KidLitNation Mentorship - Writers Helping Writers

KidLitNation is a non-profit organization working to assist authors and illustrators of color break into publishing. (http://facebook.com/kidlitnation) Last year, they announced a mentorship program and selected three childrens's book writers to work with published authors for a six month period.

The individuals chosen to be mentored in the KidLitNation 2019-2020 mentoring program agreed to share their experiences during the six month mentorship.

Gabriele Davis comes from a racially and culturlly mixed family: African American, Native American, and Swiss/Caucasian. She grew up loving to read, and realizing as she grew older that something was missing in books. There were no families like hers. She applied for the mentorship to write books with humor and heart that allow all childrn to feel embraced. She picked Russ Busse as her picture book mentor to work with her on her Picture Book, Mary Had a Little Slam.
Suzannah Sebayan is a Filipina-American mother and writer. Since the birth of her daughter, the lack of Filipina voices in children's literaturemade her determined to writechilren's stories featuring Filipino characters. She wants to give her daughter the kind of stories she wished she had while growing up. She selected Barbara Binns as her mentor for her Middle Grade story, Mari and Her Amazing Super Cape.
Catherine Velasco is a Latinx who grew up in a multicultural family. She hoped to craft a story that would help children feel less lonely and make them laugh a little too. Her Middle Grade novel is Hammerin' Hector vs. Godzilla Gomez.

Here are their thoughts about their 2019-2020 KIDLIT NATION MENTORSHIP ~

How did you find out about the mentorship program?
Gabrielle: I discovered the mentorship program through KLN’s webinar with Russ Busse in May 2019, which I found either on Twitter or FB. The session included an announcement about the program, so I hightailed it over to the KidLitNation website to locate the details.

Suzannah: I found out about the program from the SCBWI [Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators] Illinois listserv.

Catherine: I found information on social media, from Urania Smith [One of the KidLitNation founders].


Why did you want a mentor? What did you hope to gain?
Gabriele: I had been querying agents for a couple of years with bits of encouragement but no success, so I wanted to better understand my strengths and weaknesses as a picture book writer. I also hoped to improve my craft. I saw this mentorship as an opportunity to move closer to my ultimate goal of bringing my stories into the world.

Suzannah: I hoped a mentor would provide support as I continued working on my middle grade manuscript. I wanted feedback on this work in progress, and information on the publishing industry, which is new to me.

Catherine: I have been a mentor for 30 years on and off. First with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and then as a journalist, helping high school reporters. So I thought it would be nice to be a mentee and see what happens. I had hope to gain the insight of a veteran author and get guidance with my middle grade contemporary story. An editor asked me for 50 pages and I was hoping to get some help and confidence before I submitted it


What was the mentoring experience like?
Gabriele: I feel really fortunate to have mentored with Russ Busse. Russ was generous with his time and feedback despite his very busy schedule. He has a keen editorial eye and a supportive, encouraging manner and was open to answering any questions I had. I really valued his honest feedback. For each manuscript, we began with a “big-picture” conversation. Then I got to work (unsure if I could accomplish what Russ had suggested) and always surprised myself with how quickly the revisions came together once I calmed down and let his feedback simmer. In our followup conversation, we focused on pickier, more line-level suggestions, and the revision process began again. In each case, Russ helped me tighten and fine-tune my story so that it felt submission-ready.

Suzannah: The experience was positivce and productive. Barbara Binns and I spoke about once a month from August through March. I restructured and refined my manuscript, particularly the opening chapters. I also learned about agents and editors, finding a writing partner and/or group, dealing with critiques and building an online presence.

Catherine: It was a true gift. My mentor, Matthew J. Kirby, is a talented author and teacher. He shared his experiences in the publishing world – the good and the frustrating. We also talked about craft – especially setting which is my weakness. He generously read my entire novel and pinpointed areas that took him out of the book as a reader. That alone was priceless. I wrote diligent notes and now I’m enjoying the revision process, something I used to dread.
 
 What is the most important thing you learned?
Gabriele: I gained a better understanding of how to pace my stories, especially how to effectively develop pivotal scenes (my tendency had been to rush through them). I learned to clarify my characters’ motivations and to trust my instincts regarding beginnings, endings and overall plot. Finally, I learned be patient during the revision process and to trust that the necessary ideas and words would come.

Suzannah: The importance of the opening chapters. I received support and encouragement, motivation to continue writing, feedback on my work and help in navigating the new-to-me children's literature world.

Catherine: Not to compare my book to the great author Judy Blume! That puts too much pressure on my character. Matt said that was unfair to Hector! That was one of my excuses for never submitting it – that it wasn’t good enough.

Is there anything you wanted or expected that you did not get?
Gabriele: The mentorship exceeded my expectations. I had hoped that Russ and I might work together on two to three manuscripts. We worked on four. And Russ helped me fine-tune the story closest to my heart, which earned me a spot in the 2020 PB Party showcase. My entry caught the eye of numerous agents and ultimately led to my signing with the fabulous Joyce Sweeney of The Seymour Agency.

Suzannah: My mentor was generous with her time, feedback and knowledge. I am grateful.

Catherine: No!

Would you recommend the experience to others?
Gabriele: Absolutely. Honest editorial feedback is invaluable to one’s growth as a writer. And a mentorship offers the opportunity to learn not only about craft but about the industry in general. I will always be grateful to Kidlit Nation for helping me leap forward on my writing journey.

Suzannah: Yes, I would recommend it. I enjoyed working one-on-one with a mentor, and my manuscript is now stronger.

Catherine: Yes, I would recommend the program to others because it’s nice to have someone rooting for your book from the publishing world. Matt picked me as his mentee because he loved Hector’s voice and said I made baseball sound interesting even though he was not a big sports fan. That was encouraging to hear that the book appealed to non-sports fans!

Is there anything else you would like to say to others?
Gabriele:  Know what you want from your mentorship. Then, work with your mentor to create a schedule that works for both of you, so that you can achieve it. Everyone’s busy. Having set times (and/or deadlines) will help both of you stay on track. Remember, you have an insider at your disposal. Don’t be shy. Ask ALL your questions! And be prepared to work hard. Working with a mentor can move your career forward if you take full advantage of the opportunity. Most important: have fun! Take joy in the process of creation.

Suzannah: For writers of color, please keep working on diverse children's stories. They are needed.

Catherine: I don’t want people to think all mentors will read an entire novel. I was in an unique situation where an editor wanted 50 pages and my book was selected in SCBWI’s 2019 Work-in-Progress Grant. Matt thought he could be the most help by giving me insight on what needs improvement since the book was getting interest in the publishing world. I truly appreciated his time and guidance, and KidLit Nation’s program. I feel more confident about releasing my book into the world.

You've heard ftrom the mentees. As one of the people selected to mentor an aspiring author, let me say I enjoyed the process. Suzannah and I spent long hours on the phone, and I feel that I came to know her well. Mostly, I enjoyed sharing publishing expoeriences with her, both pitfalls and highlights, and providing feedback that helped her story grow stonger over the months.

RITAs So White

Hi everyone! I am YA, and now MG author Barbara Binns , writer of contemporary and realistic fiction for adolescents and teens. My tagline tells you what I am about - Stories of Real Boys Growing Into Real Men - and the people who love them.  My newest book, Courage, is middle grade fiction that will be coming out this summer from Harper Collins.


If you care about romance (and I bet you do, that’s why you love reading this blog) you know that it's a billion-dollar industry that outperforms all other book genres. It's also an industry plagued by an inclusion problem.

Especially when it comes to books by black authors.

The RITA Award, the top honor for romance writers, is presented by RWA, the Romance Writers of America. After announcing yet another slate of finalists for the 2018 RITA with a disappointing lack of diversity, the  RWA issued a statement admitting the organization has a problem with diversity. In its 36 year history, the nearly all white RITA contest judges have somehow never considered a book by a black author  worthy of a RITA. Click HERE to read the RWA Board’s statement.

In 2017, Bea and Leah Koch authored a report on diversity in the romance genre. The Koch’s run The Ripped Bodice (http://www.therippedbodicela.com/), a romance bookstore in Culver City, LA. They found that fewer books by authors of color were published by the leading romance presses in 2017 compared to the previous year, despite an increase in the numbers of romance books published. Few of those authors of color (AOC) were African American.  Click here for a PDF copy of the report.  The Koch's noted that, “Clearly there is plenty of room to pull up more chairs as long as the people sitting in those chairs are white.” And now both Kimani Press, Harlequin's African American line, and Crimson Romance, a Simon & Schuster line featuring a larger than average percentage of AOC among it's authors, are closing.

Riptide is a New Jersey-based publisher (noted on the report as having 4.8% of their books written by AOC in 2017). Queer romance writer Cole McCade, once one of those authors, described Riptide as “at all levels hostile to me as a person of color”. Click here to read details of his experience,  including an email from Riptide editor Sarah Lyons stating: “We don’t mind POC But I will warn you – and you have NO idea how much I hate having to say this – we won’t put them on the cover, because we like the book to, you know, sell.”

Riptide has since accepted Lyons’s resignation. Which does nothing to change the overall attitude.

Take a look at your own recent reads. Do any of them have a black hero or heroine? Were any written by a black author? People like Brenda Jackson, Rochelle Ayers, Alyssa Cole, Piper Huguley, Farrah Rochon, and Rebel Miller. 

Black romance authors write historical fiction, contemporary, dystopia, suspense, paranormal, LGBT, and sci-fi romance. They write about cowboys, gangsters, billionaires and preachers. They write about black love and interracial, multicultural love. They write romance that is inspirational, or clean or sizzling with sexuality. They write long novels and short novellas.

If none of these books or authors are on your shelves or TBR lists, maybe that’s why even bestselling black authors get little respect from romance publishers or RITA judges who have never felt the urge to open one and discover that love is love, no matter the outer wrapper.

We black authors also write YA. 

My own experience comes from the publication of my first novel, Pull, a YA romance. My publisher daringly placed my African American lead on the cover. Shortly after publication, I attended a romance book fair in Milwaukee where I was the only author of color and one of only a few YA romance authors. Meaning my book was one of the few that young people had to chose from. On two occasions, white teens came and looked at my book. They picked it up, read the back cover (the publisher had an enticing blurb there) and even opened the first chapter. And, if I do say so myself, I had a great opening hook, a reach out and grab the reader first page. Those kids went off to get their parents and drag them back to buy the book. The white parents took one look at me and the book cover, and took their kids away. One even told their child in so many words, “This book is not for you,” without ever looking beyond the black boy on the cover. Before reading a single word, they decided the book was untouchable.

I can’t help wondering how many RITA judges have that same attitude. Do the words on the page written by a black author have to be twice as good as others to get past that initial prejudice? I left RWA a few years ago because I saw the signs and signals and grew tired of being quietly excluded. (And because I primarily write YA, and have now slipped into Middle Grade with my newest book, Courage) I am now part of SCBWI - Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

The children’s book industry has been addressing the inclusion issue for several years, thanks to the work of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/books/pcstats.asp) to document and track diversity and inclusion, childrens book publisher Lee and Low (https://www.leeandlow.com/), WeNeedDiverseBooks (https://diversebooks.org/) and similar initiatives that keep the issue in the forefront. As a result, SCBWI is well into the process of addressing them with initiatives at both the individual chapter and national levels. I'm proud to say the Illinois chapter, which I belong to, is at the forefront of the diversity and inclusion efforts.

All is not lost in RWA land. In a few weeks, I will be at the 2018 Spring Fling conference (http://chicagospringfling.com/) in Oak Brook, Illinois. This writer’s conference, given by the Chicago North chapter of RWA, has brought in the incomparable Beverly Jenkins, a historical fiction author with over thirty novels published, to be one of their featured speakers. Ms. Jenkins may never have won a RITA, but over her stellar career she has been a bestseller and won numerous awards, including the Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award.

Later this year I will be speaking at Romance Slam Jam Booklovers Convention (https://rsjconvention.com/) for black readers and authors. It’s a place where no one will wonder if a black author really knows how to write well, or chose to move to a different table when one sits among them.

I’m human. I like being welcomed.




One more thing:

My next book, Courage will be released at the end of July by Harper Children's. And they dared put a black child on the cover. Its written for young people in 3rd to 7th grade.  If you want to give the young people the gift of inclusion, take this book about six children of various backgrounds and races as they explore friendship and empathy, and what it means to display true courage. (And, they will also learn a little about diving.) You can let Harper Collins know publishing diverse books is important by preordering Courage at
https://www.amazon.com/Courage-Barbara-Binns/dp/0062561650

Conference report

Hi everyone! I am YA author B A Binns , writer of contemporary and realistic fiction for teens. My tagline tells you what I am about - Stories of Real Boys Growing Into Real Men - and the people who love them. 

Conference Tales

I'm so sorry my post is a little late  this month, but that's because I spent a week at the 46th annual summer SCBWI conference for children;s book authors and illustrators in Los Angeles. I am bringing you back some of the highlights, 

Diversity was a major theme of this year's conference. The first keynote speaker, Vanessa Brantley

Newton, gave a talk entitled Diversity Designed by Adversity. The author of Mary Had A Little Glam told us:

"We can let adversity ruin us, or we can 'shake if off and pack it under.'" She grew up with dyslexia, severe stuttering and synesthesia. She was also the only "chocolate chip" in her otherwise white class, and faced teachers who made her status as unwanted very obvious. Although she realized that reality sucked big time, she learned to celebrate the differences and similarities between people. She defeated her stuttering through singing, and treated us to a rendition of "Children will listen" to remind us of the importance of what we write to our readers.

Laurie Halse Anderson gave the closing keynote address. She reminded us that:




Remember, there is nothing easier to do than not create. So attendees hustled forth to be creators.

Workshops

In between the opening and closing we had dozens of workshops to select from, some meant for beginners, others for long-time professionals. Workshops that included:

Linda Sue Park discussing marketing for those of us who hate marketing. One major piece of advice I took from her talk is to not be discouraged by tiny turnouts at book tours (although her family once presented her with an awesome crowd). She shared some advice from her publisher: the goal of book tours is not to sell books to individuals who attend, that's just a plus.The real goal is to build relationships with individual booksellers so be sure to spend time schmoozing with them. You want the book sellers to like and remember you. That leaves them carrying your books, looking for new books, and hand-selling them to future customers. It's all about making connections with other people, the thing that shy me is least good at.

Kat Yeh gave advice to novel drafting to both plotters and pantsers (who she lovingly called "discovery writers"). She called that all important first draft the "hot mess" version. This is the loose, untamed, writing based on instinct and emotion and the ability to not care if you get something wrong. She likened writing the first draft to navigating through uncharted water. When stuck, she recommended we:

• Think of"what ifs"
• Jump around to different scenes
• Think of a scene to show an essential character trait
• Consider something you want/need/wish your reader to know

Big take-away - that hot mess will need editing and re-writing, so attempts to make the first draft perfect are often exercises in futility. Laurie Halse Anderson echoed that at the end of the conference - we must lower our standards to the basics for that first draft and give ourselves permission to suck. The hardest thing to do is to get started. There is nothing easier to do in the world than not create.

Newberry Award winning author Kwame Alexander, settled in for an "intimate" chat with the thousand plus attendees about his long journey to success. 

He also taught a workshop on Business Tips for writers and answered many of our questions.

Panel discussions

There were panels and more panels discussing the publishing industry of today.

Agent Panel

We were treated to commentary by a panel of Editors on Friday, and one of Agents on Saturday. They all told us that diverse voices was no fad. Several publishing houses spoke at length on the subject of sensitivity readers, and both panels discusses some of the issues the still largely white, cis-normal, able-bodied publishing world has in finding authenticity in stories about other groups.

One thing was unanimous. They want manuscripts that surprise them. If you make them laugh, cry and be intrigued by a character who flies off the page, they will want your manuscript.

In addition, we had a special panel of editors from Arthur A. Levine Books who spoke on Celebrating Diversity, Tradition and Change. Mr. Levine and three of his editors spoke about that publisher's long-standing commitment to seeking out and publishing diverse content.

The end?

Then it was time to go home, one of the most fearsome journeys I had ever undertaken. Not that the traffic was so bad. Our driver insisted on splitting his attention between watching the traffic,and watching the video on his phone.

Extra

Anticlimax moment - I made it to the airport alive, and now I am home and struggling to recoup and digest all I learned.  There was much more to the conference, including a diversity social hosted by WNDB, a silver linings gala on Saturday night that...well, you had to be there and see to believe, and a sneak preview of a best selling book coming to the big screen in the near future.

That major announcement included clips from the movie, and a panel discussion with the author, and members of the production staff. The story is set in the 1940's when the Soviet Secret police deported large numbers of Lithuanians to Siberia. With the men separated from the women, Stalin's idea of population control) fight to survive and maintain their humanity. I admit I had not heard of this book or the events it details until I saw the top secret movie excerpts they showed us and listened to them discuss the labor of love that went into making this movie. The movie title will be Ashes in the Snow and I am going to line up to see it when it comes out in the fall.

Giving Myself a Present

Hi everyone! I am YA author B A Binns , writer of contemporary and realistic fiction for teens. My tagline tells you what I am about - Stories of Real Boys Growing Into Real Men - and the people who love them. 

I gave myself a holiday gift this year.

Was it expensive - Absolutely.
Was it worth it - Again, a resounding yes.
Will I do it again - Read further and see the answer.

What was this present - well, a little background first. As a professional author with three books behind me and two more in progress including my middle grade debut novel Courage coming in winter 2018 from Harper Collins, I attend various conferences. Some are better than others, more boring or more informative, and may be geared toward readers or writers. No matter what, there remains one constant - most suffer from monochrome syndrome, the audience and speakers are largely white. Yes, the speakers are deserving and qualified, But I, like many of the young readers I write for, sometimes need a mirror up on the stage expounding wisdom, and in the seats around me. Someone we can look at and see hope for a future for ourselves.

I belong to the Illinois chapter of SCBWI, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. They hold a one-day conference every November called Prairie Writers and Illustrators Day (PWID) - Illinois is the prairie state, get it?

The conference theme was "Calling All Superheroes." The event included portfolio reviews for illustrators, critiques and contests (no, I did not win) One of the best things for me was that this year, the conference organizers found a diverse cast for their faculty.

Agent: Linda Pratt, WERNICK & PRATT
Executive Editor: Traci Todd, ABRAMS APPLESEED,
Executive Art Director: Giuseppe Castellano, PENGUIN GROUP USA
Executive Editor: Kendra Levin, VIKING CHILDREN’S GROUP
Assistant Editor: Nikki Garcia, LITTLE BROWN & COMPANY

Linda Pratt, Kendra Levin and Nikki Garcia discussing issues in YA and MG publishing. In addition Linda Pratt gave a presentation on the elusive thing called Voice, Kendra Levin's presentation helped attendees through exercises in character motivation, and Nikki Garcia helped us understand revising and editing MG and YA stories.

The opening keynote speaker was Don Tate, who calls himself a "visual storyteller." He
discussed his long and winding journey traversing the children's book publishing minefield, emphasizing the many twists and turns, and the length, of the journey while giving hope to those on their way. Mr. Tate will be one of the headliners at the 2017 Virginia Hamilton Conference on Multicultural literature, spoke about his dedication to his craft. BTW, I spoke at the Virginia Hamilton Conference a few years ago. If anyone wants to go deep into diverse literature, and see a truly massive children's library, that's the conference to attend.

I want to give the organizers kudos for noting the few attendees of color they have most years and resolving to look at possible ways to change things in the future.

Which brings me to the present I gave to myself.  I resolved to do more than just attend and see and hear the mirrors on the podium and gave myself the gift of additional mirrors in the audience along with me. Writing and illustrating are solitary endeavors. Yet, we all gain dividends from having a community like SCBWI, RWA or MWA, to be part of, to learn from and gain support.

Many #ownvoices have little chance to become part of that larger community. They feel isolated. Worse, many don't even know those writing communities exist. While they too have a largely monochrome  membership, people all over the world tell stories, from every race, ethnicity and religion. But #ownvoices can't join if they don't even know these groups exist, and if they don't have the finances to join because there are hefty membership fees and even more money is needed to sign up for and attend meetings and conferences.

So my gift to myself was the gift of helping others.

Khannie Dastgah, Urania Smith, B A Binns, Jill Kuanfung, Nabeeh Bilal

I chose to pay the conference fees for others. used a contest to select the scholarship winners, Khannie Dastgah, Jill Kuanfung, and Mabeeh Bilal. Aided by fellow SCBWI member Urania Smith, I set up a scholarship to pay the conference fees so that three additional #ownvoices could attend their first professional writers and illustrators conference.  It's worth noting that almost none of the people who entered the contest did knew anything about SCBWI. Something for the organization to consider: if your current membership is largely white, and many have little interchange with any people of color, much less the subset that are authors and illustrators, those people have no way of knowing you exists.  That ignorance is costly, since the Predators in the business always manage to find those who are hopeful, talented, persistent, and dedicated to their craft...and alone. One of the contestants was on the verge of falling victim to a $20K vanity publisher trap because she had no idea of any alternative to getting her children's books published.

Urania and I ended the day having Chinese dinner at the Absolutely Chines Restaurant in Rolling Meadows, along with Jill and Nabeeh. There they let us close out the place because we couldn't stop talking and enjoying each other's company. And I discovered I don't need alcohol to loosen my tongue and embarrass myself!

P. S. My final reward at the end of the day was a copy of a book illustrated by Nabeeh Bilal:  the Callaloo books.

An autographed copy!

So my gift to myself was to help others. It's like the starfish parable, I've helped one other individual (okay three) with the hope act that will influence their lives for the better and they will keep giving forward. That makes the answer to the question at the beginning of this blog - would I do something similar in the future?

As long as my finances hold, the answer is YES!  In the meantime, if you know of any #ownvoices  out there, whether they write for children or adults, let them know to contact me at author2 [at] babinns [dot] com for a welcoming community.  If you happen to be one yourself, ditto.