“What’s Your Story?” is a guest post feature on BCBA’s blog. Indie/Self-Published authors are invited to write about their books, writing journey, creative process, inspiration, rewards and challenges of publishing, etc. They can go in whatever direction they choose. We are excited and grateful for their willingness to share, and we hope you enjoy DeAnna Lynn’s story. Go here for more WYS? posts.
As a junior at Illinois State University, I knew very little about book writing. I’ll never forget the looks on our faces when our literacy professor encouraged us to write a children’s book draft. I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to pull that off. And at that time in my youth, I wasn’t exactly known for going the extra mile for school projects.
That fall evening in 2007, I sat at my desk and peered out at the view from my 14th floor Watterson Towers dorm room. I suddenly remembered a conversation I had with one of my kindergarten teachers in our school’s nursery room in 1992. “DeAnna…what do you want to be when you grow up?”
I remember taking a very long time to answer this question. I eventually gave my teacher a few responses, one of them being, “…a person who writes things??”
I opened my laptop and started to brainstorm. “What better idea than to write about my own experience in preparing for kindergarten and learning to read,” I thought. With the help of an artist friend to illustrate, my first book Not Yet, Deezy! was born.
“DeAnna—your book is just amazing!” a classmate wrote that evening on my Facebook wall. “Maybe this is something I can do,” I thought.
But I did not revisit or publish that book until the summer of 2020 with the help of a local entrepreneur. After acquiring an author mentor that summer, my journey as a children’s book author began to take shape.
The 2020 social injustice uprising and the COVID-19 pandemic were catalysts in publishing SOAR! and That Hurt!, respectively. My experience with early childhood learners is the reason I decided to focus on children’s books. I feel that many of our areas of opportunity as a society can be prevented, eliminated, and remedied through the teaching of social-emotional skills in the early years (ages 2–5). This is why I decided to focus my books on the topic of resilience.
During the winter of 2021, I noticed this recurring tugging on my heart, and I remember my conscience telling me, “You need to write about the pandemic. You need to write about 2020. You need to write about this COVID/social injustice experience that everyone is living through.” So, in April 2021, I began writing the book That Hurt!, a children’s book of reflection on the COVID-19 pandemic. I felt families could all relate to the commonality of sadness, loneliness, and anger (tinged with hope).
And in February 2021, I was 1 of 28 emerging authors chosen for Autherine Publishing’s Black History Month Author Spotlight. This was one of my proudest moments as an author. I was so honored by that opportunity. What a boost of confidence that was. It propelled me not only into writing my next book but also into continued activism for Black-AAPI solidarity.
DeAnna Lynn was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Rockford, Illinois. As an Early Childhood educator, she has had the opportunity to draw from her knowledge of social-emotional development to write culturally relevant literature for children of color. After receiving her master’s degree from Roosevelt University, she began her author journey. She has three published books, Not Yet, Deezy!, SOAR!, and That Hurt!, along with French and Spanish versions, including accompanying coloring books. DeAnna’s goal is to inspire children and families of color to be resilient and defy statistics. She hopes to stimulate a love of reading within BIPOC families.
Connect with DeAnna Lynn
Website | Amazon Page | Facebook | Instagram
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