My favorite story to tell today is how my story Keep Calm And Carry On, Children came to be...
It was inspired by my almost 99-year-old grandfather (April is coming up quickly) in England. About ten years ago he and Nanny started talking about their lives
during Word War II. They captivated me. I couldn’t learn enough about the
period and the hardships the civilians went through.
My
grandfather’s parents took in two little girls during Operation Pied Piper,
when over 800,000 children and women were evacuated from the cities and south
coast of England because of the threat of an invasion. Can you imagine putting your children on a
train going north but knowing exactly where they were going to end up and when
they did get to their destination, they would be taken off the train to be
paraded down the streets for people to pick them. Imagine how scary that would
be and what if you had a little sister? Would it be possible to stay together?
The image of these two little girls was more than I could stand. I had to write
a story for them.
Every
trip, Nanny and Grandad would feed me more
information…take me to museums and forts, introduce me to friends that were
part of their generation (The Greatest Generation). I took notes, I studied
everything. I ordered train maps from that period. I bought replica documents
at museums. I took hundreds and hundreds of photographs. I road a train from
the north of England to the South of England. I visited the town that Joyce and
Gina and their friends up in, Leek. I connected with people in Leek. I did all
the normal things you do for research.
I
wrote down notes on everything. I did character sheets for each character. I
made sure each character had his or her own voice and behaviors. There are five
bulletin boards in my office and an easel. I covered them with word lists and
British phrases. I created scene boards of everything the characters might have
seen in each environment: London during the Blitz, the train ride to Leek, the
countryside and village of Leek. Those were then broken down further for
individual scenes. Yes, my office is very full! But as I finished with each
section of the manuscript, I would put away that information. (I didn’t throw
it away. It’s safely tucked away in boxes and an art portfolio.) Once I knew
what would be in the scenes, I wrote down scene notes for the entire book. Then
I fleshed out each scene until I had a complete first draft. A second draft... A third draft...
I had several trusted critique partners that helped me along the way! I joined online critique groups and in person critique groups. I took the opportunity to do paid critiques with industry
professionals. I went to workshops and conferences. I revised. I edited. I read out loud. I highlighted verbs, nouns, adjective, adverbs, "be" verbs, emotions and senses. I revised more. I queried often and widely. I got a bit with an agent and did an R and R, but it was a no, so I went back and did more editing and revising. Then I got an email from Black Rose Writing. In May or June I started the editorial process with them. And life became a great big blur for me until a box arrived a week before my trip to England...
(My
happiest moment of 2019…giving Grandad a copy of the book he inspired.)
Life is still a blur. There is so much to do after your book comes out. I had no idea what happened after your manuscript was accepted. I know there is still much to do. I love that my publisher reminds me this is a marathon not a sprint. Later this month I'm going to a workshop that deals with After The Publication. (Thanks SCBWI!)
I truly appreciate every single review or rating I've been blessed with. My heart has been filled on several occasions by people who either were evacuees, married to evacuees or are from Leek, England.
Hugs...
