Writer Spotlight: Kelly J. Baptist

Charlie Barshaw coordinates our quarterly Writer Spotlight feature and interviews writers of SCBWI-MI. In this piece, meet author Kelly J. Baptist

Kelly Baptist is My Hero: How a Contest Entry led to "Overnight Success"

When did you know you wanted to write? Who and what inspired you?

I don’t know if I can pinpoint the exact moment when I knew I wanted to write, but I know my parents reading to me probably had a lot to do with it. I do remember being young and typing out stories on their old-school typewriter (my father still has a lot of these stories and notes in his “Daddy Box”). Also, my sister and I would create newsletters with outrageous articles and stories, and we would do a lot of storytelling via cassette tape recordings. An inspirational moment came when I was around 9 or 10 and my mother took us to see a small-town production of the play, “A Raisin In The Sun”. I came home and wrote my first play after that!

Some may describe your rise as an “Overnight Success.” But us writers know there’s a lot of struggle and heartache before that “Lucky Break.” What was your personal arc?

Yes, I think once you “arrive” on the scene, people think it was overnight and that you came out of nowhere. The truth is that there is a lot of work and a lot of no’s along the way to the yes’s. I like to say that there is a “no” hidden in JOURNEY, but there is also “JOY!” I chose to learn from the “no’s” and focus on the joy! Since I’ve been writing from a very young age, it has always been a part of me, like my skin or breathing. Having kids definitely changed my approach to writing. For a long time, I was kind of martyr-like, in that I felt like I had to give everything to my family even at the expense of my passion for writing.

Thankfully, I’ve grown and matured to realize that my dreams are important, too; having a family doesn’t have to kill those dreams, you just adjust and find other ways to make it work! I’ve also had to be persistent; I entered Lee and Low’s New Voices contest at least five times before being awarded the Honor in 2017. I’ve always entered contests and have won awards/scholarships along the way, but the WNDB and Lee and Low awards really kicked my writing career into high gear. It’s all a result of the years of preparation and dedication to the craft.

You won the Ezra Jack Keats/Kerlan Memorial Scholarship for your YA novel-in-progress Young. How did you come to write this novel? How did it come under consideration for the scholarship?

My grandmother subscribed to Jet Magazine and would always give us her issues once she was done. They had a section where you could send in pictures and one day I saw this family picture with four or five generations of family members all together. I was really intrigued and blown away by that picture, and figured it could only be accomplished with two factors: family members having longevity and also if they all had their kids fairly young. Young is about a sixteen-year-old girl who feels the spotlight on her for all the wrong reasons. In her family, the generational trend has been that the firstborn daughters have a child at age 16. My main character is trying to break that cycle. I submitted an excerpt of this story to the 2008 Ezra Jack Keats/Kerlan Memorial Scholarship, and it won! (Are you noticing a trend with me and persistent contest entries??) I was able to travel to the Kerlan Collection at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and focused specifically on the dialogue techniques used by Walter Dean Myers. What was so ironic is that a little over five years later, I was living in in the Twin Cities!

You studied the dialogue techniques of Walter Dean Myers. What was it that attracted you to his work? What did you learn in your deep dive of his writing?

I devoured Walter Dean Myers’ work growing up and I loved how the tone of his books were always so realistic-sounding. He always did a great job of capturing the energy of young people and took on a wide-range of topics.

Seeing his drafts and notes was an encouragement to me because it was a reminder that all writers work hard to get their manuscripts right.One particular thing that stood out to me was that his book Slam! originally had a different ending. The fact that he was able to change gears to end differently was a lesson to always keep an open mind during revisions and to really take time to factor in what is best for our readers’ experience.

You were fortunate enough to meet face-to-face with Myers at a literary event in Florida. Can you set the scene for us?

It was the spring of 2013, and my author friend, Donna Gephart, had let me know about the conference. I registered right away, but then received some depressing news the day before the event and didn’t feel up to being around people. I decided not to go…but somehow I pulled myself together at the last minute and attended…man, am I glad I did! I got to hear Walter Dean Myers, Shane W. Evans, and others speak, AND THEN got to meet Mr. Myers and have him sign Slam!, which is my favorite book by him (I guess I should maybe say one of my favorite books). At the time, I had no idea that in a few short years, I’d have a story in an anthology with one of my literary heroes!

Your big break came when you entered your short story, “The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn,” in a We Need Diverse Books contest. In a twist of fact and fiction, your short story details the efforts of Isaiah, who enters a short story contest, inspired by entries in his late Dad’s journal. Your own tale of submission is also dramatic. Please share it.

It is indeed a dramatic story! I was putting the finishing touches on my entry on the deadline day, and Murphy’s law was in effect! I had my infant son in one arm, and two girls under age four running around playing and being loud! My computer kept freezing, and it was getting dangerously close to the time I had to pick my oldest two kids up from school! Very stressful! So I decided to give up on entering the contest. For some reason, I also decided to call my husband at work and let him know I wasn’t going to be able to submit the story. He was very calm on the phone (though I know he heard the chaos in the background!) and he encouraged me to breathe, and then troubleshoot the computer. He stayed on the line with me until I clicked “Send” and rushed off (late) to pick up our kids. That action made all the difference in the world. When I got the email a few months later that I had won the contest, I screamed, of course, and dashed into the bathroom where he was showering. I literally turned his shower water off and kept screaming while I tried get out the words that I had won. He was very excited and happy for me…and asked politely if he could finish his shower! J 

Your debut novel, Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero, was a direct result of your short story being published in Flying Lessons & Other Stories. When you were approached, did you have a novel-sized “Isaiah” story in mind?

In the complicated way that things usually work for me, I had started The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn back in 2011 as a full-length novel.

I actually extracted from it to create the short story for the contest, only to then morph it back into the novel-sized Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero that is on the way in August. Whew! Don’t try this at home, kids! After Flying Lessons, I felt like Isaiah had more to say, so I let my editor know that I wanted to continue his story.

In your interview with author Chris Barton, you said, “What’s next? I have two projects submitted to my editor right now, and am actually working on two more, one of which is a continuation of the Isaiah Dunn story. Looking forward to writing and writing and writing.”

That interview is from 2017. So, what’s next now?

Well, the Isaiah Dunn story has come to fruition, and my debut picture book, The Electric Slide and Kai will be out in 2021 with Lee and Low books. My next projects are MG novels, one about a boy with a speech impediment who gets swag tips from his crazy great-uncle, and one about a spunky young girl who is set on annihilating the competition in her school’s cookie dough fundraiser. Sprinkle in some picture books, and my Hamline MFA in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults program, and you’ve got a busy lady!

You’ve also got a picture book due out in 2021, The Electric Slide and Kai. Isaiah seems to be hogging the limelight, but I’m sure you’re excited for Kai, too. What’s her story?

I’m very excited about Kai! The story was inspired by my daughter, Micaiah, so the main character was originally a girl named Cai.

Later, my amazing editor at Lee and Low asked how I felt about changing the main character to a boy, since black boys were not really featured learning a skill such as dancing. I agreed,and Cai became Kai! The Electric Slide and Kai is about a young boy who is trying to learn the electric slide in time for his aunt’s wedding reception. He comes from a family of dancers, but he never gets his steps right. It’s also very important for him to master the dance so his grandfather can give him a dance nickname like everyone else. Shout-out to Darnell Johnson, who illustrates this story!

Much is made of your ability to type one-handed while cradling a baby with the other. How do you balance a life of writing with a household of five children?

I do not balance. I don’t know what I’m doing or how it happens. That is the whole truth. I guess I should also add that I love Kobe Bryant and apply his Mamba Mentality to my writing craft. I don’t want anything to hold me back from my potential, so I like eliminating excuses, holding myself to a high standard, and pushing myself to achieve greatness the way he did. I don’t wait for the “perfect” moment; it will never happen. I also have conditioned myself to be able to write in utter chaos…I don’t advise it, but it’s just necessary for my writing survival. I have strong faith, and I have amazing parents who give me breaks to experience what it’s like to write in silence.

You won the Lee and Low New Voices Honor in 2017. What was that experience like?

That experience was super special because I had entered the contest so many times, so I was completely shocked to hear the news. I came home and told my kids and was literally in tears. I told them I was living proof that you can never give up on your dreams; hard work and commitment pays off! My heart is always so full when they tell me they’re proud of me!

Kelly J. Baptist is the author of  the short story"The Beans and Rice Chronicles of Isaiah Dunn," published in the anthology Flying Lessons & Other Stories. Her debut middle grade novel, Isaiah Dunn Is My Hero is due out in August 2020. Her picture book, The Electric Slide and Kai is due out next year. Her twitter handle is @kellyiswrite and her website (currently under construction) is kellyiswrite.com

Charlie Barshaw writes MG and YA novels. Check out his new website charliebarshaw.com .