THURSDAY'S GUEST

One of the first biographies I read was about Harriet Tubman. Her story was my introduction to slavery. I cringed when I read about Harriet's beatings. I was hungry when she hadn't had much to eat. The writer also took me on a journey via the Underground Railroad. I've loved biographies ever since.

Jen Bryant must love them, too. She embraces her high-profile subjects and shows their humanness so that young readers might have a better understanding of their greatness.

In her new book, Abe's Fish, A Boyhood Tale, she tells the story of Abraham Lincoln's early thoughts about freedom. By the end of the story we learn a lot about Lincoln, but the reader never feels like they are being fed facts because the details are woven so finely through a single day in his young life. Now that's good writing.

Illustrator Amy June Bates' use of soft tones and realistic characters compliment Bryant's words. I especially love the picture of Abe walking with a pail as he is led by his giant shadow.



Loyal followers of this blog already know my admiration for both Bryant's writing and Melissa Sweet's illustrations in A River of Words, The Story of William Carlos Williams. This year the book won a Caldecott Honor. In case you missed my posting, you can read it here:

Silent Poetry Reading Day

Jen Bryant has graciously agreed to be this week's An Author at Home. I'll hope you'll join us tomorrow.

UPCOMING EVENT

This weekend is the 24th Annual Louisiana Nursery Festival in Forest Hill. My family's roots run deep there and as many of you know, it is my emotional home. It's also the setting of my first book My Louisiana Sky and one of the settings in Part of Me.

I'm honored to have been asked to be the festival parade's Grand Marshal. And the organizer, Myra Poole, kindly asked if my ninty-five year old grandfather could ride in the parade with me. I can't wait. And neither can Pa!

I'll also be signing books afterwards. If you live in Rapides Parish, I hope you will visit the festival and drop by to say hi.

For more information:

Louisiana Nursery Festival

PIPER REED GETS A JOB

The book doesn't come out until August, but I thought you might want a peek at the cover. By the way, did you know that Piper Reed Navy Brat has a fan club on Facebook?

WRITING SKINNY BROWN DOG: PART TWO

One thing that I found interesting in gathering these papers for you was that my first draft of Skinny Brown Dog was very close to the final draft. That wasn't the case for my other picture books. Maybe this was one of those gifts writers receive every once in a blue moon because they've worked hard on other stories. I wish blue moons came along more often.

I neglected to scan the first editorial letter that accompanied this manuscript before I donated the papers, but an important point I remember was Christy mentioning that the dog wasn't a fully developed character. Her comment was golden.

Even without the letter, I think you will find Christy's notes interesting. (You'll need to double click to see the notes and if you are fortunate enough to have a mouse with the roller in the middle of the clickers, you can get an even better view.) On this first page, she points out repetitive words and suggests Free Broken Cookie Muffin Day instead of Free Broken Cookie Day.




I had forgotten that it was Christy who suggested adding butter with the slice of bread to show Benny's growing affection for the dog. Isn't it amazing how one word can achieve a big change?




Christy always includes positive remarks in her notes. I have to admit when I first receive her editorial letters and notes, I search them out. I was pleased when she loved Miss Patterson's line, "Yes, I can see that." And later I rejoiced with how Donald Saaf illustrated that remark. (Please see picture at above right.)



If you compare my first draft to this draft, you will see that I finally learned to spell raspberry. That's when I realized I had been mispronouncing the word for all these years.



Christy had suggested changing the sentences in the next to last paragraph below so that one sentence didn't end with Brownie, followed by a sentence that began with Brownie. But when I read it aloud, I liked how it sounded. Give it a try. What do you think?



One lesson I learned on my first picture book was that as the writer, I have to leave room for pictures. In other words the pictures sometimes need to show what happens next. When I wrote the last line, I knew the illustrator would leave the reader with an image that would satisfy.



(Note: Please don't copy the pages I've shared with you without my permission. Thank you.)

Next week, you'll see how I responded to Christy's notes. Until then, I have other fun things in store for you. You will meet another author at home and though I'll be on the road a lot the next few weeks, I'll continue to post about Skinny Brown Dog and the profiles. I also promise to send a few postcards to the nest while I'm away.

Happy reading and happy writing!

IT'S THE WEEKEND

Let's go to the movies!

A BIRTHING OF SORTS

I thought it might be interesting to see some of the steps I took to complete Skinny Brown Dog. So once a week for the next few weeks, I'll share some of those steps with you. If you have questions along the way, please ask them in the comments. Everyone will benefit from what you want to know.

If you have read any of my past posts, you may already know that writing this picture book broke a bad case of writer's block. Back then I was under contract to write a novel. My mother-in-law had died and I was experiencing grief and regrets. Facing my novel seemed a daunting task. Each day I avoided it. After weeks of not writing, I told myself that I could write about anything that day. When you haven't been writing for a while, you sometimes have to reconnect by taking several baby steps.

First step: Get in the car and drive.

Second step: Go to a coffee shop and order an extra dry cappuccino.

Third step: Find a place to sit.

Fourth step: Web for ten minutes.

For a moment, I stared at the blank page. Then an image of a dog showing up at a bakery entered into my thoughts. My web grew as ideas popped in my head. Cookies, muffins, broken cookies, raspberry muffins. Something lifted inside me. And I felt like a writer again. I quickly wrote the first draft on my yellow pad. Excited about my breakthrough, I rushed home and typed up the manuscript.

Those pages are below. In a way this is like a first and second draft combined. Since I write my first drafts by hand I try to type it into the computer the way I first wrote it. In other words, I try not to tinker with it as I go along.

After I finished typing this story into the computer, I put it away for a couple of days. Then I reread it and thought about the picture possibilities. Some writers make a dummy of their stories where they actually roughly sketch pictures and write the words beneath. For me, circling works just as well. So the circles in this manuscript represent where I thought picture breaks could be. Please note that doesn't mean the artist and editor will see it that way. But it's a good tool to aid the writer in creating a story that lends itself to pictures. Because remember, the pictures are as important as the text in a picture book.

As you can see, I also added in some text and changed the title. I loved the title That's Not My Dog, but someone else had used it. That's how the title eventually became Skinny Brown Dog. By the way, you'll need to double click to read the manuscript.

Next week, I'll share to copy of the manuscript that I sent in with my editor's notes on the copy.

(Important note: I'm posting these pages for your knowledge. Please don't copy these without my permission. Thank you.)

TRAPPED

Last week Bronte and I went to the porch for our power nap. I'd just settled on the daybed and covered with a chenille throw, when I noticed a bird flying overhead. Jerry had left the screen door ajar.

I tried everything to get the bird through the open door. With Bronte following me like we were playing a game, I chased the bird around the porch. I dodged chairs and the daybed. I flapped my arms. I clapped my hands. Nothing worked.

The attempts energized me and I no longer needed a nap. So I sat down to plot an alternate rescue scheme. Another bird was on the outside chirping away at her trapped companion. She seemed pretty worked up about it. I could just imagine what she was saying. "You have a terrible sense of direction. If you would have just asked me, I would have told you not to go that way." Eventually the outside bird and I both gave up.

That night I asked Jerry to help me, figuring that he could stand at one end of the porch and I could lead the bird to the door. But when we went out to check, it seemed the bird had found its way out. We left the door ajar, just in case.

The next day I discovered I was wrong. The bird flew overheard, back and forth, back and forth. I couldn't understand how, in two days, that bird didn't discover his way out. The answer was right in front of him.

Then I had another idea. I sprinkled some birdseed on top of a container and put it near the door. I went inside the house and back to work on my manuscript. When I checked the next day, the bird was gone. After two days of feeling trapped, the bird had finally made his escape.

I can relate to that bird. When I started my historical novel years ago, I quickly ran into a roadblock. The story begins in 1833 and I wanted the main character to go to the Nebraska Territory to live with his aunt and uncle in 1834. They were going to be farmers. Then I found out that the only white women in the Nebraska Territory in 1834 were missionaries. No, I thought, that would not work. This was not going to be a story with missionaries. This was going to be a story with farmers.

Oh, how I fretted. I tried to figure another place that my main character could go, but I needed it to be in the Nebraska Territory because the boy's father would be taking him to his brother and sister-in-law on the way to trapping out West.

For days, I brooded. I even questioned my decision to write the book. (I've done that several times since then, but those are other stories.)Finally one day, I decided to spend some time researching missionaries in the Nebraska Territory. I'll ponder it for a day, I thought. Before the day was up, I got caught up in the story of Moses and Eliza Merrill who ran an Otoe Mission near Bellevue, Nebraska. The story contained drama--problems with the men at the trading post, communication barriers with the Otoe, a small pox outbreak, and death.

Not long after reading about them, I visited schools in the Omaha area. I planned a side trip to Bellevue and found the only remaining proof of the mission--a lone standing chimney. The man at a little museum who gave me instructions on how to get there couldn't believe I was going to bother to find it. But after reading about the Merrills, I knew I must. Standing there, peering through the fence at the chimney, made it all seem clear. Why had I fought so hard not to include a mission in the story? Why was I so stubborn about those characters being farmers?

As writers we sometimes forget to explore the endless possibilities when we create our worlds. Sometimes we hit a barrier and if we're too tunnel-visioned we may lose the chance at adding another layer or plot point that enriches our story. That's what almost happened to me, until I finally explored another way and discovered the Merrills. Even though my story is not about them, their lives and work definitely inspired that section. I would have missed it all if I hadn't finally seen the open door.