So What is it About Inspiration?

Inspiration is a cloud of smoke, hard to get through and so worthwhile when you do.  I am asked often about the concept.  Where does it come from?  Do you have to conjure it up?  Are there times when it goes away?  I decided to give an illustration through a vignette.  

And speaking of illustrations, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the marvelous illustrator/water colorist of the Bella and Britt series, Samantha Bell.

Sea Turtle Summer came to me, not on a glorious beach with glimmering white sand but in a stark utilitarian hospital room.  Talk about being led by your muse.  She had to work wonders with this one.
 
My husband was recovering from back surgery (happily, he's fine now.)  I sat in his room, net book on lap and waited for inspiration to come calling.  And she did, demanding another Bella and Britt book.   About sea turtles.

So I began Sea Turtle Summer on a frigid February morning in St. Louis and was instantly transported to Clearwater Beach, where the weather was balmy, and the beach was getting busy.  

A female Loggerhead sea turtle was heading back to the sea, but I knew her nest was in trouble.  Enter Britt and Bella, and the girls and I were off and running.

It's a funny thing, inspiration.  Sea Turtle Summer, I know, was a combination of my many early morning walks on Clearwater Beach, all the conversations about the plight of sea turtles and time on my hands that winter morning, willing my muse to conjure up a worthy story.  She hardly ever fails.

Once it began, the book came quickly, and I was able to get the main story in place by the time my husband went home.  Some books do that, I find.  Some do not.  But whichever way they begin, the end game is the goal.  Oh, that and something wonderful and magical in the pages between.  Let's hope my muse or inspiration or spark continues.  It is such a positive thing!

S is for Save our Planet through Earth Day

Sunday, April 22, 2012, is Earth Day.  As I've said previously, I’m old enough to remember when Earth Day was a joke. It was. 

As teachers, many of us said, “Oh, yeah. Earth Day. I’d better do something, I guess.” Not anymore. Earth Day has a global platform and big teeth. And it should. Caring for our planet is no laughing matter. It is a deadly serious concern.

For me, Earth Day is a part of living my life each day.  After my husband and I bought a condo on Clearwater Beach, Florida, things got personal.  In walking our beach in the early mornings, I noticed more and more trash on the sand, much of it ready to be taken to sea by the surf. 

I began taking a bag and picking up as much as I could and placing it into the many trash cans (most were empty) along the route.  It was, of course, too big a job for one person.

  And that is when the Bella and Britt Series for children was born.  The first book was titled, Bella Saves the Beach.  When it was almost ready for publication, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill occurred.

My publisher, Lynda Burch, of Guardian Angel Publishing, and I decided a children's book about the spill must be written.  She felt the Bella and Britt books would be the best vehicle for it.  She also wanted it, if possible, to be the first children's book in the US addressing the spill.

With that assignment, I worked tirelessly, ten to fifteen hours a day, and finished One Pelican at a Time in six weeks!  Happily, it was the first!  I am also happy to mention the book has won several awards, such as the Children's Literary Classics Seal of Approval.  It was on Amazon's Bestsellers for Children for eighteen weeks.

After Pelican came Sea Turtle Summer, a book that deals with the girls' protecting a Loggerhead sea turtle's nest.  Some adults don't agree with the girls' actions, but they feel empowered to carry out their plan.

Most importantly, this book series carries a universal message of earth stewardship.  They were written to empower kids to take action for their planet, even in the face of some adult disapproval.

That is my literary contribution to Earth Day.  I know you are contributing in the ways you do best.  Working together, we can help save our planet. It's the only way forward.

B is for Bella Saves the Beach

The third book in my Bella and Britt Series is titled Bella Saves the Beach, published by Guardian Angel Publishing.  It will be out later this spring. I wrote the book after seeing so much beach trash thrown on Clearwater Beach, Florida where my family and I have a condo. 

My morning walks are usually busy.  Instead of simply walking and enjoying the beautiful gulf, the birds and breezes, I'm collecting trash, much of it ready to be carried away by the surf.

Now I'm not alone in this endeavor.  My friend, Renate, goes on the same mission each morning, and many times tourists join us as well.

But our picking up beach trash is not the answer.  The answer lies in education. 


 We need to educate our children about their ability to help save their planet.  We need to educate them to respect the animals that share this planet with us.  And we need to educate them to realize they will someday inherit the world we leave them.

B is for beach.  Oh, so important.

Andre, the Green Sea Turtle, Returns Home to the Ocean

Andre, the green sea turtle, sat in the sand Wednesday morning, looking around at hundreds of his human fans but refusing to crawl into the ocean. “C’mon Andre, you can do it!” encouraged Melissa Ranly, hospital coordinator at Juno Beach’s Loggerhead Marinelife Center.

(See Andre's release on the You Tube video at bottom of post.)

But the 177-pound turtle has been confined to a circular hospital tank, where he had spent the past 13 months in rehab. He refused to budge.

So Ranly and several co-workers picked him up and placed him in the  surf. Finally, he began to swim off to the whistles, applause and cheers of the crowd on the beach. About 15 yards out, he raised his head and seemed to wave goodbye with his front flipper.

Named for pro wrestling great, Andre the Giant, this sea turtle fought his way back from injuries so severe that when Loggerhead staff veterinarian Nancy Mettee first examined him, she contemplated putting him down.

Found washed up on a sandbar by beachgoers in June 2010, Andre suffered from deep cuts in his shell inflicted by boat propeller strikes. His body cavity was exposed; he had a collapsed lung and pneumonia.

“There were three pounds of sand inside the cavity between the shell and the body,” said registered nurse Letizia Shaffer. “I could put my whole forearm into the wound when we were dressing it.”

To heal Andre’s wounds, Mettee and Shaffer employed technology never before used on a turtle or in an underwater environment. They implanted him with grafting material called Strattice Reconstructive Tissue Matrix that’s typically used in human breast reconstruction and hernia repairs.

 A vacuum suction device was used to speed the healing process. Since Andre spends most of his time submerged, his caregivers had to figure out a way to keep air and water out. They used bathroom caulking to seal off the shell, and rigged a device to allow him to swim around his tank. Shaffer said Andre was a good patient.  “All the time we were working on him, he’d turn and look at us,” she said. “He accepted what we were doing for him.”

The final step in the turtle’s recovery was to repair the gaping holes in his shell. Mettee had heard that orthodontic techniques might work. Last November, Jupiter orthodontist Alberto Vargas volunteered his expertise using custom-made palate expanders to guide new bone growth. The appliances pulled parts of the shell together and pushed others apart.

At last Andre was ready to return home where he belongs. A VIP reception and going-away party were held at the marine center Tuesday night. Mettee said a private goodbye to her favorite patient after the guests left; she couldn’t bear to watch his departure on the beach Wednesday morning.  “It’s like watching your kids go off to college,” Mettee said Tuesday night. “You want them to be strong and independent. But you can’t protect them there. So it’s very bittersweet.”

In the past year, over 200 supporters have adopted the turtle from 25 states in the U.S., and countries as far away as Germany, France, Belgium and Luxembourg.  Andre has resonated with the center's 200,000 annual visitors as a symbol of the continued need for ocean conservation. His story has inspired so many people all over the world who see the need for caring for our planet and all living things that call it home.

Oceans Day at Book Nook by the Bay

Book Nook by the Bay is almost here!  If you have the opportunity and are in the neighborhood, stop by and listen to my reading of One Pelican at a Time:  A Story of the Gulf Oil Spill.  The book will be for sale in The Pier Gift Shop. 

When

06/04/2011 11:30am-1am Eastern Time
(10:30am local)

Where

The Pier Aquarium800 2nd. Av. NE, St. Petersburg, FL

freeFall Theater Company will present a sing-along of the book, Over the Ocean in a Coral Reef written by Marianne Berkes. The counting and rhyming story was arranged to the traditional folk song, Over in the Meadow, and the troupe will first sing - and then teach it, to the audience of youngsters and their parents.

Review of "One Pelican at a Time" in St. Louis Post Dispatch

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Penned in St. Louis: Nancy Stewart

Nancy Stewart divides her time between O'Fallon, Ill., and Clearwater Beach, Fla. She says she stopped teaching education at McKendree University to start a new career: writing children's books. Her first, "One Pelican at a Time" (26 pages, Guardian Angel Publishing, $19.95) is illustrated in watercolors by Samantha Bell and is available online. Stewart's website is nancystewartbooks.com.

What is the basic story? • Two girls, Britt and Bella, help an old, crooked-beak pelican soaked during last year's Gulf oil spill.

Why this topic? • Being near the beach (in Florida) changed my life. When the oil spill happened, it got very personal.

Next book? • One is coming out in September; its working title is "Katrina's Story."

By Jane Henderson