Blood Brothers: A Review and Audio CD giveaway

The forward of Blood Brothers makes clear Elias Chacour’s purpose in telling his personal story to author David Hazard: he wanted to show an unappreciated side of the Arab-Israeli conflict. First published in 1984, Chacour’s dedication to portray both Palestinian and Jewish prejudices is evident throughout the biography. Another theme is Chacour’s question, “What does it mean to love our enemies and be a peacemaker?” (Note: I listened to this book courtesy of Tantor Media. As a result, quotes might not be exact.)

Beginning with his childhood in the hills of Galilee, Chacour’s faith and life’s work is grounded in his mother’s Bible stories and his father’s recounting the history of the Melkite church. Chacour pictured Jesus walking and working in the hills of Galilee—perhaps even in his own village of Bir’im since after all, the Mount of Beatitudes, was close to their home. He was attracted to Jesus’ fiery nature and the way in which He helped the poor. His father taught him two things: “We should love and respect our Galilean soil. Second, our lives are bonded together with the Jews--our blood brothers from Father Abraham.”

Mount of Beatitudes as
seen from Capernaum.

Even when the Zionist soldiers invaded and took their village, Chacour’s father said, “We do not use violence, even if someone hurts us… The Jews have been hurt by being exiled. They have lived in poverty and fear. They’re afraid. They’re weak because they’ve lost peace within.” Chacour was 8 in 1947 when Palestine was portioned and the armed Zionist solders frightened him. One million Palestinians who had lived there since Christ became refugees and targets of “purification.”  In a moment of painful irony, three years after they were expelled from their village they were hired back to care for their own, beloved olive trees. The army, the Haganah, not the government, ruled Israel. 

By Fred Csasznik - Benny Morris, "Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem." ISBN 0 521 33028 9. 1987., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7179966

After the Zionists bombed their village, Chacour was sent away to schools in Haifa and Nazareth. He felt a growing hopelessness and questioned his faith. How could there be peace like Jesus talked about in the Beatitudes? Eventually he was sent to a seminary in Paris to study for the priesthood. In explaining himself to others he attempted to counter public opinion. “We were not terrorists, we were terrorized.” During a visit to Germany he realized the similarity between Hitler’s persecution of the Jews and the persecution against his own people. He hurt for the Jewish people and recognized their need for a homeland but wondered why the persecuted had become persecutors. As he studied the roots of Zionism, he uncovered the political maneuverings behind Israel becoming the Jewish homeland.

His search for a life ministry took Chacour to the small village of Ibillin. He realized that the community was divided between Christian and Arab and that the only answer was forgiveness. He thought about Jesus as the peacemaker and wondered how he could emulate Him. As his work to promote peace grew in notoriety, he was a frequent advocate for bridge building between different people groups. The community center he started in Ibillin grew into a K-12 school of 2,750 of Muslims, Christians, and Druze. Today, Chacour is retired under the charges of sexual harassment and mismanagement. 

Clearly narrated by Jonathan Davis, Blood Brothers--a book for adults and serious-minded teens--provides political and sociological insights into a country that has passed through many hands. But, unfortunately, it doesn’t provide the spiritual solution that is most necessary. 

As a Jewish Christian, I found his Palestinian perspective to be interesting. From childhood, I was taught that Israel was the Promised Land that belonged to the Jews and had never seen Zionism from another angle. Hearing about how Arabs were forced out of their homeland was an eye-opener. Although I applaud Chacour’s wok to build bridges and seek forgiveness between people groups, I found that his work stopped short of the greatest need—forgiveness of sin with God. 

Chacour often quoted Jesus’s words in the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” (Matt 4:9). But he never mentioned what else Jesus said, “Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.” (Matt 4:4) Most Biblical scholars agree: Jesus was teaching about our need to mourn our sin. Although Chacour said we must “remember the gospel of Christ” he never once mentioned that the gospel can be summarized with, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” (Romans 10: 9, Acts 16:31).

Chacour said he was looking for peace. I’d submit that the only lasting, true peace comes when we find peace with God. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5: 1. 

I’m giving away my copy of this audio book. Please leave a comment by October 20 if you’d like to be included in the drawing. Make sure you leave me your email address if you are new to my blog. 

Shared WIP Blog Tag- Part I

Congratulations to Linda Phillips who won the audio CD of "Indigo Girl" from last week's blog.

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Recently I have met several young writers and bloggers.  One of them who goes by the pen name of Julian Daventry, asked for volunteers to be part of her Shared-WIP four-part tag. Each blogger answers four sets of ten questions that will be geared to four different aspects of their current WIP – the story itself, the characters, the storyworld, and general writing.  You'll find links to the other blogs at the bottom of this post; I hope you'll check them out.

My long time blog followers will know answers to some of the questions, but hang in there--there are some surprises too! 

What is the title, genre, and current status of your WIP?

Half-Truths is historical middle grade (after years of flip-flopping between YA and MG. Here's my post about this recent decision.). I just passed the mid-point of what I hope is the last draft--of at least ten (to be honest, I've lost track of how many times I started over!)

What makes your story unique?

Although there are other friendship books between a white girl and a black girl, no others take place in a southern city just before the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education decision to integrate the schools. 

Titled "Isolation." 1960's, Michigan

Where did the title come from?

Generational secrets (i.e., half-truths) that influence the present fascinate me. 

Pictures like these from Pinterest inform my story.

How long have you been working on your WIP?

Ten years. (not counting a few years spent on a picture book and early chapter book that laid the ground work for Half-Truths. Yes, a picture book. Really.)

Some of the books I've read while researching and writing. 

What do you think people will enjoy most about your WIP?

I'm hoping they'll enjoy the girls' friendship and what Kate and Lillian learn from one another. I also hope they'll become more aware of their own half-truths (We all have them!).

Describe your WIP in ten short phrases.

Segregation; Charlotte, NC; civil rights; passing; family secrets; rambunctious goat; debutantes; journalism; unexpected friendship; Korean War. 


Provide a snippet (long or brief) of a favorite scene.

Dear Katie,

Sorry for not writing sooner. Lola Mae told me you were waiting on me to write.

Ever since Daddy folded the Shaw’s place into ours, we’ve had more tobacco to pick than you can shake a stick at. Them sorry coloreds were all standing around boo-hooing when the sheriff served them papers. Hey, it’s not our fault that they didn’t pay their taxes.

I put the letter down and stare out the window. Mr. Davis didn’t buy the Shaw’s property.

He stole it. 

My eyes blur as I continue reading. With all the cutting and drying we gotta do, I’d just as soon as not finish school. That would be fine by Daddy, but Mama won’t hear of it. I just got me a few more years ’til I’m sixteen. Then she can’t say nothin’ more about it. 

I really gotta run. Don’t worry about not being my dance partner no more. Ain’t nobody gonna ever shag like you, baby.

Baby? I crumple up Mack’s letter and throw it into the trashcan. What did I ever see in him? The big oaf!

It would serve him right if he flunks out of school.

What is the hardest thing to write with this story?  What is the easiest?

Hard: Getting the African American story right.
Easy: Writing off the page. (I write Kate's poems in long-hand first. These seem to come out easier.)

A line where the tension builds.

"My anger balloons bigger than my questions about the mysterious object. No one should be forced to dig up their ancestors."

Explain the plot in one line.

In 1952, fourteen-year-old Kate Dinsmore's world is shaken when she discovers that the Negro teenager working in her grandmother's house is her second cousin.

Please visit Sarah, Ivie, Lisa, Julian, Jem, Faith, Lila and Evangeline to see their answers to these questions. You'll be impressed with these young writers enthusiastic dedication to story creation!

Stay tuned for Part II in a few weeks.

Indigo Girl: An Audio CD Review and Giveaway

Congratulations to Connie Saunders for winning REFUGEE. I haven't added it up, but I believe Connie gets the prize for winning the most books off my blog. Her secret? She always shares my posts on Twitter!

I love finding a book which make a setting so real to me that I look it up on a map. Couple that with a Southern young woman who impacted history and a book written with captivating, beautiful language, and I’m hooked. (Caveat: I listened to this as an audio book courtesy of Blackstone Audio so quotations might not be 100% accurate.)

REVIEW

INDIGO GIRL by Natasha Boyd is the story of 16-year-old Eliza Lucas, who lived outside of Charles Town (Charleston), SC in 1739. A British subject, she spent her formative years in Antigua where her father was governor. He moved his family to South Carolina only to decide that he needed to return to Antigua to ensure his political career. With her older brother studying in England, Eliza’s father turns over the responsibility of running the planation to Eliza. 

Eliza is smart, unconventional, and botanical. During a time when young women were groomed for marriage and nothing else, Eliza refuses to be boxed into conventional expectations. Despite her mother’s disapproval and the ridicule of her father’s overseer and neighboring planters, Eliza is determined to not allow her father’s debts to ruin their family.

As the manager of her father’s three tracts of land, Eliza is also in charge of their slaves. Eliza is predisposed not to treat them harshly but her understanding of their situation matures. Early in the book she thanks Quash, the black man who oversees the slaves. Then she thinks, “It's odd to be thanking someone who has no choice."

She dreams of being able to afford to pay her workers rather than be dependent on enslaved workers. This radical thought comes when a suitor confesses he wants to enslave Native Americans to work for him; she realizes he could never be her life companion. She feels small and powerless when her closest friend says Negroes are uneducated savages. 

Her best friend in Antigua was a Negro named Ben. She taught him how to read and he passed along a love for plants that he learned from his grandmother. When Eliza decides that the plantation needs a cash crop to keep the family afloat, she picks indigo, a plant she saw in Antigua. But growing, harvesting, and converting indigo into a dye is a complicated process that no other coastal South Carolina planter has had success with. Eliza’s first crops fail and she desperately needs help. She knows Ben has the expertise she needs, but how is she going to find him?

Her father sends her a man to help her and to her shock and surprise, the man brings Ben too. Now a grown man with the promise of freedom dangling over his head, Ben remains aloof from Eliza. She’s crushed, confused, and stuck between childhood and womanhood. She wants to run back to be a child with her best friend. But she can’t. He is an educated slave who longs to be free.

Ben challenges her in ways no one else can. “Why have you not taught your slaves to read and write?”  “Why do you want indigo?” She’s angered at the blurring between master and slave and then realizes that if her indigo is successful it will be because of Ben’s knowledge. She’ll get rich but he’ll get nothing—not even his longed for freedom. Along the way Eliza learns of The Negro Act but faced with Ben’s challenge, she decides to teach the slave children how to read the Bible—something even her mother can’t object to.

Eliza’s dilemmas drive the book. By managing her father’s estate, she is seen as not very marriage-able. Without a husband, she feels as if she is chattel like her slaves. She bemoans her rashness when she speaks her mind to men--like to her father’s employee who tells her she is too intelligent to be a woman. Yet her need to ensure the indigo’s success to secure her family’s financial future and be a source of revenue for her if she never marries--as well as the nation’s need for a stable export--propels her forward. 

A comprehensive author’s note shows the author’s inspiration for this well-researched book, including what was fact and what was fiction. Boyd’s desire to bring this forgotten pre-revolutionary figure to light is admirable and makes this a great book for both teens and adults. Beautifully narrated by Saskia Maaleveld, this audio book will captivate your imagination and keep you company for many hours. 

GIVEAWAY

Leave me a comment by October 5 for a chance to win this audio book. Share this on social media or start following my blog and I'll put your name in twice--just make sure you tell me what you do or tag me. You can find me on Twitter here, and on Facebook here. PLEASE leave your email address if I don't have it!

Author Signing and Article

Celebrate Indigo Girl's book birthday tomorrow by meeting Natasha at Fiction Addiction in Greenville, SC on October 5. Check out Natasha's schedule for a signing near you--including Charlotte, Savannah, and Charleston.

And one last tidbit: Natasha writes about the compulsion she felt to write Indigo Girl here. 

Behind the Scenes of REFUGEE: An Interview with Alan Gratz and Giveaway-Part II

Congratulations to Connie Saunders and Jennifer Ervin for winning FIRST TIMES from last week's blog.

As promised last week, Alan Gratz  has returned to share some of the intricate process of writing his middle grade novel, REFUGEE. 

Alan autographing a copy of REFUGEE
for the Cousins Club. 

INTERVIEW

CAROL: How much time did you spend researching REFUGEE? Was that typical for all your books?

ALAN: I spent a month or two researching REFUGEE, which is typical for me.

CAROL: Why did you pick the topic?

ALAN: Writing about refugees was something I wanted to tackle. I empathize with the plight of refugees in today's world, and wanted to do something to bring that situation to the attention of school children, the way Linda Sue Park did with water in Africa and A LONG WALK TO WATER.

CAROL: At what point in that process did you realize you were going to use three different characters in three different time periods? Did you plan it or did it “just” happen? Did you know the ending when you started writing? 

ALAN: I knew I was going to write a story about three different kids in three different time periods when I began researching and outlining the book. That decision--to tell three stories--took a while to come up with on its own. But as soon as I realized I could not only show parallels between each story, but actually link the three main characters and their families across time, that's when I knew I had a novel!

CAROL: Each POV is a complete story. Did you write the 3 POV separately or concurrently the way the book appears?

ALAN: I outlined each separately, all the way out--first Josef's story, then Isabel's, then Mahmoud's--although Isabel's story was created knowing what happened to Josef, and Mahmoud's knowing what happened to the other two children. Once I had all three stories outlined, then I wrote the book linearly. That is, I wrote Josef's first chapter, then Isabel's first chapter, then Mahmoud's first chapter, and so on and so on.

CAROL: What system do you use to keep the research, plot lines, and characters straight? 

ALAN: I had a system I had developed over the years, but that has now been replaced by the awesomeness that is Scrivener. Scrivener is a great program for writers that allows you to store all your research and outline and story notes and character sketches in the same file with your manuscript--and it doesn't take a million years to load. You can click between separate screens very easily. It even has an outlining feature with faux note cards on the screen, but I prefer to do that by hand on the big pin board in my office. I'm a heavy outliner, and Scrivener allows me to keep all of my pre-writing notes in one place and at my fingertips when I'm writing.

CAROL: You make writing look easy. 😀 How many drafts? 

ALAN: Including my outline--which, again, is pretty extensive--I did eight drafts of Refugee. The first drafts see the bigger things hammered out, and see major changes to the book's structure and characters. Beginning with the fifth draft, I'm focusing on much more specific problems. By the final drafts, I'm doing line editing. After the manuscript was finished, the Author's Note went through many more revisions than the book, as I tried to stay on top of all the changes happening in American politics and policy--both for the Syrian story AND, to my surprise, the Cuban story!

CAROL: This isn’t your first multi-POV book. What have you learned in the process of writing books from several POV? 

ALAN: With multiple POV books, you have to be very careful to make sure that each POV character has a unique voice and character. Ideally, you want the reader to know whose story they're reading just by the narration and dialogue, even without names or chapter titles. So I do a lot of work on the front end to develop my POV characters, and make sure they have rich, detailed lives off the page as well as on!

GIVEAWAY

Leave me a comment for a chance to win this amazing book. If you left a comment last week, I'll add another entry. MAKE SURE you leave me your email address if you are new to my blog! Random.org will choose a winner on September 28. Like last week, if you also leave a comment through Talking Story, I'll give you another chance (PLUS there are other great books on this topic in the Refugee issue!).

REFUGEE- A Review and Giveaway- Part I

This is a busy week on my blog. TWO giveaways running concurrently! 

WARNING: Reading this book will make you stay up late and the characters will haunt you long after you finish reading it.

Readers of my blog are no strangers to Alan Gratz's books. You're a click away from seeing what I thought of Prisoner B-3087, The League of Seven, and Samurai Shortstop. And believe it or not, I still have Dragon Lantern on my TBR shelf. It's no use. I can't keep up with this t-shirt and jeans-always-in-a-hat favorite of SCBWI-Carolinas and now a NY Times Bestselling author!

Review

It's difficult to know how to review a book that takes the lives of three young people from three different periods of time, who are escaping from atrocities in three different countries and weaves them into one volume. Each chapter tells a different part of each refugee's story and each (see warning above) ends in a cliff-hanger. Masterfully written and entwined together, the reader never loses track of who is speaking and the events that character faces.

In 1938, Josef Landau is a twelve-year-old German Jew who's family barely escapes the concentration camp. In 1994, Isabel Fernandez is an eleven-year-old who is hungry, musical, and afraid.  Castro has been making life difficult for her and her fellow Cubans for years. In 2015, Mahmoud Bishara is a twelve-year-old stocky Syrian who prefers to stay invisible so that he can survive artillery shells and bombs.

Although they are worlds and cultures apart, their stories intermingle. Their stories include broken glass, threatening soldiers, harrowing escapes, unbelievable obstacles, bodies of water which swallow family members, music, close-knit family ties, and heroism on each character's part.

Here are a few bits and pieces to entice you to read this book:

After Mahmoud's apartment building is bombed and crumbles his father says, "We should have gone long ago. Ready or not, if we want to live, we have to leave Syria." (p. 55)

This scene takes place soon after Isabel's family escapes to Florida in a makeshift boat their neighbors built.

They [the fathers] kept arguing, but the engine and the slap of the boat against the saves drowned their words out for Isabel. She wasn't paying any attention anyway. All she could think about was the ninety miles they still had to go, and the water pouring in from the gunshot hole in the side of the boat. (p. 65)

Josef turns 13 onboard the MS St. Louis. Like other Jewish boys, it is time for him to have his bar Mitzvah, which the men on board arrange. His father, who was tormented in Dachau, refuses to attend believing that the Nazis will snatch him away.  Here is Josef in this sad yet foreshadowing scene:

Josef felt like someone had yanked his heart from his chest. In all the times he'd dreamed of this day, his father had always been there to recite a blessing with him. But maybe this is what becoming a man is, Josef thought. Maybe becoming a man means not relying on your father anymore. (p. 75)

While Mahmoud's family meets one obstacle after another as they seek to get to Germany, they meet a Palestinian refugee who left his home in 1948 during the first Arab-Israeli war. Since I was listening to Blood Brothers, the story of the displaced Palestinians (to be reviewed and given away soon)--this man's help to the Bishara family added another dimension to the history and plight of refugees. 

On their cobbled-together boat Isabel thinks about her beloved music.

This journey was a song, Isabel realized, a son cubano, and each part of it was a verse. The first verse had been the riot: a blast of trumpets, the rat-a-tat-tat of a snare drum. Then the pre-chorus of trading her trumpet for gasoline--the piano that gave the son its rhythm--and then the chorus itself: leaving home. They were still leaving home, still hadn't gotten to where they were going. They would return to the chorus again and again before they were done. (p.155-6)

Floating on a dinghy in the Mediterranean Sea with his mother, Mahmoud is hoping to be rescued. In the dark he hears a boat, but can't see it. 

But the sound of the motor stills stayed frustratingly, agonizingly, far away. If only whoever was on the boat could see him, Mahmoud thought. All his life he'd practiced being hidden. Unnoticed.  Now, at last, when he most needed to be seen, he was truly invisible. (p.192)

Josef contemplates joining nine other men who plan to storm the bridge of the St. Louis and demand that the ship be run aground in America instead of being returned to Germany. As much as he wishes he could return to childhood he thinks,

But he wasn't a kid anymore. He had responsibilities. Like keeping his sister and his mother safe. Papa had told him what the concentration camps were like. He couldn't let that happen to Ruthie and his mother. (p. 253)

Alan expertly wraps up the three refugee's stories in an unexpected ending. This is a timely book that both adults and readers from ages 12 and up will enjoy; it is also be a tremendous curriculum resource.

Trailer

Giveaway

I am giving away a copy of REFUGEE in conjunction with the fall issue of Talking Story. Leave a comment here to enter once. Leave a comment through Talking Story and you'll have another chance! Come back next week for a look behind the scenes of writing REFUGEE. You'll have another chance to win the book! Giveaway ends September 28. 

First Times by Charles Ghigna: A Review and a Giveaway

I met  poet and prolific writer Charles Ghigna (aka "Father Goose") several years ago at a reading and writing conference. Today, I am happy to introduce him, and his newest picture book, FIRST TIMES, to you.

In this engaging book in rhyme, Charles shows several characters celebrating their "firsts." Delightfully illustrated by Lori Joy Smith, a young reader will identify with the pride and pleasure of brushing her hair, tying his shoes, riding his bike, or picking a book out from the library. Is there a better way to inspire young children than to praise every milestone accomplishment?

Here are two sample spreads:

The Backstory

I asked Charles what his inspiration was for this book. He replied, 
"The idea hit me during one of my granddaughter's visits. We were at the park playing on her favorite slide when another little girl came by. The younger child stood at the bottom of the slide watching Charlotte Rose as she laughed and cheered her way down the slide. She then stopped to say something to the girl who promptly followed her on her next turn up the ladder. The little girl's eyes widened with joy as she slid down the slide. Charlotte Rose came by and whispered to me, "It's her FIRST TIME." 

Bam! My little six-year-old muse struck again. I spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on a nearby bench writing my new book, listening to the laughter of Charlotte Rose and her new friend. Like many of my books of the past few years, this one is dedicated to Charlotte Rose."

Charles, with his favorite little muse, Charlotte Rose when she was three. His
writing space is actually a tree house!

Lesson Plans and Launch

Teachers and home school educators, make sure you check out the lesson plan on Charles' website. Many of you reading this are in the Carolinas, but if you have friends or family in the Birmingham, Alabama area, information for his book launch is here. Pass it along!

Giveaway

Orca books is giving away TWO copies of this lovely picture book for you to share with your favorite young reader. Please leave me a comment by September 22 and Random.org will pick a winner. For extra chances, share this on your social media of choice. Tell me what you've done and if you are new to this blog, PLEASE leave me your email address in case you win!

You Heard it Here First--Linda Phillips' Second Novel Finds a Home!

As many of you know, I enjoy featuring my fellow writers' accomplishments. In that vein, I bring you news from my dear friend, Linda Phillips. Just for the record, Linda and I met 18 years ago when Fran Davis, the regional advisor for SCBW (there was no I back then) asked us to put together the 1999 conference. Linda and I hadn't even met before! But we pulled it off and became prayer partners and writing buddies. Here's proof that we are really "joined at the hip" as Linda often jokes.

When we went shoe shopping recently, we chose the same pair!

Without further ado, here's Linda to tell us about her next book.

What's the Pitch for Heart Behind These Hands?

Clair Fairchild is a teenage piano prodigy.  When faced with the news that both her younger brothers are dying of a rare childhood disease, she must reshape her musical dreams.

How did you come up with the idea for Heart Behind These Hands?

While this is not a sequel to my debut novel, Crazy, the seed for the story is buried (unintentionally) deep in those pages. When I needed to assign a devastating disease to a minor character in Crazy, coming up with Batten disease wasn’t exactly random.

I taught at The John Crosland School (formerly Dore Academy) and The Fletcher School, both of which serve students with learning differences.  At Dore, we had a student who was diagnosed with Batten in the third grade, and his younger brother met the same fate shortly afterwards.  At Fletcher a girl was ironically diagnosed by the same doctor in the same month.  This neurodegenerative disease robs children of all vision, mobility, cognitive and language skills. None of them is expected to make it far into their twenties.   

The girl, Taylor King, has a family that has formed a foundation, Taylor’s Tale, that has raised many thousands of dollars for research.  An older sister, Laura King Edwards, follows Taylor’s progress on her blog and has committed to running marathons in all fifty states to raise awareness. She has written a memoir, Run to the Light, documenting her first-hand experience watching the disease steal her sister’s life.

The first thing I did when I wanted to pursue a book with Batten as the villain, was to check with Laura and make sure my plans to write a fictional novel-in-verse depicting characters with Batten did not conflict with her memoir.  

We’ve since read each other’s work and are celebrating that our books will both be released in the fall of 2018. We’ve started to discuss ideas about the marketing possibilities that may present themselves under these fortuitous circumstances.  

What was your path to publication?

I began working on this book about ten months before Crazy came out.  During that time, you were the first (as always) to read my first twenty pages and then I sent off the first draft to my agent, Julia Kenny before I went into debut book frenzy.  She and I exchanged three rounds of drafts over the next year before she sent the first submissions out in early 2016.  It’s been wonderful having an agent both willing and able to step into the editorial role. 

We got some lovely, rosy rejections on that first round, and then a second round went out in Nov. 2016. It was met with silence. We both felt confident about the story and went into it with eyes wide open about the uphill battle that novels in verse can encounter. We even had some discussions about the fact that the country as a whole was in a particular, political funk at the time, because Julia said more than one of her clients was encountering the same eerie silence. If you find yourself in the same position, don’t dwell on these mysteries. Dive into the next thing as quickly as possible no matter how uninspired you feel at the moment. I did, and I’m better for it, and more than halfway into my third book.   

The second most wonderful thing about my agent is that she temporarily cut me loose from the contract to explore small presses on my own, while offering her assistance to review any offers. I spent about a week considering whether or not to try self-publishing and I quickly realized I lacked confidence in handling the process.  I started sending out queries in January, one of which was to Light Messages, a publishing house represented at a joint WNBA/CWC meeting in March.  When I mentioned that I had submitted to them the editor emailed me the next day saying she hadn’t received it.  She requested it, we clicked, and I signed the contract shortly thereafter.  Note about querying:  don’t be shy about following up. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain, like a “misplaced” manuscript.

Why verse?

I get this question a lot, and all I can say is it seems to be the way I think, or I should say, have thought.  I started out just writing poetry, and moving into novels in verse was like floating down river on a lazy summer day.  However, now that I look upstream and see the wake of ambiguities among readers, librarians, students and most of all, publishers, I’m going to hang up the rubber raft for now.  That being said, to keep the metaphor going, in my current work in progress, I’m slogging along the bank in bare feet which requires a different set of skills. I now must write in complete sentences and use a truckload more words than I’m accustomed to. And then there’s all that punctuation and capitalization that needs to be addressed!  But it’s all part of the journey and who amongst us writers doesn’t love the challenge of a brand new learning curve? 

   

TAKEAWAYS from SCBWI-CAROLINAS 2017

Congratulations to Connie Saunders who won Sheri Levy's Starting Over ARC.

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Teresa Fannin and Bonnie Adamson, the SCBWI-Carolinas Regional Advisors, co-ordinated another great annual conference. For those of you who were unable to attend, here are some of my takeaways:

From two time Newberry Honor award winner Gary Schmidt's breakout session on Narrator and POV:

• Make a conscious decision about who your narrator is. If you're stuck, switch POV (even to an inanimate object or animal). Even if you don't use that narrator, your story will be informed by what you discover. 
• Use long vowels to slow your story down. Short vowels speed things up.

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From my critique of Half-Truths with agent John Cusick (my reactions in red):

• "Writing is polished and accomplished." (Woohoo!)
• "Love the family relationships."
• "Prose is solid, tight, and evocative."
• "Characterization and dialogue feels a bit generic in places." (Fixable. I have to think harder, dig deeper)
• Develop Kate's unique POV. (Ditto)
• Sounds more middle grade than young adult. (I have received this feedback before. Middle grade, here I come.)

John had other suggestions as I go forward. The shift to middle grade will take some switching around in my head and on the page, but as I'm in the middle of another draft this is the time to do it. Since I tend to read middle grade more than young adult, I think that ultimately I'll be happy with this decision.

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From my breakout session on "Wiki's 101": 

• Be ready to improvise when technology doesn't work the way you expect. Thanks to my gracious attendees who made my moment of "Oops, the LCD isn't projecting the online wikis as I expected," less of a panic situation and more a learning experience. 

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From agent, Jennifer Mattson's breakout, "Putting on the Architect's Hat":

• There are several different narrative structures besides a straight linear one (Beginning, Middle, End.) The one that most interested me was pastiche. When I read Kathleen Burkinshaw's debut novel, The Last Cherry Blossom, I was intrigued by her use of headlines and snippets from radio broadcasts as part of her chapter headings. In fact, last week I was glued to the microfilm machine at the Charlotte public library searching articles from The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte News, and The Carolina Israelite for that purpose. Since I'm also including free verse and letters in Half-Truths, I'm glad to find a name for this type of novel!

From THE LAST CHERRY BLOSSOM
Example of a pastiche novel.

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From John Cusick's breakout, "Pacing- What to Cut. What to Keep and What Order to Put it In":

• Physical description must reveal character.
• Character should be revealed through ACTION. Not a decision to act.
• Cut rhetorical questions.
• "Start as close to the end as possible." Kurt Vonnegut.
• Open with scene, not summary. 

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From the bookstore:

5 grandchildren = going a little crazy in the conference bookstore!

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From the first pages session:

• Be careful of inner monologue that's not authentic.
• Hook your reader with emotion first.
• If you're writing historical fiction, make sure there is a good reason for placing it in the past. 
• Be in the moment with your characters and scenes.

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And last, but certainly not least, from my friend Donna Earnhardt:

"You are tackling a story that is not easy, yet you've made the effort to get feedback that was probably not easy to hear... and still, you keep on going. I am so proud of you and I think that you should be proud of yourself, too. Your tenacity encourages me to keep on keeping on - even when it's hard."

I confess to fighting discouragement over how long it has taken to complete Half-Truths. But Donna looks at my journey and sees perseverance. Which goes to show that often--in life and in books--there are two points of view. 

Fall Writing Classes

The kids are back in school and now it's time for you to take a class too! If you're in upstate South Carolina, I'd love it if you could join me for any of the following workshops sponsored by EMRYS.

September 23. A Fast Blast Intro to Writing Short Stories and Novels- Part I. Joe's Place, Greenville, SC.
Topics will include:

• Build a set of writing tools.
• Create an authentic character and determine what she or he wants.
• Develop a sensory setting and learn how to set your story's mood.
• Consider the variety of conflicts your character might encounter.

October 14. A Fast Blast Intro to Writing Short Stories and Novels- Part II. Joe's Place, Greenville, SC.

Topics will include:

• Differentiate between internal and external goals.
• Figure out your character's over-riding problem and obstacles.
• Develop a plot sentence.
• Map your story.
• Consider point of view.
• Hook your reader.
• Arrive at a satisfactory ending.

November 9. Start Your Blog! Joe's Place, Greenville, SC. 

December 2. Slow Down and Focus! Joe's Place, Greenville, SC.

Topics will include:

• Deep point of view and world building.
• The role of the antagonist.
• Dialogue that moves the story along.
• How to build a story one scene at a time.
• Pitfalls to avoid.
• Your path to publication.
• Writing resources.

Hope to see some of you there! Questions? Contact me at cbaldwin6@me.com. 

STARTING OVER: A Review, ARC GIVEAWAY, and Interview

Sheri Levy’s passion for training service dogs shines in her second Trina Ryan book, Starting Over (Barking Rain Press, 2017). Middle school girls will enjoy re-connecting with puppy raiser Trina, who Sheri brought to life in her first book, Seven Days to Goodbye. 

REVIEW

Having said goodbye to her first dog, Sydney, Trina is determined to start over with a new puppy, despite the pain she’ll feel when she must turn him over to his forever owner. Colton proves to be a handful, occasionally showing his mischievous and playful side, but he is also cuddly and smart. As Trina and Colton bond, the reader learns the patience and painstaking care involved in training a service dog. 

When a new girl, Morgan, comes to the barn where Trina works and takes riding lessons with Chancy, Trina is challenged by the girl’s stiff unfriendliness. In her characteristic helpful manner, she tells her friend Sarah that they can reach out to Morgan using similar tactics she's used as a puppy trainer:

"...what if we don't react to Morgan? I tried being nice when she met us in the woods. She got flustered. My other friends at school last year mentioned the same problems with their brothers or sisters. They say that refusing to respond makes them change their behavior or go away. It's kind of like how I train Colton." (p. 45)

Trina teaches Morgan how to make friends with Knight, Morgan’s beautiful yet stubborn horse, and in the process gives Morgan some insights into friendship. When Knight refuses to let Morgan put the bit into his mouth, Trina advises: "Well, I don't think he knows what you expect, yet. Just like you don't know what to expect from him. It takes time to know each other." (p. 61)

Trina’s acceptance, Knight's warming up to Morgan, plus Colton’s playfulness, pay off and eventually Morgan's tough exterior crumbles. She shares the problems she has with her parents and Trina lends a kind, empathetic ear.   

An untimely accident leaves Trina on crutches. Forced to give up her dream of training Chancy to be a show horse, Trina has to re-evaluate her goals. Slowly, it dawns on her what she was meant to do. Her decision is one that provides a great ending to this book and nicely paves the way for the next book, For Keeps. 

INTERVIEW

Sheri, Please tell us a little bit about your work with PAALS.

When Seven Days to Goodbye was published, I needed help with my website. By accident, I connected with the PAALS web designer, Sue Goetcheus. She has become my PR person, partner, and collaborator. 

My first school visit was at her daughter’s school. Sue and I both spoke to the students about PAALS. Soon afterwards, schools with a PAALS spirit club invited me for school visits. If possible when I visit a school, a volunteer with a new puppy in training or a client with their own service dog demonstrate what a service dog does. The students love this interaction.   

PAALS and I support each other. They call our connection, "PAALS touching lives through literacy." Most of the proceeds from my book events are donated to PAALS. They are 100% non-profit and their needs continue to grow. 

Mulligan is the Black Tri-Aussie, Sheri's rescue dog who is 9 yrs old.
The black and white is Slater, a Blue-Merle Aussie, 8 1/2 yrs old.

I knew you were in love with dogs, but I didn’t know you had a similar passion for horses. Tell us how you got the idea for including horses in Starting Over.

I have never ridden! Our daughter, Trina, at an early age begged to ride. We ignored her request until one day she came home with a phone number on a torn piece of paper from a friend. The riding facility’s number was written in big numbers. 

We told her she could take lessons, but not to expect getting her own horse. She worked at the barn to help defer the cost of lessons and used the barn’s schooling horse. She showed such an interest and a talent, we broke down and bought her a horse. Then we swallowed all of our other “Nevers”. We bought a large truck and a horse trailer. The horse boarded at a barn close to our home, with Mrs. Brown, and Trina worked long hours at the barn to help with the cost. She would have slept in the barn with her horse, if we’d let her! 

It was fun adding horses to the story. But I needed Trina and Google to include the correct details on the horse characters. 

Sheri's daughter, Trina, competing during high school.

I assume when you wrote Seven Days to Goodbye, you didn’t know this was going to be a series. How was writing Starting Over easier or more difficult than Seven Days to Goodbye?   

Hoping for a series, I started working on Starting Over while I was submitting Seven Days to Goodbye. While I was in the revision stage with Barking Rain Press my publisher asked what I had next. I told her I had begun a sequel and had it named, Starting Over.  She surprised me by adding on the last page- Coming Soon From Sheri S Levy: Starting Over.

The sequel was fun to write because it followed the same characters I already knew. But it was scary not knowing if the story would be received as well as the first. I finally had to tell myself to just write and let the publisher decide if she’d publish it. I am fortunate to have an awesome editor who I work well with. 

Can you give us a peak at book Three?

For Keeps uses the same characters with the addition of one new person. The novel begins in the same location as Starting Over, my former neighborhood in Greenville, S.C. And the story will end on Edisto Beach. If I say more, I will spoil Starting Over!

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Now here’s Sheri's question to you, if you read Seven Days to Goodbye:

I’d love to hear from readers. Who would you like to see in the next story. And why?

GIVEAWAY

For a chance to win this autographed ARC, please leave me a comment with your email address if you are new to my blog. Share this on social media (and tell me what you did) and I'll put your name in twice. Winner's name drawn on August 31.