I don’t take every writing challenge I see, but sometimes I can’t resist. The prompt said, “Tell about a group you were in where you felt like you did not belong.” The best I can remember, I joined Biographers International Organization (Bio) about ten years ago when I first began work on telling Ezra Jack Keats’s story. Their website said they were for a worldwide membership of biographers. I was confident I did not qualify for the title, but I continued reading. One line caught my eye, “Biographers International Organization has a worldwide membership of biographers. We also welcome those working on documentaries and biographies for young adults or children. Whatever state your biography’s in – vague idea, proposal, well underway – BIO’s experienced biographers can help.” I decided I couldn’t lose and signed up – quite sure that I was a wannabe, not a real biographer.
During this time since I first became a member, my stages of writing have gone through their projection of vague idea, proposal, and well underway. The organization has offered newsletters, podcasts, and tips from real biographers that have been invaluable as I made my way through research and writing. All the while, I felt like I was hanging around the fringes by my fingertips, quite sure that I didn’t quite fit with this illustrious group. Annual conferences were too far away and too expensive. Since I saw myself as an observer, I enjoyed and was grateful for the information generously shared via technology connections.
Then came the pandemic and a virtual Bio conference made my presence possible and fit my budget. Zoom had large groups with expert presenters and social hours divided into groups of half a dozen or so who carried on real conversations. A funny thing happened to this imposter as I participated and heard the questions and concerns of these “real biographers” that sounded much like my own. They wondered about original sources, about sources that disagreed and how to tell which ones were right, about how to find new information when a story was sketchy, and one that had been big to me – which parts of the subject’s story do you want to tell since you can never include a whole life?
And what do you know – I began to feel a lot like that Velveteen Rabbit who wanted to be real that I used to read about to my children and my students. This week I received the shareable link to pre-order for my book on my publisher’s website. Your local independent book store, which values your support, would also be glad to order it for you or you can find it online in the usual book places. The University Press of Mississippi publisher’s link is at https://www.upress.state.ms.us/Books/B/Becoming-Ezra-Jack-Keats. I think maybe I have become real!