Orinda Author Scouts Out the Write Stuff
Years of research and writing by a seasoned local author are producing big results, just in time for the 100th anniversary of one of our nation's most prestigious organizations. LamorindaWeb gives you a sneak peak at a soon-to-be-published biography about the founder of the Girl Scouts.
Girl Scouts are a popular bunch in Lamorinda, and with good reason. They're participating in a worthwhile organization that teaches our local youth the importance of service, friendship, life skills and much more.
The cookies, many neighbors would agree, are a nice perk.
There's about to be a new Scouting perk in Orinda, thanks to the tireless years of research and writing by a seasoned local author who set out on an ambitious mission to learn and write about the woman behind it all.
"First Girl Scout: The Life of Juliette Gordon Low" "This is one of those books that has circled around in a funny direction. I somehow learned the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouts is this year, March 12th. And I said okay, I was in Brownies, I was in Girl Scouts, I want to write about the founder of Girl Scouts, Juliette Gordon Low," summed up Ginger Wadsworth.
"And the reason I want to do it," she continued, "is I want to dedicate it to these women who are still my very bests friends, who were in Brownies with me in second grade."
"Often I have the dedication lined up before I even write the book," Wadsworth offered a peek into her process.
And so began Wadsworth's cross-country journey as she committed to writing "First Girl Scout: The Life of Juliette Gordon Low," her 25th published book.
There was no going back on this one - she had committed to her childhood friends.
"All the friends that I still have, they're still alive and very eager and want to know, 'where's the book?' Their pictures are in the book, they're coming to my various book signings depending on where they live," she smiled.
Of course, long before the book signings were ever booked, Wadsworth had a book to write.
Her initial online research proved to be an inefficient way to go about things. Girl Scouts of the USA, who did in fact vet out Wadsworth's book, advised her of the "good" sources on their organization's founder, and warned her of websites with bogus or erroneous facts.
She also purchased everything possible that had been previously published about Low - "Daisy" as she was known to her friends.
"The book celebrates this woman, I had to learn all about her. I think Brownies today are being taught much more about her but we didn't necessarily get that when we were younger," said Wadsworth. "My gosh, she was quite a woman."
"She was born in Savannah, Georgia," Wadsworth explained. "I had to get permission to go to her birthplace and I did research there. Then there's the National Headquarters of Girl Scouts in New York, so I went to their preservation center in New York and did additional research there."
Learning On the Job
As Wadsworth delved further into the project, she became increasingly aware of the impact her latest project would have on readers.
"She's just a walking history," Wadsworth summed up Low.
"There are many things that I didn't know, but two that stick out, one of which it seems young girls are learning in Scouts today, she had lost her hearing, almost 75% of her hearing. Despite this handicap, which she didn't consider a handicap, she organized this national organization. There are over 3 million people participating in it," marveled Wadsworth. "She did it with her strength of her convictions."
"The other thing, and we're much more aware of this topic today because it's happening all around us, she developed breast cancer. Nobody's really sure when, because women didn't talk about this or share this, even with their own sisters. They sought medical treatment but didn't discuss it with their family."
"I keep thinking how that's changed," she continued. "How we support one another when we're dealing with this terrible thing that strikes too many women."
"She married an Englishman so she brought a lot of English ways to Girl Scouts," added Wadsworth.
In addition to the English influence, Wadsworth points out that it was a very different time when Low was growing up – she couldn’t wear blue jeans or play sports with the boys, as Wadsworth’s four-year-old granddaughter can today.
“The role of women, young women, it’s changed so much,” reasoned Wadsworth.
That makes Low, according to Wadsworth, a “walking history” for young readers.
“Now that I know Daisy better, my message is that no matter who you are, and I’m addressing girls because I think girls and women are my primary readers, that you can make a difference,” said Wadsworth.
The Life of an Author
Of course, in order for her message to reach the readers, the book has to reach the book shelves.
It’s a 210-page biography, illustrated with more than 100 archival images, set for release in Spring 2012, to coincide with the March 12, 2012 100th anniversary of Girl Scouts. The book is published by Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Wadsworth is a pro when it comes to navigating the publishing houses. But that doesn’t mean it’s always easy.
“The challenge is people think you sell one book and you’ve made it. It just isn’t true,” she acknowledged. “I’m getting rejections, constantly.”
“First Girl Scout” is her 25th published book in a distinguished career – one that is now impacted by a sluggish economy, diminished buying capacity on the part of school libraries, and changing consumer buying – and reading - habits.
“Plus, the emergence of e-books,” she pointed out.
For Wadsworth, though, the pluses by far outweigh any challenges.
“I love what I do,” she said emphatically. “I’m a research junkie. I’m perfectly happy with the non-fiction. I have no desire to write a novel or anything like that.”
For an author like Wadsworth, it’s a pretty incredible feeling to see her work on the shelf of a bookstore.
“I do love to go and see it in print at a bookstore, or in the public library system. When I’m doing a school visit, I like it when my book is in the library there. Or, when I hold up a book and a child says ‘I read that! I did a report on that!’ And a lot of times the children haven’t put together that behind every book, there is a real person. It’s just thrilling for me and for them.”
Family Ties Write Wadsworth’s Career Path
Writing, you could say, is in Wadsworth’s blood. “My father was an author and he wrote Westerns for many, many years. And then as the Westerns market fell out at the time, he wrote books for young adults, also.”
Being the child of an author, she knows what it was like for her children to grow up with a writer under the roof.
“It’s kind of cool and it’s kind of not cool,” she reflected on her own childhood. “Because it meant my father worked out of the house. I would come home and he would be there, and I was expected to go see him and tell him how my school day went. I’ve done the same thing with my kids, whether they liked it or not.”
“It keeps you in touch with your kids,” she continued. “This was all pre-cell phone era, of course.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, one of Wadsworth's brothers is a publisher and the other is a photographer.
"We all landed into the arts in some way," she summed up.
The Importance of Putting Pen to Paper
Wadsworth recognizes that not every child she meets plans to become an author. But many, she knows, use things like Twitter, Facebook and cell phone texting. So what becomes of the written word for future generations?
"They still need to do drafts, they still need to use spell check," she pointed out.
"I'm in the generation that's sort of sliding through all of this, trying to keep up with Twitter and the whole thing. I've just joined Facebook in the last six months so it's a learning curve for a lot of authors in my age group but I think knowing how to write is really important for the kids," she theorized. "One of the things I like to talk about during my school visits is how my process is very similar to what they do when they do a report or research project."
"You can't count on the Internet, though," warned Wadsworth. "That's another thing I tell kids. I always tell kids they have to be careful of their sources."
Naturally, her school visits are intended to inspire.
"One of the questions I always get is 'how old do you have to be to be an author?' and that just blows me away," she laughs. "I like to tell them that I was writing at their age, when I was a kid. It's just now I'm getting paid."
Wadsworth is quick to encourage the adults to help inspire writing - and reading - in the younger generations.
"I read to my children, and my son who has children read to his. All of my friends who are grandparents, they read to their grandchildren."
Not surprisingly, readers want to know which Wadsworth book ranks highest for Wadsworth, herself.
"Kids ask me that all the time. That, and how old are you?" she laughed. "And how much money do you make? And even though the teachers tell them ahead of my visit not to, they do."
"I don't really have a favorite book and I tell the kids it's sort of like getting grades in that you work really hard on something and do the best that you can. For instance, I just got my first copy of First Girl Scout about four days ago. I hadn't seen it in finished copy. When that book comes through the door, you're just sort of emotional and it represents many years of work and I'm extremely proud of that particular book as it walks through the door and into my life but all the books I've written, I've put as much heart into. And so I always tell the kids, you pick. You read all of my books and decide."
Learn more about “First Girl Scout: The Life of Juliette Gordon Low” on Ginger’s website www.gingerwadsworth.com. Ginger is available to speak at book clubs, Girl Scouts, local museums, public and school libraries. She will be signing copies of her book at two Lamorinda events: The Storyteller on Sat. Feb. 25, 4:00 – 6:00 p.m., 30 Lafayette Circle, Lafayette, and Orinda Books, Sat. March 10, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m., 276 Village Square, Orinda.
Photo courtesy of Ginger Wadsworth.