Captain
Perseverance
1. What inspired you to write your
book? I think everything I write has basically one goal, which is
to make children more powerful. The idea for my latest book started when I read
work by psychologist Dr. Angela Duckworth. She has focused on the concept of “grit,”
which she defines as “passion and perseverance for very long-term goals.” Dr.
Duckworth’s research followed the lives of people from different backgrounds and
concluded that grit was the strongest indicator of personal success, even stronger
than IQ. That struck a chord with me. But the real inspiration came when I
heard her say that “the most shocking thing about GRIT is how little we know...
about building it. Every day parents and teachers ask me, ‘How do I build GRIT
in kids?’ The honest answer is ... I don’t know.” That statement set off
fireworks in my head. Out of the smoke came Captain Perseverance, the first of
three superheroes who collectively make up the Grit Alliance. Their mission is to
empower a generation of children.
2. What is it about? In
Captain Perseverance we meet an
ordinary kid turned superhero. We follow the progress of his transformation as
he first struggles then succeeds with reading, long division, science project,
and band. And to what does he attribute his success? What does he identify as
his superpower?
So why is all this happening?
I think it’s pretty clear.
You’re looking at a person
who has learned to persevere.
...
I am Captain Perseverance!
Perseverance through and
through.
I became a super hero, and I
promise...
SO CAN YOU!
3. What do you hope will be the
everlasting thoughts for readers who finish your book? I
hope to banish the idea that life is a matter of immediate success or permanent
failure. I hope children will understand
that success is a process that involves hard work and struggle, and failure and
practice, and more work and more struggle, and that this whole process can
actually be fun. As parents we long for our children to succeed, a longing so
passionate that it can become at times oppressive. I have six grandchildren who
are now very familiar with Captain Perseverance. So when they miss the shot or
lose the game or otherwise fall short of their expectations, we smile at them
and say, “Captain Perseverance!” I hope that the name “Captain Perseverance”
can become part of the vocabulary with which parents can instill in their
children “passion and perseverance for very long-term goals.”
4. What advice do you have for writers? In
my career as a children’s author I have visited over 2000 schools on five
continents, and at each of those schools I’ve had the joy of sharing the idea
that good writing is all about rewriting. The most important thing to me as a
writer is when you sit down to write, you have to “write your worst.” If you
try to write your best from the beginning, you’ll be paralyzed by your own
expectations and your internal voice of self-critique. I write my worst and get
something on the page, then I go back and write it over again to make it a tiny
bit better. Then I write it over again and again and again—ten, twenty, thirty
rewrites—each time making it a tiny bit better, until I can't improve it any further.
Good writing is all about writing your worst and then rewriting.
5. Where do you think the book
publishing industry is heading? I think we may be entering the era
of the independent author. In the past authors have always depended on
publishing houses to edit, design, print, publicize, and distribute their books.
That is beginning to change. Emerging technologies and new mechanisms of
distribution are changing the equation. Already, many if not most of the best-selling
romance novelists are independent authors. I don’t think this signals the
immediate death knell of the big publishing house. The author-publisher
relationship is still a vigorous artistic/business model. But clearly the path
of the independent author is becoming a viable option.
6. What challenges did you have in
writing your book? In the past I’ve had traditional publishers for all of my
children’s books, but I decided to do Captain
Perseverance as what the publishing industry now calls an “independent
author.” That decision was a struggler. My
artistic commitment to Captain
Perseverance is beyond anything I’ve ever done. It’s the first of Grit
Alliance trilogy, soon to be followed by Major
Effort and Commander Diligence.
It is my passionate belief that children who come to know the Grit Alliance
will live happier and more successful lives, and my commitment to the project
is absolute. So in the end I was not willing to encounter the risks, delays,
and publishing rights entanglements that could occur under the traditional
publishing arrangement.
7. If people can only buy one book this
month, why should it be yours? Captain
Perseverance is a grit builder.
It entertains
and empowers children. It provides parent and child a common vocabulary by
which to describe and understand success as a long term process.
Brod Bagert is the award-winning author of 18
books on poetry for children, youth, and adults. His awards include the
International Reading Association’s prestigious Young Adults Choices Award, the
Association of Educational Publishers Distinguished Achievement Award, the
Independent Publisher Gold Book Award and Mom’s Choices Gold Medal. Prior to
becoming a poet, Bagert practiced law, served in public office and managed his
own practice for twenty-one years before shutting it down and becoming one of
America’s few full-time, professional poets. Brod currently lives in New
Orleans with Debby, his wife of over 46 years, where they spend quality time
with their four children and a growing tribe of grandchildren.
For more information, connect with
Bagert on his website, as
well as Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.
Captain Perseverance: How I Became a
Superhero is
now available on Amazon, Barnes & oble, Kobo and iBooks.
To learn more on how to
promote books, read my greatest blog posts from the past five years and 2,000
posts:
2016 Book
Marketing & Book Publicity Toolkit
2015
Book Marketing & PR Toolkit
2014
Book Marketing & PR Toolkit
Book
Marketing & Book PR Toolkit: 2013
Brian Feinblum’s views,
opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his
employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him
at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the
third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2016 ©.
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