I often wondered why it took so long to get published. Those of us who are fully fledged authors have been asked this time honored question since we were published. I never mind the question, since I was the one asking the same about twelve years ago. When I look back at those years now, I realize how uneducated I really was in the vagaries of this game we call writing.

I was a university professor teaching Children’s and Young Adult Literature and had really never thought about writing a book. When the “I think I can do this,” bug hit me, I realized I didn’t know very much about truly getting started! Thank goodness, I did know it was wise to find an SCBWI (The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) group. I did, and with that, my journey began.

My writing group consisted of a myriad of authors for children from board books for babies to Young Adult fiction. And they were welcoming, kind, and helpful. I was in writers’ heaven. I began, as I learned that many women do when beginning their journey, with picture books. We had a condo on Clearwater Beach, Florida. I’d been told continually to “write what you know.” And, so I did. I found a small publishing house which is no longer in business. My first four books were the Bella and Britt Beach Books. For a novice who really did not know much, they did well. No one was more shocked than I! I wrote several others, including a picture book about a young girl who befriended Winter, the Dolphin, at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. It was probably the worst book I ever wrote, and to this day I regret not getting it right.

In the meantime, I attended conferences given by SCBWI, both in Florida and Illinois, where we lived at the time. I also presented at quite a few Illinois Reading Council Conferences. Even having done all this, I knew that something was missing. What was it? More importantly, how could I discover what it was?

It was then that my journey to become a true writing professional occurred. Tragically, my cousin, Jill, with whom I was close, died. The YA novel (Beaulah Land) that I began writing two days after her funeral, was written for her. It took place in the contemporary Missouri Ozarks, and I poured my heart into it. I paid close attention to the dialogue, world building, and the incredibly important chapter beginnings and endings. But, most of all, I paid attention to the voice. Where had I been all this time? Why did I not realize sooner how crucial that one component was? It was and is literally everything. Without true voice, one’s book means nothing. Beulah Land won First Place for YA in the annual Florida Crystal Kite Award Contest. It also won a national award from Foreword Indies.

When I began my MG novel, Me and the Missouri Moon, two years ago, I knew that I was a different author. That knowledge took me nearly eight years to attain. I knew from the outset that the protagonist, Scarlet (with one t) was going to triumph through the troubles that beset her, and how her best friend, Cricket, her mama, and several others, would help her save the day. Voice helped save the day. And the practice of listening to one’s characters and speaking for them in their own voices is what makes reality happen in a book of fiction.

BUY Me and the Missouri Moon

For more information or to contact Nancy, visit her at https://www.nancystewartwrites.com/