Back on Earth: A Review and Giveaway

Congratulations to Bridgett Bell Langson who won, The Miscalculations of Lightning Girl.

"I wrote BACK ON EARTH: When Men First Landed on the Moon in anticipation of the fiftieth Apollo Eleven anniversary in 2019," North Carolina author Gretchen Griffith said. "I wanted today's young readers to understand how significant this event was to the children who witnessed it."

Illustrated by Bobbie Gumbert, this non-fiction picture book for elementary school students invites readers to participate in the experience. Here is the opening paragraph: 

Two of us landed on the moon July 20, 1969. Those of us back on earth stared into the sky. "Was the moon any different?" we wondered. 

Gretchen used the first person plural to emphasize that, "This story is much bigger than my personal reflections. It is a story about a world-wide corporate experience." In choosing that unique point of view, she aligns those watching the launch, the landing, and the recovery with the astronauts who made history plus implies that the reader is also part of the historic event. 

"Those of us at the launch site felt the ground tremble under our feet. We saw birds rousted from their nests."

In BACK ON EARTH there is a great juxtaposition of ordinary events along with what was going on in outer space:

While we waited [for the landing], we played space games. We designed helmets with tin foil and pretended we were astronauts. We pretended we could fly like birds. We strapped thermos jugs to our backs for make-believe air tanks...We mixed orange flavored powder in glasses of water and sipped the same tangy drink as the astronauts. 

After three long days of waiting, the Eagle landed!

"That's one small step for man,
One giant leap for mankind." Neil Armstrong

Gretchen included a list of YouTube titles, a glossary, and information on how to interview others who witnessed the moon landing with the hopes that "this will start the conversation between generations."

Just in case you want to watch (or re-watch) the landing, YouTube offers this:

GIVEAWAY: Leave me a comment by November 1 with your email address if you are new to my blog. Gretchen will send the winner a personally autographed book. US addresses only. 

Writing Resources Part IV- Critique Groups

Congratulations to Joan Edwards who won an autographed copy of In My Brother's Shadow by Monika Schroeder. Thanks to all who entered.

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Since I moved recently I wanted to find a new writers' group. I visited a children's writers group and one devoted to historical fiction. In both groups I perceived a greater emphasis on self-publishing than on developing one's writing craft, so I decided to keep looking. 

The co-ordinator of the third group I visited caught my attention when he announced the group's goal: every writer should get better each week. In addition, writers did not read their own work so they could hear it the way a reader hears it; they couldn't defend their work, they should bring work they wanted to refine, and they should be ready to spend time and effort helping other members improve their work. 

I knew I'd found a writers' group after my own heart.

This is my first critique group in which men outnumber women 3:1 and where members write romance, memoir, historical fiction, short stories, and fantasy. This group takes writing seriously and I'm enjoying a brand new audience for my fourth draft of Half-Truths.

Entering a new writers' group has made me consider what are important components of a critique group. Although this post is not offering a giveaway, I'm include observations from three other writers on what they have gained from critique groups.

Gretchen Griffith, author of Lessons Learned, Wheels and Moonshine, Called to the Mountains, and When Christmas Feels Like Home says, "I most appreciate the honesty and professionalism I get from my critique partners. When I walk away from a session I am confident not necessarily that I am right, but that I have the tools to work through a manuscript. I realized recently that the revisions I'd made caused me to stray from my intended theme. I went back and looked at it through their perspectives and made adjustments."

Vijaya Bodach, author of numerous science books for children and a new picture book, Ten Easter Eggs writes, "There is no comparison to an in-person group. Make the effort to find a couple of trust-worthy folks to be a support to one another. Remember to be kind and honest in your critique. The point is not to impose your view, but to make the manuscript better. I find that a cold reading is very beneficial. Let another person read aloud and let the writer listen. It engages a different sense and allows you to perceive your work from another angle. Do not defend your work, listen, take notes, and return the favor."

Shannon Wiersbitzky, author of The Summer of Hammer and Angels and What Flowers Remember says, "I’ve been with the same group for 10+ years. Given the length of time, the trust is absolute. These are the first folks that should be alerting me I have spinach in my teeth! There is time for kindness after a critique, but during, it must be utterly candid and all about making the work better."

In addition, I've found it helpful to print out and read aloud my work before I submit it. In this way I catch more of my own mistakes before I ask for input from critique partners. 

The best book I've found on starting, building, and running a critique group is Becky Levine's,  The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide. I'm not ready to give away my copy--but I hope you'll check her book out. 

What have been your experiences with your critique group? Leave me a comment-I'd love to hear from you!

Behind the Scenes with Gretchen Griffith's New Picture Book and a Giveaway!

Many years ago, Gretchen Griffith commuted to Charlotte to be a part of our SCBWI critique group. Since then she has found a group much closer to her home in Hickory, NC, but I have watched from afar as she got her much-worked on article "Finding Forty Two" published in Highlights in 2009, and then went on to publish two books set in the North Carolina mountains. Today, I'm happy to share the story behind her newly-released picture book, "When Christmas Feels Like Home." Her publisher, Albert Whitman, is providing a giveaway copy. Details at the end of the blog. 

Carol: Can you share the backstory of this book? What influenced you as you wrote it? How did you come up with the story idea? How did you find your publisher?

Gretchen: I wrote the manuscript in 2008 for the 2009 Highlights for Children writing contest when the theme was “contemporary world culture stories,” but it was in my head for quite a while before that. I lived in Lima, Peru when I was in high school, so I have experienced the anxiety associated with moving into a new culture. For several years I’ve worked with high school exchange students who go from the US to other countries and those who arrive in North Carolina as well. Our orientation materials tell them to anticipate milestones of when they will fit into the new culture, as well as the ups and downs they'll experience.

With that concept in mind, I began to think about the milestones my fourth grade students would face moving into a new culture, or even if they were just moving from one town to the next. When would their new city feel like home?

By the time I received word that my manuscript didn’t win, I had gone on to other projects, to honing my craft, attending conferences, and studying how to revise what I had written. Most key to this manuscript, I began reading blogs that offered tips on submitting. Somewhere along the line I found a reference to an editor at Albert Whitman & Company looking for international or diversity themed children’s picture books.  

I dragged out the manuscript from the floppy disk (yes, it was that long ago technology-wise) and took a new look at it. Being away from it for over a year helped me see it as a stranger would and through this new perspective I was able to find flaws. I rewrote, fielded it to my critique group (essential step) and revised it again. I submitted and returned to my other projects, always writing, always tending to improving my writing, and I admit, always checking the mailbox.

When the letter came, it wasn’t an acceptance. It was a “the pacing needs some work and we’ll look at it again” kind of letter. I revised and resubmitted a few more times until the offer finally came. Even then, I had to mold and refine until the words sang.

Carol: The illustrations truly complement the story. What are your thoughts about how the book has been illustrated? Did you submit the manuscript with many art notes? 

Gretchen: The illustrator, Carolina Farias, is from Argentina. I had nothing to do with selecting her, but what a perfect match to my manuscript!  I offered no input other than a few minor points. I did say that there couldn’t be any older brothers in the family illustrations because the story line of the main character being alone wouldn’t have worked.

I'm on the picture book authors’ panel at this year’s fall SCBWI Carolinas conference in Charlotte, September 27-29 where I’ll fill everyone in on more details. Meanwhile, stop by and visit my blog. Comments are always welcome!

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To win a copy of this book (think: present for a fortunate child or grandchild!) please follow these rules:

• Post this blog on your social media site of choice OR become a new follower of this blog and I'll enter your name once. 
• Post this blog on two different social media sites OR become a new follower of this blog AND post it on a social media site and I'll enter your name twice.
• Either way, leave a comment with your email address (if you are new to my blog) with what you did. 
• Winner will be drawn on Monday morning, August 26 - so get those entries in!

My Next Big Thing

My friend and role model, Joyce Hostetter, tagged me last week in a work-in-progress meme called, "The Next Big Thing." You can read about Joyce's WIP here, and since I've had the privilege of reading parts of it, I can tell you that it will be great!

Now it's my turn to answer eight questions and then to tag several authors. Here we go:

What is the working title of your book? Half-Truths. 

Where did the idea for the book come from? That's a long story. I visited Wing Haven gardens with my youngest daughter about 15 years ago. At the time I thought it would make a great picture book but found that there were too many stories for that genre. Then I thought I would take some of the real stories about this bird sanctuary and write a book for young boys. My son-in-law said there was not enough blood and guts in a story about children rescuing a robin for boy readers today. Now Wing Haven is the quiet sanctuary where both main characters find refuge.

Joyce had shared Carolyn Yoder's advice to "write the story in your own backyard." I started thinking about how the same last name for both blacks and whites were on signs all around Charlotte, NC. Obviously there was a connection there. I visited the Rosenwald school in the Grier Heights community and noticed the pictures of many several light-skinned principals. That day I spoke with two gentlemen which further stimulated my thinking about the connections between white and African American families in Charlotte. 

One to two sentence synopsis of the book: In Charlotte in 1950, two teenage girls--one black and one white-- break racial restrictions, uncover family secrets, and discover they are second cousins.   
  

What else about the book might peak the readers' interest?
I think that many young adult readers today don't fully realize the problems that African Americans faced before integration. Lillie, the light-skinned African American girl, will flirt with the idea of passing as a way to get everything that whites have. The white girl, Kate, has her own set of problems as she doesn't fit in with the debutante lifestyle her grandmother wants her to have. I am hoping that these issues of "belonging" will resonate with today's readers. There is also an unlikely romance threaded throughout the book. 

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
I have no plans to self-publish and will look for agency representation after it is as close to perfect as I can get it--with the help of many critique partners!

How long did it take you to write the first draft of the story?
That is a REALLY hard question to answer! I had many starts and stops along the way as I had a hard time figuring out where my story began. As a result, I spent a lot of time writing what I now understand to have been the back story. In 2008 Joyce challenged me to participate in NaNoWriMo. I had already been working on this novel, but that helped me spill more of the guts of this book. By the end of 2010 I had completed my first draft. At the SCBWI-Carolinas conference in 2011, my critiquer was Mary Cate Castellani. She suggested that I write my story from both girls' points of view. That was a major shift in my thinking and writing and it took about nine months of working on and off with Rebecca Petruck to come up with a really good outline. I am now over half-way through this draft; which is tighter and better than any of the previous drafts! 

What other books would you compare it to in this genre? This is a scary question because I don't want to feel presumptuous at all. Since it deals with issues of segregation I'd like for readers to think of To Kill a Mockingbird--but I hesitate to even admit that since that is such a Southern classic! Since it deals with a light-skinned young woman passing, I also think of Flygirl by Sherri Smith, although that takes place about five years earlier. When I have described the book to others, some adults have thought that it was The Help for teens, but the books are very different. 

What actors would you chose to play a movie rendition? I am not a movie person, so I couldn't begin to answer this question. But Price Davis, my 92-year-old African American expert keeps telling me to hurry up and finish the book because he wants to see the movie! Now, that's encouragement!

Price Davis, outside his childhood home.

OK, now it's your turn Gretchen Griffith, Becky Levine, Bonnie Doerr, Donna Earnhardt, Augusta Scattergood, and Niki Schoenfeldt. If you want to play along and share with the world what your next Big Thing is--we want to hear it!

Lessons Learned: Giveaway #2

In my last blog I mentioned that I have two more giveaways in store for my readers. Since then I have added one more so you have several opportunities to win wonderful books! Joyce Hostetter won Being Frank but today you have the chance to win Gretchen Griffith's new book, Lessons Learned. 

Gretchen Griffith's book is narrative nonfiction, full of children's stories, but geared towards adult readers. This blurb from her website summarizes it well:

Lessons Learned: The Story of Pilot Mountain School is a powerful history of struggling beyond survival and  a glimpse into a culture long since departed, the rural south of the mid-twentieth century.  In a compelling account, the children of the forties, fifties and sixties reveal secrets of lessons they learned  both inside and outside the school walls. 

This narrative nonfiction is a collective memoir of an era when moonshine and religion coexisted, when barefoot children didn’t know they were poor and when a flush toilet was heralded as the latest technology. Former students and teachers reveal a forgotten world as they look backward through their personal telescopes of time, wisdom and life successes showing Lessons Learned in the South Mountains of western North Carolina. 

As the contemporary world seeks to redefine school, Lessons Learned offers its own definition of education and lessons to learn even in this century.

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Gretchen's book launch is on Tuesday September 25 at from 9:30-2, at the refurbished Pilot Mountain school. A book reading will begin at 10 AM and refreshments will be served. Gretchen has been sharing many of the stories she uncovered on her blog. They are each so precious, I don't know how she chose which ones to use! 

Pilot Mountain School, 1956

Pilot Mountain School, 1990

For the record, there are eight Pilot Mountains in North Carolina and the one this school is named for straddles the Burke/McDowell county line.  It's not the more famous Andy Griffith (no relation) Mt. Pilot on interstate 77, the one from his Mayberry story.

Lessons Learned is available at Ridgetop Books, an imprint of Bright Mountain Books out of Fairview, NC.

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This book would make a great birthday or Christmas present for a special person in your life. Or, you can keep it for yourself! Either way, if you want to enter this giveaway, leave me a comment with your email address by 7 PM on September 24. Gretchen will be happy to autograph it for you!

Two views of Gretchen. She calls the one on the left the
 "Formal Me" and the one on the right the "Normal Me."

Before beginning her writing career, Gretchen taught every age imaginable from Head Start five year olds to college freshman at Appalachian State University and a ninety year old woman in my adult basic education classes at Caldwell Community College. She shares the story behind writing Lessons Learned here.

For more information contact:

Pilot Mountain School

4806 US Hwy 64

Morganton, NC 28655

828-584-6280

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