Entry 241 - Linda Trice - on KENYA'S ART, KENYA'S WORD - And Are Agents Necessary?

JAN:     Your new picture book for ages 4-8, Kenya's Art (Charlesbridge Publishing) is now available from all booksellers as of Tuesday, January 12, 2016. It's such a heart-warming story. The daddy in the story helps his daughter Kenya find something wonderful to do during spring vacation. When school begins again Kenya inspires her multicultural classmates and her teacher, Mrs. Garcia to use recycled materials to make art. Some readers may remember their grandparents’ tales about making quilts and toys from recycled materials. This is your third book in the Kenya series and joins Kenya's Word and Kenya's Song. What inspired you to write Kenya’s Art?


LINDA:     Two things inspired me.

FIRST GRADE STUDENTS: I taught a group or remarkable students in a New York City public school. Their parents were involved, supportive and helpful. I asked my students to tell their classmates about their spring vacations. Cecile went to the Bahamas, showed us some of the shells she collected and told us about each one. Brian told us about each of the three books he’d read, Diane showed us her science project and Imani read her one page report about Martin Luther King.

STUDIO MUSEUM OF HARLEM: Elan Ferguson, a teaching artist gave weekly workshops for children and parents at the Studio Museum of Harlem. Each workshop was inspired by one of the museum’s exhibit. Once Elan helped the children turn old postcards into 3 D art. Elan has advanced degrees and has worked in helping children create art for more than fifteen years. Her bio and some of the projects she’s helped kids develop are on her Diverse Art for Kids blog: http://diverseart4kids.blogspot.com/

Five-Year old Bryce Simmons & her finished art project.

 JAN:     What were your favorite childhood books?

LINDA:     There weren’t stories that I could relate to when I was a child. The books I read had rural and suburban white children in them. When Black people were included in a story, which was rare, they were often offensively portrayed.
The result of this was that in elementary school, when I started writing stories, I wrote about white people who lived in the suburbs in homes with, believe it or not, white picket fences. I lived in Brooklyn, New York and had never even seen such houses.
I’ve recently read about other Black writers who had the same experience when they were children. Some of them like me wrote stories about white suburban families and not portrayals of families like their own. We wrote stories like the ones that we were reading. There were no books for children that reflected the diversity of Black life.

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JAN:   You have written books that have strong historical connections. What about your background and experience influences topics that you choose for your writing projects?

LINDA:     I took Black studies courses when I was a student at Howard University. I earned advanced degrees and taught Black Studies on the university level. Many believed and hoped that when modern Black Studies programs began in the 1970s the information would be included in mainstream courses from pre-K to graduate school. Regrettably that has not happened.

I often write about famous Black people because few Americans know about them. I wrote an article about Charlotte Forten (1837-1914) for Pockets, a children’s magazine. Charlotte was the daughter of a socially prominent, wealthy, Black abolitionist family in Philadelphia. During the Civil War she went to South Carolina’s Sea Islands to teach the newly freed people. Had she been captured she could have been killed or sold into slavery. According to the National Women’s History museum she was “the first African-American teacher to be hired in Massachusetts (and) probably was the first in the world to teach white students.”

I also write for adults. In my article for the magazine, "Black Women Entrepreneurs" that was published in the magazine, Opportunities for the Minority College Graduate, I included Maggie Lena Walker (1864-1934). This Black woman was the first female bank president of any race in the United States.

One of the objectives of my written work is to show the economic and cultural diversity of African Americans. For instance the children in Kenya’s Song have grandparents who embrace their Caribbean culture.

Kenya’s Art and other books in the series show a loving and encouraging middle class two-parent family. Kenya is a strong and creative girl who lives in a multicultural community and whose culturally diverse classmates are kind and supportive of each other.

JAN:   What writing advice do you have for adults and in particular, beginning writers?

LINDA:     I’ve been teaching adults how to write for some time now. I was on the faculty of several colleges and at the Institute of Children’s Literature. I gave writing courses in adult education programs and had columns about writing in newspapers and magazines. I am invited to speak at regional conferences of the Society for Children Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). Often attendees sign up to get my critique of their work in progress.
Many beginning writers want to start off writing a book. I suggest they start by getting published! I suggest that they write and send letters to the editor of their local paper about something they care about. They can write for community newsletters or the newsletters of their church, library, even the one for their job. They may not get paid, but will get good experience in the writing world.

I like to remind beginning writers that book authors do the same thing. For example, I work on my books during the week and on weekends I work on articles, poems, and stories. Some are good enough to submit to magazines and newspapers, while others still need work. So the next time I have a few hours I work on them and continue until they are polished.

JAN:     What can you tell readers about your experiences working with agents? How did you get your first agent? What's it like to work with and without an agent?

LINDA:     Well, let me tell you how I found my first agent. I was at a new friend’s party for her five-year old daughter and met a woman who wrote screenplays for a television soap opera. She asked what I had published. Although I hadn’t had a book published yet, my articles and short stories had been. She gave me the name of her agent, Sally Wechsler.

Sally looked at my published articles and short stories and then took me on. By that time I’d written articles for the United Methodist Church and reviewed children’s books for them too. The United Presbyterian Church had hired me to write stories for their Sunday schools. I’d also done some articles for neighborhood newspapers. They didn’t pay, but I did get a byline.
Sally told me that McGraw Hill was doing a series of books for ages 9-12 and needed someone to do a biography of Charles Drew, MD, the Black surgeon who had discovered a way to preserve blood. The American Red Cross asked him to set up America’s first blood banks. He did and they saved lives. Dr. Drew had been a hero to my parents and one of Drew’s daughters had been my classmate at Howard University’s Law School.

McGraw Hill was considering two other writers. I was persuasive in my letter to McGraw Hill and got the contract. The book was a success and, with the help of my sister, the first edition quickly sold out.


Many of my writer friends have found publishing success without an agent. After Sally Wecksler died I was able to find another agent. But she didn’t work out. And working without an agent won't prevent writers from success. For example, Highlights Foundation gives workshops for people who want to write and for writers who want to take advanced workshops in writing. I was at one of them when I heard Yolanda Scott, the executive editor of Charlesbridge Publishing speak. I sent my new manuscript, Kenya’s Word to her and she accepted it. I had no agent. Once again my sister helped and the first edition sold out.  

Charlesbridge was so pleased that they offered me a contact for two more books about my character Kenya. I have been invited to speak at schools, community centers, churches, and book fairs.

JAN:     You have won numerous awards for your writing over the years including the Pewter Plate Award from Highlights for Children for your profile of Harlem Renaissance painter, Jacob Lawrence and you wrote a wonderful book about Charles Drew: Pioneer of Blood Plasma. Which of your many awards has touched you the most?

LINDA:    Writing awards are appreciated because they tell an author that her talent and achievements have been recognized. As you mention, I have won several. Among my favorites: the Delaware Diamond because kids voted for it. Also another of my favorites is a profile of author Walter Dean Myers that won an award from Parenting Media Association. I especially appreciate these two because these are the people who publish magazines that parents and teachers read.

Sometimes what touches me most are the heart-felt letters I find in my fan mail. A woman wrote that my article on Black Women Entrepreneurs inspired her because, although she is Black, she had not known about Black women business owners.

Writers try to express what is in people’s hearts. We write the words that people often wish they could say. One of my professors once told me, “Linda, you will be a voice of your people.”  I hope he was right and that other people will write about the concerns of their communities too. Writers can educate, console and inspire their readers. And isn’t that why we read?

Walter Dean Myers, was a noted and prolific author was the Library of Congress’ Ambassador for Children’s Literature.

ABOUT LINDA TRICE

Author Linda Trice

 Linda Trice was born and raised in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, NY. She received an undergraduate degree from Howard University in Washington, DC, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Columbia University. She also holds a Ph.D. in Black Studies and is a member of Pi Gamma Mu, the international honor society in social studies. She was a Fellow at the following artist colonies: Millay, Alfred, Hambidge and The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.

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Before making writing her full-time career, Linda taught lower grades in public schools in New York City, Connecticut and Washington, DC. On the college level, she taught undergraduate, graduate and adult education courses and workshops in writing and Black Studies. She was a columnist and book reviewer for Comcast, The Hartford Courant, QBR Kids, Black Enterprise, The Bulletin of The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and other periodicals.

Please tell your friends about Kenya's Art.  AVAILABLE RIGHT NOW.      Ask them to visit https://www.scbwi.org/display-book-launch-party/?id=366968

ABOUT JAN BOWMAN

Jan’s story collection, Flight Path & Other Stories published by Evening Street Press. Available online for immediate shipment.
Order it here: http://eveningstreetpress.com/jan-bowman.html
For group or store orders contact Barbara Bergmann, Managing Editor    Email:       editor@eveningstreetpress.com
Soon Available: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, & GoogleBooks (print & e-books)

Winner of the Roanoke Review Fiction Award, Jan's stories have been nominated for Best American Short Stories, Pushcart and Pen/O’Henry awards. Her fiction has appeared in Evening Street Review, Uncertain Promise: An Anthology of Short Fiction and Creative Nonfiction, Roanoke Review, The Broadkill Review, Third Wednesday, Minimus, Buffalo Spree (97), Folio, The Potomac Review, Musings, and others. Glimmer Train named a story as Honorable Mention for Short Story Awards for New Writers Jan’s stories have been finalists or short- listed for the Broad River Review RASH Award for Fiction, The Phoebe Fiction Contest and So-to-Speak fiction contest. She is working on a new story collection, working title, Life Boat Drills for Children. She has nonfiction publications in Atticus Review, Trajectory, and Pen-in-Hand. She writes a regular blog on her website on the writing life and interviews writers and publishers. 
Learn more at: www.janbowmanwriter.com

Entry 240 - Laura Shovan - on Poetry, Pitch Wars, Book Vines & Poets for Change

Entry 240 – Laura Shovan – on Poetry, Pitch Wars, Book Vines & A Thousand Poets for Change Conference in Salerno, Italy

Laura Shovan

By Jan Bowman Laura Shovan is poetry editor for Little Patuxent Review. Her newest book The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, her novel-in-verse for children, debuts in April 2016 (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House).
Laura’s chapbook, Mountain, Log, Salt and Stone (CityLit Press 2010), won the inaugural Harriss Poetry Prize. She edited Maryland Writers’ Association’s Life in Me Like Grass on Fire: Love Poems (MWA Books, 2011) and co-edited Voices Fly: An Anthology of Exercises and Poems from the Maryland State Arts Council Artists-in-Residence Program (CityLit Press, 2012), for which she is a longtime teacher. Laura spoke at the 2015 100 Thousand Poets for Change World Conference in Salerno, Italy. She is a Rita Dove Poetry Award finalist and winner of a Gettysburg Review Conference for Writers scholarship. A member of the Poetry Friday blogging community, Laura has judged for several literary contests, including the Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers Literary Awards (CYBILS).
After graduating from NYU’s Dramatic Writing Program and receiving a Master of Arts in Teaching from Montclair State University, Laura taught high school, worked for the Dodge Poetry Festival and as a freelance journalist, and now coaches teens with learning differences.

Jan:   Thanks for the interview. Your new book coming out in April 2016 is described as a whimsical novel-in-verse, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House). What inspired you to write this book and how did you arrive at the decision to use this particular poetry form?

Laura:   The idea for THE LAST FIFTH GRADE came from an intersection of two things. The first thing was my admiration for the classic American verse novel Spoon River Anthology, by Edgar Lee Masters. Spoon River is a collection of interwoven persona poems, all spoken in the voices of one town’s citizens. Together, the poems create a complex picture of what small town life was like during the turn of the century. The second point of inspiration was my work with students as a Maryland State Arts Council Artist-in-Education. I became interested in the classroom as a small community. Why not create a version of Spoon River, set in a modern fifth grade classroom?

Jan:   What do you love about this book and will there be a sequel?
Laura:   After working on this book for seven years, I am quite attached to the characters. Each one has his or her distinct personality and voice. To me, they are a fun group of kids to spend time with. I am working on a second stand-alone children’s novel with my editor, Wendy Lamb, but we may be seeing more of Ms. Hill's students in the future.

Jan:   I was intrigued to discover that your book is travelling around America on a book field trip. Is this a new approach to marketing? Tell me more about this project.

Laura:   It’s not a new approach! In fact, I’ve read books that were out on ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) tours too. The tours are sometimes called book vines. Bloggers or readers – in my case, members of my 2016 debut author group – sign up to read the ARC and write a review or blog about the book. The book travels from reader-to-reader. The Sweet 16s group has authors all over the country, so my ARC has gone from coast-to-coast as it travels between the members of that group.

Jan:   You have taught high school students, worked for the Dodge Poetry Festival, and now coach teens with learning differences. You mentioned a quote from Mary Jo Bang that Poetry is a shared social space.  How does this connect to your personal philosophy as a poet and how has that influenced the way that you write poetry with children? What touches you most about teaching poetry to children?

Laura:   What touches me most about writing poetry with children is how humanizing it is. When I visit a classroom, the students can briefly forget about grades, rubrics, and standardized tests. I am there to write poetry with them. That’s it! This gives them the freedom to write about their lives: their likes and dislikes, family traditions, and favorite memories. In the process of sharing their poems, the students begin to learn new things about one another and to see each other as full, interesting human beings. Often, children who struggle with writing for academic tests have the opportunity to shine as poets.

Jan:   In your work with the Maryland State Arts Council artist-in-residence, you are described as a poetic master chef. What ingredients are essential as you prepare tasty morsels of words that even reluctant readers and writers will enjoy?

Laura:   Ha! At the time, I was teaching an introduction to poetry course for CityLit Project called “Poetry Café.” After years of teaching, and reading so many wonderful poems by young writers, I have come to believe that children (and adults) already have the essential ingredients of poetry in our pantries. Much of my work is showing children that they already know how to create similes. Who hasn’t looked at the sky and seen a cloud that looks like an animal? They are adept at using onomatopoeia and hyperbole in their everyday speech. My job is to show them how to take what they already know and make a space for it on the page.

Jan:   Tell me about your experience with the 2015 Thousand Poets for Change World Conference in Salerno, Italy this year. How did you become a participant? What amazed you the most about this conference?

Laura: It’s a long story. The short version is that I have been a 100TPC event organizer since the program’s inception in 2011. Every year, Michael Rothenberg, a California poet, invites people from around the world to host poetry events in their own communities during the last weekend in September. The events are streamed, photographed, and uploaded on YouTube for everyone to view and share.

Michael and his partner Terri Carrion invited me to attend the first gathering of 100TPC organizers this June. What amazed me most goes back to the Mary Jo Bang quote you shared. Despite our differences in culture and language, more than 60 poets from around the world came together to talk about poetry activism in our home communities. That was our common ground, something all of us were passionate about. I formed friendships with many remarkable people at that conference. I love waking up in the morning and seeing a Facebook message from a 100TPC friend in Malaysia, Israel, or India.

Jan:   Someone told me you have story and advice for anyone involved in Pitch Wars. What is the story and what do you know now as a result of your experience?

Laura:   I participated in the Pitch Wars author-to-author mentor program right before I signed with my agent. You can read the full story here: http://www.brenda-drake.com/2014/07/another-pitch-wars-alum-success-story-laura-shovan-joy-mccullough-carranza/

Online pitch contests aren’t always the best venue for quieter books. A flashy logline or premise tends to catch the agents’ eyes. But I’d encourage any submitting author to give Pitch Wars a try. Having an author who coaches you through an intense revision is invaluable. So is the sense of camaraderie among the Pitch Warriors. There’s a real feeling of “we’re all in this together.” When alumni of the program sign with agents or sell books, the whole community is there to cheer them on.

Jan:   In your work as an editor of Little Patuxent Review what useful things have you learned that continue to enrich your current work as a poet?

Laura:   Being on the editorial staff of Little Patuxent Review for the past five years has taught me countless things. Reading the submissions stretches me to think past my own poetic style and subject matter, because I want readers to stretch in the same way. When they open an issue of LPR, it’s because they are willing to try new things and be surprised by a poem, essay, or story. Editing the journal was also on-the-job training in the art of putting a full-length manuscript together.

Jan:   What advice can you offer to a budding poet that would encourage him or her? What should you know if you want to be a poet?

Laura:   Staying engaged with the literary community is the best piece of advice I have for any writer. Writing friends will be your beta readers and sounding boards. They offer a shoulder when you think you can’t handle one more rejection, and they are the people you’ll celebrate with when a poem is accepted or when you sell a book. Perseverance is important too, but a supportive literary community can help a writer find the stamina to keep working on his or her craft.

Jan:   And finally, would you say a bit about your work this year with Howard County’s high school students through the HoCoPoLitSo writers-in-residence program?

Laura:   HoCoPoLitSo’s long-running education program has brought many wonderful poets, people whose work I admire like Michael Glaser, Lucille Clifton, Derrick Weston Brown, and Joseph Ross, into our local schools. I am very excited about working with Howard County’s high school students this year. It is an honor to be part of that tradition.

Jan:   How can people find your books, website, and blog?

Laura: Here are some links that should help. My new website should be up soon. It will be www.laurashovan.com.

My blog will be moving to that site. For now, it is “Author Amok”: http://authoramok.blogspot.com/
My books are available on Amazon:


LIFE IN ME LIKE GRASS ON FIRE: LOVE POEMS: http://www.amazon.com/Life-Me-Like-Grass-Fire/dp/0982003218/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1443043310&sr=8-3&keywords=shovan
(Also available through Maryland Writers Association: https://marylandwriters.starchapter.com/catalog.php)

MOUNTAIN, LOG, SALT, AND STONE:
http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Salt-Stone-Laura-Shovan/dp/193632802X/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1443043310&sr=8-14&keywords=shovan

THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY (pre-order):
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Fifth-Grade-Emerson-Elementary/dp/0553521373/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443043310&sr=8-1&keywords=shovan


All three are also listed on my Goodreads author page: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3564024.Laura_Shovan


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About Jan Bowman

Jan Bowman

Jan’s upcoming story collection, Flight Path & Other Stories will be published by Evening Street Press, October 2015.
Brief Biography for Jan Bowman
Jan Bowman is winner of the Roanoke Review Fiction Award. Her stories have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, Best American Short Stories, a Pen/O’Henry award. Her fiction has appeared in Evening Street Review, Uncertain Promise: An Anthology of Short Fiction and Creative Nonfiction, Roanoke Review, The Broadkill Review, Third Wednesday, Minimus, Buffalo Spree (97), Folio, The Potomac Review, Musings, and others. Glimmer Train named a story as Honorable Mention for Short Story Awards for New Writers. Jan’s stories have been finalists or short- listed for the Broad River Review RASH Award for Fiction, The Phoebe Fiction Contest and So-to-Speak fiction contest. She is working on a new story collection, working title, Life Boat Drills for Children. She has nonfiction publications in Atticus Review, Trajectory, and Pen-in-Hand. She writes a regular blog on her website on the writing life and interviews writers and publishers. 

This entry was posted by Jan Bowman on Friday, November 13, 2015.
Filed under: Book Reviews, Interviews, Reflections

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Entry 239 - Tony Deaton - on Practice, Podcasts, & Talking to Your Performing Self

Practice, Podcasts, & Talking to Your Self

By Jan Bowman
Tony Deaton is currently associate professor of music at Lee University, where he teaches applied voice and vocal literature. In addition to his teaching responsibilities at Lee, Deaton continues an active performance schedule through the southeast. His new book, STOP! LOOK! LISTEN! A Practical Guide to Vocal Technique and Performance was just released and offers down-to-earth tips to anyone involved in vocal performance.

When I first met Tony Deaton at a Tinker Mountain Writers Workshop a few years ago, I was impressed with his clear distinctive speaking and reading voice. Later I discovered his vast experience as a vocal artist and learned that he was writing a book about techniques to improve vocal performances. In this age of Podcasts, more and more writers are reading their work to audiences. The spoken arts, such as giving a public reading require different skills from those language skills that a writer usually uses. I wanted to know more about this skill, so I interviewed Tony Deaton.

Jan:     So tell me about your new book, STOP! LOOK! LISTEN! A Practical  Guide to Vocal Technique and Performance. Who is your intended readership    for this book that speaks to vocal training to improve speaking and singing performance? And what led you to write this book?

Tony:     My book is intended for use by singers on all levels from beginner to professional. I’ve been a student of the singing voice most of my life and I performed in opera, oratorio, recital, and musical theatre for more than forty years. I began teaching on the college level twenty years ago. I love teaching, but it has its challenges. In an effort to be a better teacher, I read a lot of books, as well as articles in music journals. While these were interesting, I found myself bogged down in too much jargon with charts and discussion regarding physiology. I wanted to write a book that is easy to understand and is immediately applicable to a singer.

Jan:     You have spoken about the differences between those who have natural talents versus those who have marginal talent, but who understand the value of practice. Successful writers learn how essential practice is to the art and craft of writing. As a teacher of both individual vocalists and choral groups, you have seen this make a difference. How could this same idea be useful to someone doing public readings or speeches?

Tony:     At one of my very first voice lessons many years ago, a teacher said something I’ve never forgotten: “Singing is speaking with music around it.” The point is the muscles, and for the most part, the use of those muscles in singing and speaking are the same. I emphasize to my voice students the use of a mirror and a recording device. Many of the technical errors and bad habits can be fixed simply by watching and listening. That’s two parts of the title I chose, Stop! Look! Listen! Watch yourself. Watch others. Listen to yourself. Listen to others. By watching and listening, a singer or a speaker can observe good points of vocal technique and good habits, as well as bad technique and bad habits you do not want to copy.

Jan:     What do you see as some of the biggest hurdles for someone who is learning to become a singer, actor, or vocal performer?

Tony:     That’s a very good question and one that is a little complex. It almost has a Jekyll/Hyde answer. What I mean is that on the one hand you have to work, work, work. Learn the basics of technique and continue to refine those for the rest of your singing life. On the other hand, you have to trust your voice. Let it sing freely. Vocal technique is very important. But technique should serve to enhance and support the natural talent and ability. It’s important to believe in yourself and respond to that burning passion to perform.

Jan:     Let’s talk a bit about stage fright. I bought and read your book because I am going to do some readings for my new collection of short stories, Flight Path & Other Stories soon, and I find public reading terrifying. I got some good tips. As a writer I see myself as somewhat quiet and introverted. Stage fright is a real problem for me. What can I do to manage my stage fright and maximize my reading performance?

Tony in a performance of Die Fledermaus

Tony:     I used to be scared to death of auditions. Once onstage, I could hide behind the role/character I was portraying and feel very comfortable, but in auditions I felt completely exposed, vulnerable, and helpless. Every performer knows if you want to work, you have to audition. To connect and to feel comfortable with an audience, it’s important for performers to connect and feel comfortable with themselves.
It may sound crazy, but I suggest finding a private space, looking at yourself in the mirror and repeating words and phrases of calm assurance. Remind yourself of who you are, what you are, your accomplishments, the fact that you have had excellent training and experience. You are a professional. Also remind yourself that your audience came to hear you. They believe in you; that you are someone special. They are your fans. They love you. Love them. Reach out to them. If you feel nervous, tell them. Stating the obvious is a good way of dealing with it. Just saying it often minimizes the threat.

Jan:     You have talked about the need for efficient articulation. What exactly is efficient articulation?

Tony:     I must have read that term, “efficient articulation” somewhere. It sounds too good to be an original. When I said it in our workshop class, I think what I meant was to cut out the fluff. To say what you say with integrity. A minister from my youth used to say, “Plain talk is easy to understand.” An audience, whether it’s a live group of listeners, or those who read our work, can spot a fake. They see right through the “bull.” Just tell the story as straightforward as possible.

Jan:     You have worked with such renowned artists as Gian Carlo Menotti, Carlisle Floyd, Robert Ward, Bodo Igesz, and Marni Nixon, among others, and performed many times on public and commercial radio and television. Who has most influenced you?

Tony:     The names of those renowned artists sound good in a bio sketch, and I feel fortunate to have had the experience of working with them. But when I think of who influenced me most, my mind immediately goes to my teachers. My high school choral teacher, Henrietta Brandt, made a huge impact on me. Through her constant encouragement, I was made aware of my talent. In time I believed in my talent and in myself. She instilled a love of great music in me and I was given ample opportunities to perform. Jim Burns, my undergraduate teacher, and Edward Zambara, my teacher in graduate school, were also both very influential in my vocal journey.

Jan:     When did you know that music would be your life?

Tony:     There was never any doubt for me. I knew in high school that music would be my life’s endeavor. After my collegiate study I expected to return to my hometown and take over from my beloved choral teacher, Miss Brandt. Originally I wanted to be a high school choral director and a minister of music. Sometime during my freshman year of college I got the bug to be a performer. A few years later I did a role in an opera, and I knew then there was no turning back.

Jan:     And what are your favorite pieces of music to sing and to teach chorally?

Tony:     I have about three roles that are favorites. Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro is a role I have performed many times and always love it. Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof is another, and Reverend Olin Blitch in Susannah is the third. All three roles have unique vocal, musical, and emotional demands. I could be very happy given an opportunity to perform those three roles every week for a long time.

In the past I directed church choirs, but most of my training and experience is in vocal solo performance. Occasionally I am asked to work with the men’s section of a choir, but I haven’t taught a choral group in many years. My choral performance experience is as a soloist in choral masterworks. Two very different, exquisite works, The Mozart Requiem and Carmina Burana come to my mind as favorites.

Tony with his award-winning students.

Jan:     Finally, what advice do you have to encourage people struggling to develop their talents, whether they are musicians, writers, singers or others dedicated to a life in these arts?

Tony:     Thanks. What a good opening for me to plug my book, Stop! Look! Listen! A Practical Guide to Vocal Technique and Performance. It’s available on Amazon.
Although I said it a little differently in my book, I will use the same catch phrase, Stop! Look! Listen!
Stop. And ask yourself if you are you maximizing every opportunity given you to grow, study, and learn. Stop wasting your time. Work! The real reward comes in the fulfillment of work.
Look. Observe others in your discipline. What are the successful people doing as they produce quality work? Look and learn. You can also learn as much of what to avoid by watching the pitiful efforts of others.
Listen. To yourself. As a performer, record yourself. Be your own teacher and critic. And, I know it’s a cliché, but listen to your heart. Will you ever be truly happy and fulfilled if you deny the love of this art?

I write in my book, “Follow your passion. Not someone else’s passion for you, but your passion.” Shakespeare said, “To thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day. Thou canst not then be false to any man.”


Contact Information:

B.A., Lee College
M.M., University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Email: tdeaton@leeuniversity.edu
Background:     Tony Deaton made his New York debut at The International Festival of the Arts in the title role of Punch in Harrison Birtwistle’s avant–garde opera, Punch and Judy. He has performed at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., at Spoleto USA in Charleston, S.C., and with symphony orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States.
He has worked with such renowned artists as Gian Carlo Menotti, Carlisle Floyd, Robert Ward, Bodo Igesz, and Marni Nixon, among others, and has performed many times on public and commercial radio and television. Deaton created the role of Major William Lewis in the world premiere performance of Rachel, produced by the Knoxville Opera Company, and was chosen by American composer Richard Maltz to premiere his song cycle Seeing With The Heart. As a member of North Carolina’s distinguished Visiting Artist Program, Deaton presented hundreds of recitals, workshops and master classes. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Lee College as a voice student of Jim Burns and a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Tennessee, where he studied with Edward Zambara. Deaton has taught on the voice faculties of Appalachian State University and Methodist College. He is currently associate professor of music at Lee University, where he teaches applied voice and vocal literature. In addition to his teaching responsibilities at Lee, Deaton continues an active performance schedule through the southeast. He is married to the former Suzy Venable, originally of Knoxville, and is the proud grandfather of grandsons Spencer and Andy.


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About Jan Bowman:

Jan Bowman’s new story collection, Flight Path & Other Stories (October 2015) Evening Street Press is available (for pre-order) online:

http://eveningstreetpress.com/jan-bowman.html

 
Jan Bowman is winner of the Roanoke Review Fiction Award. Her stories have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, Best American Short Stories, a Pen/O’Henry award. Her fiction has appeared in Evening Street Review, Uncertain Promise: An Anthology of Short Fiction and Creative Nonfiction, Roanoke Review, The Broadkill Review, Third Wednesday, Minimus, Buffalo Spree (97), Folio, The Potomac Review, Musings, and others.
Jan’s stories have been finalists or short- listed for the Broad River Review RASH Award for Fiction, The Phoebe Fiction Contest and So-to-Speak fiction contest.  Glimmer Train named a story as Honorable Mention for Short Story Awards for New Writers.
She is working on a new story collection, working title, Life Boat Drills for Children. She has nonfiction publications in Atticus Review, Trajectory, and Pen-in-Hand. She writes a regular blog on her website on the writing life and interviews writers and publishers.                                        Photo by ELAINE RAKSIS
Learn more at: www.janbowmanwriter.com

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The stories in Flight Paths & Other Stories reveal the power of kindness. In difficult moments of human contact, explored from childhood through old age, this collection provides a window into the kindness all people seek in moments of sorrow. In her poem Kindness, Naomi Shihab Nye writes that when you know sorrow as “the other deepest thing . . . then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore.” from – “Kindness” in Words Under The Words: Selected Poems (1995) by Naomi Shihab Nye.

The dynamic mix of characters in these stories, know much about sorrow. They know it in the burden of a wife looking after her war-damaged husband and the son who confronts her more than 35 years after she abandons them. They know it in the struggle to hide from violence of the world, even though violence finds them. But they do know kindness, too. They know it in the unspoken understanding between a young man and his elderly aunt in the aftermath of a violent murder. They know it in small gestures between friends, and even strangers, after a sudden death, as well as through the unexpected connections found on the other end of the phone or a shared meal.

What others are saying:
For years I’ve been reading, admiring, and learning from Jan Bowman’s short stories. Her stories explore what we mean to one another, what is discovered, often only in moments of hardship and duress. These stories tread and plummet over rough terrain. That they do so with unflinching candor and searing vision is one reason to read them. The characters, each so distinct and nuanced that together they form a community, will be forever etched onto your memory. But the reason I keep returning to them? It’s the hope they provide, the unexpected paths they suggest, consoling me when I feel lost by enlarging and enriching what it means to be human. —Daniel Mueller, author of How Animals Mate and Nights I Dreamed of Hubert Humphrey

Entry # 233 - "More Than I Could Ever Know: How I Survived Caregiving" - by Dale L. Baker

“More Than I Could Ever Know: How I Survived Caregiving” – by Dale L. Baker

Interview By Jan Bowman  December 29, 2014
Dale L. Baker is an award-winning author. She was born in Ohio, completed high school in California, graduated from college in Oregon and now lives in Hawaii and Arizona. She retired from county social services in 2003 to take care of her husband full-time. Her book More Than I Could Ever Know: How I Survived Caregiving” (a best seller in the AZ retirement community of Westbrook Village) is usually read in one sitting, then passed on to another caregiver, if not kept for reference. Often gift copies are bought. More Than I Could Ever Know: How I Survived Caregiving is a BRONZE MEDAL WINNER in the 2014 Living Now Book Awards and a FINALIST in the 2014 USA Best Books Awards. For more information about her writing career see her website http://msdaleLbaker.com or just Google “Ms Dale caregiver.”


Interview by Jan Bowman – December 29, 2014
Jan: Thank you, Dale, for writing this important book and agreeing to talk about it with me. You’ve said, “Every caregiver needs a support group. You might think that you don’t, but you do.” At what point in your husband’s illness did you come to that reality?
Dale: That phrase comes from a man in my old support group in Portland who was taking care of his wife. It was advice that he had been given from a colleague—“guy talk” around the water cooler. “Support group? You think you don’t need one, but you do.”
I didn’t think I needed one either until I had a melt-down at a grocery store. My husband and I had made it through the rigors of his first cancer together but when he was diagnosed with a second untreatable cancer I felt alone and overwhelmed. Helping him get better so we could go back to living happily ever after was one thing. But, watching him slowly deteriorate until I was left a widow was something entirely different. I was at a loss.
Jan: What do you wish someone had said to you and to your husband when he got the second cancer diagnosis?
Dale: No words would have helped me. A hug would have been better. People would say “let me know if I can help” but I didn’t know what to ask for at the time. Then they disappeared, waiting, I guess, for me to call them. What I needed was for someone to call me on a regular basis and say “what can I do to help today—pick up groceries?—wash a load of clothes?—sit and have a cup of tea with you? If you really want to help a caregiver, keep in touch. Be available to do little things. They are SO appreciated. Don’t wait for a crisis call.
Jan: Chapter 19 of your book offers five tips for surviving. To what do you credit your own survival in the face of the daily stress of caregiving?
Dale: Participating in a weekly support group changed my caregiver life. The other life-saving tools—breathing, yoga, respite—came later, after my mind had cleared. I had bottled up emotions that needed to be expressed and on-going decisions that had to be made. The support and practical knowledge that I received from other caregivers kept me focused on my job of taking care of both my husband and myself. Even though I was not interested in joining in at first, the time came when it was essential for me to participate. I encourage all caregivers to seek out a group that’s a comfortable fit. I gladly facilitate one in my community.
Jan: What was your initial reaction when your husband began to help you put together a “To Do” list before he died? How did that help you?
Dale: I was deeply touched with his thoughtfulness. In fact, from that moment on, his focus was on my well-being rather than his. He was my hero again—the proud strong man I married who wanted to protect and provide for me. He felt useful again. Our “To Do” activities took us away from the grind we were in of illness and pain management. It was uplifting for me—a time of joy that softened the tragedy of losing him.
Jan: How do you feel about the current “right-to-die with dignity” movement in this country?
Dale: Having lived in Oregon for most of my adult life, I am very aware of and have contributed to the death with dignity movement. I was a supporter even before I came face-to-face with loved ones in their declining years. None of my people (husband, Mom, Dad) considered ending their lives early but watching them struggle cemented my own wishes to have a different ending for myself. If I were diagnosed with a terminal illness I would not want to be the “one in the bed” for very long. It’s too hard on the “one bringing juice and pills.”
Jan: Do you plan to write about this topic or a related topic in the future?
Dale: Poetry is my first love. I am close to finishing a very personal book of photographs taken by my niece who is a professional photographer (Tamara at Every Emotion Photography). My poems open and close the book and are sprinkled through the middle. I also want to gather all my poems (many about caregiving) into one collection. In addition to the poetry work I am writing short stories again. Fans have been asking me for the full story of the long black dress and tango night that I mention in Chapter 19. It will appear in my humorous online dating manual for widows.
Jan: Is winning two book awards the highlight for you as an author?
Dale: Actually I can think of two experiences that thrilled me as much as the literary recognition.
The first one happened in my dentist’s office. When I slipped into the dental chair I saw a copy of my book lying on a table separating me from another patient on my right. My book had only been released a few weeks earlier so I was thrilled and shocked that anyone who was reading it would be having their teeth cleaned the same time I was. Not only did I have a wonderful chat with the woman who was reading my book, but my dentist took pictures of both book and my smile for her website.
The second heart-warming experience happened recently. “I survived caregiving,” a reader wrote. “This book helped.” I have received many lengthy 5 star reviews on Amazon, but this brief one sums up my mission.
About Jan Bowman
Winner of the 2011 Roanoke Review Fiction Award, Jan’s stories have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, Best American Short Stories, and a Pen/O’Henry award.  Glimmer Train named a story as Honorable Mention in the November 2012 Short Story Awards for New Writers. Jan’s stories have been finalists for the 2013 Broad River Review RASH Award for Fiction, 2013 finalists in the Phoebe Fiction Contest, 2012 “So To Speak” Fiction Contest.
Jan’s fiction has appeared in numerous publications including, Roanoke Review, Big Muddy, The Broadkill Review, Third Wednesday, Minimus, Buffalo Spree (97), Folio, The Potomac Review, Musings, Potato Eyes and most recently, Uncertain Promise: An Anthology, Edited by Von Pittman. She is working on two collections of short stories while shopping for a publisher for a completed story collection, Mermaids & Other Stories. She has nonfiction publications in Atticus Review, Trajectory and Pen-in-Hand. She writes a weekly blog of “Reflections” on the writing life and posts regular interviews with writers and publishers.  Learn more at: www.janbowmanwriter.com

Entry # 231 - "Tips to Beat Block & Banish Fear - using Pat Schneider's Writing Alone and With Others"

By Jan Bowman

Pat Schneider’s Writing Alone and With Others, is a fourth entry in a series about craft books that I have reread recently and found useful. And while many wonderful books on the writer’s craft are available, sometimes when the flame of inspiration flickers, it helps to read practical books on craft. In recent blog entries I have given my impressions about four books that offer ideas that have helped me improve my writing. Perhaps these will be useful to you.

Schneider’s craft book is divided into three sections.
— Part 1 – The Writer Alone - explores a range of topics essential to the individual writer, whether facing fear, finding your voice, or practicing your craft and working toward a disciplined writing life. A final topic in this section examines ethical questions writers face, whether they are concerned about spirituality, privacy and the politics of what they write.

— Part 2 – Writing with Others – guides writers through the process of working in workshops or in small writing group settings to promote healthy growth experiences. The last topic includes an insightful discussion of ways to empower the silenced, so that writers who find the process of working with others intimidating, feel empowered to grow and risk in a place of safety.

— Part 3 – Additional Exercises – offers more than 60 pages of writing exercises and story starters designed to address specific problems writers face in writing and revising. This section alone is worth the price of the book.
 
Craft books can help writers grow. Truman Capote said, “Writing has laws of perspective, of light and shade, just as painting does, or music. If you are born knowing them, fine. If not, learn them. Then rearrange the rules to suit yourself.”

Special Note:  I have turned off the comments section temporarily. Am having hundreds of inappropriate email/comments from websites unrelated to writing. 

Entry # 230 - Some Thoughts on the Craft Book: Leaving a Trace: On Keeping a Journal by Alexandra Johnson

Entry # 230 – Leaving a Trace: On Keeping a Journal by Alexandra Johnson.

By Jan Bowman Entry # 230 – Week Three – Leaving a Trace: On Keeping a Journal by Alexandra Johnson.
Here is a third entry in a series about craft books that I have found useful. And while many wonderful books on the writer’s craft are available, sometimes when writers face a temporary lag in their productivity, when the flame of inspiration flickers a bit, it helps to read practical books on craft. I offer my impressions about these four books in no particular order, other than the order in which I plucked them from my reading desk. I hope to offer just enough information to whet your appetite for more. For the next four weeks, I will present some thoughts on each of four books that I recently reread.
A quick scan of the contents of Leaving a Trace, reveals an inviting organization of three parts that explore: Part 1 – The Successful Journal: Practical Inspiration, Part 2 – Transforming a Life: Patterns, and Part 3 – Meanings, Crossover: Moving a Journal into Creative Work. Johnson’s book inspired me to dig through dozens of my old notebooks to see what kinds of things I had recorded in more than thirty years of writing journal entries about my life and what I have seen and done.
Part One – explores ways to use past journal entries to trigger memories of events and to increase our observational skills of the world around us. Whether writers decide to use single purpose journals dedicated to topics like travel or books read, or whether they combine a range of experiences in daily journals, the journal is rich soil to replenish the imagination when we feel depleted and come up empty in our writing.

Part Two – looks at finding hidden patterns in journal entries that can only be recognized as writers see anew those topics and descriptions recorded over time.

Part Three – moves forward describing methods for using journal information in both fiction and nonfiction. Mining the journal data allows writers to “leave a trace by regaining a past and imagining a future.”


I did not reread the chapters in order. Instead I dipped into some that were particularly relevant to my current projects. And am pleased to say that after a couple of days of reading only two of my old  journals I gleaned three ideas that I will use in three stories that had stalled to a crawl.

 Special Note:  I have turned off the comments section temporarily. Am having hundreds of inappropriate email/comments from websites unrelated to writing.

Entry # 229 – More Crafty Essays About Notebooks

By Jan Bowman Week Two – Entry # 229 – looks at a collection of craft essays, Writers and Their Notebooks, edited by Diana M. Raab and with a Foreward by Phillip Lopate.


During a recent blog entry #228, I mentioned that many wonderful books on the writer’s craft are available and useful. Sometimes writers face a temporary lag in their productivity and the tiny flame of inspiration flickers a bit, and at those times, it helps to read good books on craft. I offer my impressions in no particular order, other than the order in which I plucked them from my reading desk. I hope to offer just enough information to whet your appetite for more. For the next four weeks, I will present some thoughts on each of four books that I recently reread.
Essays in Diana Raab’s (editor) Writers and Their Notebooks, explore a diverse group of writers who use journals to develop their writing craft. Section essays examine five topics. Here are my favorite essays in each section:

1. The Journal as Tool – Kim Stafford’s essay, “the Place of No Limit” examines her journal methods as she uses intuitive pocket journal notes that move from the personal into poetry (upon reflection), and her methods recording notes on her computer into files that evolve into prose. Stafford offers examples of each and sample poetry and prose that came from those notes. 
2. The Journal for Survival – Zan Bockes’ essay, “Musements and Mental Health” speaks candidly of using the journal as a tool for therapy. Bockes’ entries deal personally with her own struggles with mental illness and her attempt to use journals to cope and reach catharsis.
3. The Journal for Travel – Bonnie Morris’s essay,”Writing in Public Places” describes the process of writing in public places and the rich insights writers can gather in observational notebooks. Whether journaling at a local coffee shop, doctor’s office, or a train in China, the writer’s notebook captures specifics of essential human behaviors in particular times and places.
4. The Journal as Muse – Rebecca McClanahan’s “Thoughts on a Writer’s Journal” explores multiple purposes for writing journals in the development of a writer’s life. Journals function as compost bin, life record, confessional booth or playroom for ideas.

5. The Journal for Life – Kyoko Mori’s “Forgetting to Remember–Why I Keep a Journal” describes his memory of his grandfather’s notebook, in which details of culture, language and ancestors were carried from the old world to the new world. It’s a profoundly touching essay.

 
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The following review of this collection appeared in the Midwest Book Review.
I did not write it. Wish I had.

“Writers And Their Notebooks is an anthology of essays by established and professional writers, discussing the value of simple notebooks to collect ideas, play around with words, discover new insights into evoking emotion with language, and much more. From sample journal entries that evolved into published pieces, to valuable advice for aspiring writers, to individual approaches to notebook keeping and much more, Writers And Their Notebooks is filled with tips, tricks, and techniques for getting creative juices flowing. An excellent supplementary reference for any would-be writer’s shelf.”
~Midwest Book Review

Please note that I have closed my blog comments sections - temporarily - because I was getting hundreds of inappropriate posting attempts from unpleasant sources.  Until further notice, if you wish to contact me directly try this email address:      email:  janwriter@comcast.net      

Entry # 228 – “Crafty Readings for Beginning Writers”

By Jan Bowman Writers who want to grow in their writing do well to spend their time actually writing. But sometimes when I’m feeling burned-out in my keyboard work, I take a break and read books on the writing craft. Yes. Writing requires attention to details, just as painting or carpentry does, but writing also requires stepping back from work and looking at the resulting efforts from a distance to see how even and whole it is.
During a recent lull in my productivity I turned to four splendid books on craft and I can recommend them highly. For the next four weeks, I will present some thoughts on each of these books. Here they are in no particular order, other than the order in which I plucked them from my reading desk. I offer just enough information to whet your appetite for more, I hope.
 
Week One: Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin.  

This week let’s look at the craft book, Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin, because this is a wonderfully useful book filled with common sense discussions and exercises whether you are, as Le Guin says, “the lone navigator or the mutinous crew” in a writers’ group seeking to improve a story. She says that the title comes from a workshop she gave by the same title in 1996 and that “. . . exercises are consciousness raisers: their aim is to clarify and intensify your awareness of certain elements of prose writing and certain techniques and modes of storytelling.”

In ten short chapters, Le Guin deals with setting your sails, sheets, and jibs for keeping your writing – on course. She offers the usual attention to basic writing elements, such as grammatical issues, but explores more complex issues like point of view and voice, with great humor and examples from master writers that can help even more experienced writers stay their course. I found that Chapter Ten, “Crowding & Leaping” – and the exercises – “A Terrible Thing To Do” helped me take a new look at one of my current stagnant writing projects.

Le Guin says, “Some people see art as a matter of control. I see it mostly as a matter of self-control. It’s like this: in me there’s a story that wants to be told. It is my end; I am its means.”

Jan’s fiction has appeared in numerous publications including, Roanoke Review, Big Muddy, The Broadkill Review, Third Wednesday, Minimus, Buffalo Spree (97), Folio, The Potomac Review, Musings, Potato Eyes and others.   She is working on two collections of short stories while shopping for a publisher for a completed story collection, Mermaids & Other Stories.  She has nonfiction publications in Atticus Review, Trajectory and Pen-in-Hand. She writes a weekly blog of “Reflections” on the writing life and posts regular interviews with writers and publishers.   Learn more at: www.janbowmanwriter.com

 

Entry # 225 - Interview with M.J.O'Brien, Author of WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED - 2014 Lillian Smith Book Award Winner

M.J.O'Brien

WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED: The Jackson Woolworth’s Sit-In and the Movement It Inspired, is based on the iconic photograph by Fred Blackwell, which captured crisis moments in the Jackson, Mississippi Woolworth’s Sit-In in 1963. Those moments sparked major change in the trajectory of the Civil Rights Movement in the US.
Jan: Thanks Mike for agreeing to this interview. Congratulations to you in light of breaking news that your book has won the 2014 Lillian Smith Book Award, a prestigious civil rights book honor and you will be attending the awards ceremony on August 31 (this very weekend) at the Decatur Book Festival near Atlanta, GA to receive your award. And I find this book particularly interesting in light of the recent news stories of the terrible events in Missouri, New York, Florida and other states in which African Americans continue to experience violence, often at the hands of those who should provide protection to all citizens. You have said, “Fred Blackwell’s iconic photograph of the Jackson Woolworth’s sit-in captivated you.” Tell me more about what led you to write this book?

Mike: I met one of the main characters in the book, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, through her five sons in the summer of 1977. The kids would always tell me that their mom was “in a famous picture” and would pull out mom’s scrapbook to prove it. It wasn’t until 1992 that I came to understand the full impact of that photo. I visited for the first time the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, Georgia, and there, off in a small room, away from the formal exhibits, were all of the photographs that the King Center deemed important enough to portray the scope of the civil rights movement. Among those photos—mostly of Dr. King’s stellar career—was the picture that the Mulholland kids had shown me in their living room. Suddenly I realized in a flash that this was no ordinary scrapbook snapshot. This was living history! And I knew the woman at the center of that photo!
I call this my “electric moment.” A shot of adrenaline pumped through me as I felt called to explore what this image was all about: “Who took the photo? Who were the other people in the frame? What did it mean for the city of Jackson? What was its significance in the long and troubling history of the Mississippi movement?” If I didn’t know these things, I figured most people were in the dark about them as well. So I determined that I’d try and tell the story of this significant moment in civil rights history.
Jan: Your use of elements of documentary and historical research, combined with photographs and personalized interviews, provide a fascinating account about a game-changing day in the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement. In the face of so much varied material, how did you arrive at the overall structure for the book?
Mike: Honestly, I started out thinking I’d just tell Joan’s story and how she ended up at the counter that day. I gathered a deep trove of interviews with her and studied her substantial archives in order to tell her story. But as I read more broadly, I began to realize that her story was just one thread, interwoven with many others, that formed the impressive yet ultimately tragic fabric of what we know now as the Jackson Movement. The concept of telling each person’s story and how they happened to be at Woolworth’s in Jackson on May 28, 1963, provided the framework for the first part of the book.
The second section is what I call the “historical section.” There I provide the background and the footnoted, documented, data-driven yet highly dramatic account of how the Jackson Movement came into being and how it gradually pushed the mayor and other city officials in Jackson to the brink in an effort to secure basic human rights and dignity for all of Jackson’s citizens. This section details the three-week period of the Movement’s history from the day of the sit-in to the assassination and burial of the Movement’s leader, Medgar Evers. It breaks my heart every time I read that part because this tragedy was so avoidable, but Jackson’s leadership was simply unwilling to give an inch, unable to see that the time for white supremacy and racial segregation was coming to a close.
The final section provides a coda, if you will, allowing the reader to find out what happened in Jackson once the dust settled and the battle ended. It provides an overview of each of the main characters and what they did with the rest of their lives, after the heat of the media spotlight had shifted elsewhere. I wanted the reader to know what I knew about the lives of these individuals whom I had spent so much time getting to know. I wanted to recognize these heroic individuals who for a moment stood up against great oppression and then got on with their lives.
And the entire book—all three sections—hinge on the central image of Fred Blackwell’s famous photograph. A full description of what’s going on in the photo is the center point of the narrative and actually appears almost at the dead-center of the book. I tell the very moving story of what happened to Fred Blackwell that day in the Epilogue.
Jan: How do you account for what caused this moment, and Blackwell’s photographs, to extend the movement’s power and reach beyond the state’s borders? Many photographers covered that sit-in and other earlier sit-ins. What made this moment different?
Mike: It’s really hard to comprehend how this one moment, this one blink of a camera shutter, has come to represent so much of what occurred during the civil rights movement. This photograph shows up in nearly every historical account of the movement. It’s in children’s books, text books, major retrospectives, scholarly works, and popular nonfiction. It’s everywhere. At the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee, there is a larger-than-life reproduction of Blackwell’s photograph that looks down upon an entire room filled with civil rights memorabilia, including a life-sized sculpture of demonstrators and hecklers at a lunch counter, modeled on that photo.
I think the easiest way to explain its impact is that the photograph tells a story. You don’t need to have much understanding of the civil rights movement to grasp that a small group of citizens—one black and two white—is being attacked at a lunch counter because they have chosen to sit down together. The group behind them is jeering them. One is pouring the final remnants of a sugar container on the white woman. It is obvious that all three have already been doused with all sorts of other food products—ketchup and mustard, as well as sugar. You can tell that these three are nonviolently challenging the “Southern way of life.” They are suffering because of their beliefs that racial segregation is morally wrong and an insult to people of conscience everywhere.
As I say in the Epilogue of the book, Fred Blackwell managed to “capture the essence of an era” with this one incredible image. That’s what great art does.
Jan: I understand that you initially wrote and published a version of this book in the 1990′s. I had not heard of it until 2013, after the University Press of Mississippi decided to publish it. Tell us about that. What happened?
Mike: Let me clear up that misconception. The book was never published until 2013, but ever since 1999, there had been a draft of an early manuscript that I circulated to various presses and agents. I had initially been offered a book contract with a small, start-up publisher back in the mid-1990s. That’s what really provided me with the impetus to plunge in and seriously get to work on the manuscript. For four years, I worked every day on this project—all the while holding down a full-time job and raising a full-time family. But I was just driven to tell this incredible story. By early 1999, we thought we were ready to go, but two things happened to stop the book’s release. One, some knowledgeable sources read the draft and felt it wasn’t quite fully baked. Two, the publishing firm I had contracted with was shuttering its doors and going out of business. It just wasn’t making any money. So even though Publisher’s Weekly had announced the book’s release in early 1999, the book never actually published at that time.
Instead, I sat on it for almost 10 years, always working to improve the content and structure while awaiting the opportunity to offer it to a new publisher who might take on this first-time author with an important story to tell. That opportunity surfaced in late 2008 when I received word that a revitalized University Press of Mississippi was expressing interest in telling Mississippi civil rights stories. I submitted a proposal to the press and within a week, UPM’s director was on the phone with me encouraging me to send her the entire draft manuscript.
In that sense, it’s a Cinderella story, but it took 15 years of hard work to get to that point! Ultimately, UPM took me on, sent the draft to a knowledgeable source for comment, and provided me with a complete critique. I used those comments to rework certain sections and shore up others. After two rounds of this and a complete copy edit, the book was ready for publication. The timing was fortuitous. The book was released in March 2013, just in time for the 50th anniversary of the Jackson Woolworth’s Sit-In.
Jan: I was in the eleventh grade, living in upper state South Carolina in 1963. I remember the fear and hatred that I heard on a daily basis in my school and community. Where were you and what do you remember about the 1960′s Civil Rights Movement?
Mike: I was in sixth grade in June 1963 at a Catholic school in Arlington, Virginia. My family had moved from Philadelphia (PA) three years earlier. The Catholic schools had just integrated, so my experience, though even in the upper South, was different from most.
My own experience of the world at that time was much more informed by the Catholic philosophies and social teachings of the church. June of 1963 is memorable to me because it was the month that Pope John XXIII died. I wasn’t tuned into the daily news yet, even though I delivered The Washington Post door to door during that period. It wasn’t until college that I began to explore the nonviolent philosophies of Mohandas Gandhi and Marting Luther King, Jr. And even here, I became interested in their teachings through the Catholic social activist Dorothy Day.
What I remember most of that period is simply how turbulent it was. I may not have known of Medgar Evers, but I knew about the March on Washington, particularly since it happened just over the river from where I lived. I may not have been very socially aware, but I knew of the Kennedy assassination later that year. We got on our knees in school and prayed for the soul of the first Catholic president once we heard the announcement that he had been shot. What on earth was happening to America that our president could be killed? Five years later, another Kennedy and a King would be similarly murdered. It seemed as if our country was pulling apart at the seams.
[I wrote a blog post about this that you might find interesting or want to share w/ your readers: http://blog.notbemoved.com/post/70860824911/black-christmas-1963]
It may seem facile, but my education about race in America came through the music of the day. I was drawn to that extraordinarily expressive music of Motown and soul music. It was through that youthful pursuit that I developed an overriding empathy for the black struggle for equality.
[Here’s my blog post about the impact of soul and Motown on my early consciousness of race: http://blog.notbemoved.com/post/75205314799/the-sound-of-young-america-1964]
Jan: One of my early memories as a young girl occurred when I went with my father to a Sears store in Anderson, SC. I must have been about six, and I drank from a water fountain near the shoe department. A woman yelled at me because I drank from the “colored” fountain. My father explained that blacks and whites had to use different water fountains. I was shocked. That was the first moment I became aware of this inequity. I remember telling him that made no sense at all. And he agreed.
Mike: Yeah, I never witnessed anything like that. For Joan Mulholland, however, who is 10 years older than I am and who grew up in Arlington, exposure to those kinds of racial segregation were transformative. Although she initially accepted these practices as part of life, when her eyes were opened to the extreme inequities in that system, she determined that she would do everything she could to change her beloved Southland. Her story is explored fully in WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED, and is also the subject of the documentary film An Ordinary Hero: The True Story of Joan Trumpauer Mulholland.
Jan: WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED presents a straightforward account of the terrible personal realities and tragedies in the public and private response to the Civil Rights Movement for both blacks and whites. And now 50 years have passed. What mistakes do you still see in the way people talk about race and diversity in this country?
Mike: The realities of white privilege and the underlying currents of white supremacy are still so very present in our daily interactions and in our cultural and political lives. The fierce and extreme opposition to President Obama and his progressive agenda is a clear expression of lingering racism. There is an element of our society that doesn’t want him to succeed simply because of the color of his skin. The fact that he is president is an affront to their sensibilities. It is reminiscent of attitudes during the Reconstruction period when blacks became enfranchised and some of their more prominent and skilled representatives were elected to the U.S. Congress. White Southerners couldn’t bear the indignity and resorted to violent tactics to overturn elections and to ensure that black elected officials and the whites who supported them would fail.
I have a certain amount of empathy for whites who were raised under segregation. After all, they were taught in school, in churches, by their political leaders that this was morally and absolutely correct—the only way things could be. Anything else was an abomination. There’s an individual whom I profile in my book, D.C. Sullivan—the guy with the cigarette in his mouth in the famous photo—who even today still believes in the separation of the races. But I also know that these individuals have to search their hearts and realize that now, fifty years hence, they are obstructing progress by holding onto these false premises. They have to allow their hearts to be softened by honoring the humanity of their fellow citizens, whatever their racial makeup may be. Their obstructionism is dividing America and hurting this country that they hold so dear.
Jan: What do you hope readers learn and experience from reading, WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED?
Mike: In WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED I wanted to tell the complete story of one movement, from beginning to end. I wanted to show how messy it can be to attempt to change the status quo, but also how complicated and challenging and invigorating it can be to engage in social activism. I wanted to recognize the foot soldiers of the movement, as they are called—the unsung heroes who put themselves on the line for freedom with no expectation that they’d ever be personally recognized for what they did—I wanted to put their stories front and center to honor them for their service.
I would hope that readers would take from this story an appreciation for what happened in this country half a century ago—the fact that in a very real way we were at war with ourselves over the fundamental principal, outlined by Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, that “all men” [and women] “are created equal.” And those who stood up for that principle deserve our appreciation and respect and yes, our praise, just as much as the men and women who fight to protect our country from external harm. In this “domestic war,” as I call it, people were killed, people were terrorized, people were displaced just as they are in foreign wars.
I would hope that through reading WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED, readers would experience, even if vicariously, what it meant to stand up for freedom and equality during this extremely turbulent and divisive period of our history. As a corollary, I would hope that understanding how troubling those times were, we might work harder to find common ground to solve today’s issues and challenges. We are so much more than our differences. Every day we have the opportunity to rise above our individual preferences and create something wonderful for our future and for the future of the planet.
Jan: Finally, what advice about writing have you found helpful and what advice have you chosen to ignore?
Mike: Writing is such an individual act, it’s hard to generalize. I was compelled to write this story because of its power and because of the grip it had over my imagination. I wrote it as honestly and simply as I could, attempting to give everyone involved their say and their point of view.
I would say that the most important thing about writing is staying true to your creative vision. At one point during the long saga of getting the book into print, I was offered the opportunity to publish only the oral histories of the main characters, but not the entire dramatic developments that make the story what it is. Though the opportunity to get published was tempting, I had to remain true to my artistic vision and realize that the individual biographies had to serve the greater purpose of telling the whole story of the Jackson Movement. I turned down that offer, uncertain that the book as I wrote it would ever see the light of day. That was a hard choice. Now that the book is out, I feel vindicated because so many people have told me how gripping the story is and how it gave them a sense of what it must have been like to be on the front lines of the civil rights movement. I am thrilled that the story is finally out, and out in the way I had originally envisioned it.
So persistence and staying true to your vision are my advice. The way will eventually be made clear.
Jan: Thanks for the interview. How can readers obtain a copy of your book and contact you to speak?
Mike: The book is available through all of the online outlets: IndieBound.com, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com. It can also be ordered through local bookstores. And, of course, it’s sold by the University Press of Mississippi (www.upress.state.ms.us). I’m also grateful to UPM that it is available in an e-read version for both Kindle and Nook.
I can be reached by e-mail at notbemoved.com@verizon.net. Interested readers can also visit my blog (www.blog.notbemoved.com), which focuses primarily on civil rights and equality issues.
I appreciate the opportunity to tell the story of how WE SHALL NOT BE MOVED came to be. Thanks, and best wishes to you, Jan!

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About Jan Bowman

Winner of the 2011 Roanoke Review Fiction Award, Jan's stories have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, Best American Short Stories, and a Pen/O’Henry award.  Glimmer Train named a story as Honorable Mention in the November 2012 Short Story Awards for New Writers.  Jan's stories have been finalists for the 2013 Broad River Review RASH Award for Fiction, 2013 finalists in the Phoebe Fiction Contest, 2012 "So To Speak" Fiction Contest.

Jan’s fiction has appeared in numerous publications including, Roanoke Review, Big Muddy, The Broadkill Review, Third Wednesday, Minimus, Buffalo Spree (97), Folio, The Potomac Review, Musings, Potato Eyes and others.   She is working on two collections of short stories while shopping for a publisher for a completed story collection, Mermaids & Other Stories.  She has nonfiction publications in Atticus Review, Trajectory and Pen-in-Hand. She writes a weekly blog of “Reflections” on the writing life and posts regular interviews with writers and publishers.   Learn more at: www.janbowmanwriter.com