddletime/noshtime with friends new and old, & the book event

in a fabulous independent bookstore cafe (above.)  I also came across folks who

know Group Bloggers & this Blog. Plus, the on-the-spot p.b. colleagues' critiques

& the professional critique sent me back to the keyboard & to the paper notepad,

ready to work harder. While smiling.

  

                                   FOLOUP

            The conference is a gift that keeps on
giving. I returned revved up + writing.

As I type this Nov. 2,  the high-voltage energy
of the weekend carries on.

               I think it’s why I signed up +
completed the Scrivener tutorial, which I
delayed for too long, while I bumbled my way
around with my MG novel not organized spiffy,
in Word (on my mac.) The Wik15 bump is
also why I’m onboard this very, now
underway, NaNoWriMo 2015.

        Appreciations to #Southern Breeze.

         

START A BOOK

START A BOOK by Jan Godown Annino

How do you start a book? Or story? Let's look at examples of inspiration.

THE WEATHER

Rebecca Colby writes rollicking fun picture books. I found out about

her as I searched for spin offs of that surefire laugh-getting, longtime

fun rhyme, “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.”

Here is her entry, illustrated by Kate McLelland.

BUT I didn’t know about Rebecca Colby’s latest picture book

until I visited the site Teaching Authors, which I think several

Groggers enjoy reading.

 

By following links at TA, I learned that Rebecca Colby’s

inspiration poured for her next book after THERE WAS A WEE LASSIE

WHO SWALLOWED A MIDGIE with a walk in the rain.

As she tells it, she was writerly stuck. And then she and her daughter

went for a soggy soak. And her writing went whoosh! All

the way into a romp of a new book, IT’S RAINING BATS AND FROGS,
illustrated by Steven Henry.

This can also work for non-fiction. If some aspect of weather

has your full attention, consistently, maybe there is a book there.

THE NEWS

Small community television news stations, local weekly papers

and big city media outlets share a common characteristic that is

a big assist to astute writers. They offer a ba-zillion of story ideas.

The trick is to look past the giant lead stories or headlines that

aren’t going to work for our genre. No, not a bit. But find smaller,

less shouting pieces, the sweet or curious human interest stories.

And then ask yourself questions about the story. How might an aspect,

one slice of that event, fit for a children’s book. If you had

more information.

Debut picture book author Katheryn Russell-Brown was fascinated

to hear about a high energy woman musician, an African-American

woman, who played in jazz bands in the 1940s.  

 Melba Doretta Liston worked with Dizzie Gillespie & all the best. 

Later she performed with The Supremes.

She continued composing music into the 1990s. Katheryn became curious

about that talented artist’s child days.

How did she learn about Melba? Well it wasn’t in history class or at a

small club meeting or from an online newsletter. She heard the news one day.

She heard the news the same time a ba-zillion other folks did, via their local 

public radio station. Katheryn heard Melba Liston’s story on public radio – a

national report. I recently interviewed Katheryn  at Bookseedstudio, where she

briefly mentions the radio broadcast as the key tip.

And the author’s own article, offers more detail about the jump from

listening to research and to writing & publishing at KidLit Celebrates Women's

History Month.

Her title is LITTLE MELBA and HER BIG TROMBONE. It is a lyrical

Coretta Scott King honor book, illustrated by Frank Morrision. I think you’ll
like it. For story ideas, try The News.

 

THE FAMILY

Many families are known for at least one sleuth who

dove into research on the story of the ancestors. For two

authors, family connections provided an interest that helped

them conjure up their lively middle grade novels.

Sharon Lovejoy has long been intrigued with her family’s

Quaker past and possible but never proven, abolitionist links. 

Although her acclaimed story, RUNNING OUT OF NIGHT, 

isn’t about her ancestors, treasured old family letters she read and

laboriously copied, and questions about whether

her ancestors had ever assisted in The Underground Railroad,

helped her decide to imagine an atmospheric historical fiction 

tale that is a page-turner.

 

Debut author Lisa Lewis Tyre’s interest in the past and her colorful

ancestors assisted her desire to spin the contemporary

tale, LAST IN A LONG LINE OF REBELS.

It is brand-new to me, having arrived in a batch of books

I ordered for late summer fun, but my reading of it so far, tells me it’s destined

for deserved honors. It features a girl who teams with pals

to save her ancestors’ home, which she lives in. In the process

she is distressed to discover that her family once thought they

owned people, as slaves.

Lisa’s interest in the mysteries of history have lead her to

feature a section at her website called History Fun.

  She offers a free, blank family tree to fill in.

And some of her blog articles are devoted to tidbits of her own

family’s times past

 So, when searching for a topic remember THE FAMIILY.


 

 THE EVENTS

What’s a writer to do if weather, news, and family don’t

equal story ideas? Hunt up some events to attend.

One-time community gatherings, such as an annual

day to celebrate the local food product or significant

animal, could produce the spark of an idea. Look into

taking lessons. Here I am, wet in the middle of a coastal

systems class this summer. The course is doing double

duty for this writer, informing children’s poetry and

a middle grade novel. So sign up or schedule THE EVENTS.