Writing – Page 6 – Britt Skrabanek

Nola Fran Evie is Now Available

I’m gonna be candid right now. Writing my first two books was a damn struggle.

The first, Beneath the Satin Gloves, took me three years to finish. I didn’t know what the hell I was doing and I certainly didn’t believe in myself. With the support of my husband and my own stubborn determination, I powered through until the day my shaky finger clicked the publish button.

The second, Everything’s Not Bigger, only took me six months. This book was purely written as therapy. Deep soul-searching was done during this time and though it has been less popular, writing the story was the release I needed to enter a new chapter in my life.

So, I wrote a third…NOLA FRAN EVIE.

I didn’t struggle with this one. Discovering clues from 1954 in a vintage handbag provided succinct inspiration for a story that I knew I was fated to write.

I had a flow, an unstoppable rhythm that moved me.

And most of all during this third round of self-publishing, I had all of you out there. My second year of blogging has brought so many phenomenal humans into my life. The positive spirit of the writing community continues to astound me each day.

Without my husband, my family, my friends, my bloggers, and my readers…finishing another book would never have been possible. So, thank you.

Now I must call upon my beautiful community to help me with the final stages of this project. For today I am releasing NOLA FRAN EVIE into the world.

I have poured all of my energy into this story for the last year and a half of my life. As an indie author I have no team to do my historical research or market my book to the masses.

Yet I also know that I am not alone.

You are all a part of my team. I would be forever grateful for any support you can offer with this book release in the form of reading it, sharing it, and reviewing it.

Because this is a dream I will continue to cultivate. And hey, life is something to celebrate and we can always use one more story.

Without further ado, I am beyond proud to bring you…NOLA FRAN EVIE.

They were unladylike rebels, three young women abandoning rolling pins for baseball bats to join the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. They changed history and that changed them. After the league folds in 1954 Nola, Fran, and Evie meet by chance on a popcorn-scented summer day where it all began…Wrigley Field, Chicago. They team up once again to fight for a pivotal cause these dames can only win by uniting as one.

Inside these ball players lies a fierce beauty, an unconventional destiny beyond the kitchen. Foregoing the American dream of sparkling cars and pastel suburbia, together they face up to the reality of nuclear drills and civil rights. Their story is uncovered nearly forty years later when Jacks Demonte discovers a trail of clues tucked away in a vintage handbag. The extraordinary lives of these women intersect with Demonte’s as she falls deeper into a heroic past.

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That Unmistakable American Comfort

I played baseball for a bit when I was younger. I was pretty damn awful.

Writing an entire novel with a strong baseball element seemed daunting at first. Writers are told to write what they know and baseball was foreign in so many ways.

Then, I realized it wasn’t foreign at all. For what can be more American than baseball?

In my eyes, watching games on TV never did baseball justice. I was very lucky, because my dad took me to a professional game every summer when I was a kid.

Although I wasn’t a good player, I loved the intense magic of going to a game. The enticing smell of popcorn in the air, the perfection of the combed dirt and manicured grass, and the joyful innocence of every spectator regardless of age.

Even today, these memories with my dad are very dear to me. And it was not until writing this book that I found the right one to dedicate to him…

For My Dad…He taught me I was just as good as the boys.

Funny thing is, this story fell right into my lap.

I’ve always wondered what opening a treasure chest might feel like, and a couple of years ago I found out when I discovered clues from 1954 in this vintage handbag.

Hidden deep inside the crevices of the musty lining were these…

And this…

On the back of the voting receipt was a shopping list written in a woman’s elegant handwriting…

CHOCOLATE

FLY SWATTER

SHOES

FILM

LOAN

Suddenly I was linked to the past, to a woman who carried this handbag sixty years ago. I pictured three different women who might have owned it and my imagination went wild.

So wild that I wrote my third book, NOLA FRAN EVIE.

The baseball tickets were from 1954. Interestingly enough, the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League folded that same year. I decided this was fate, so I brought these historic women back to life in my book.

The women who played in the league during WWII were considered unladylike and unusual. But during that time women filled in for men everywhere while they fought overseas, including the baseball field. The boys weren’t there to throw the ball around, since they were busy pitching grenades.

Though at first seen as a girly spectacle, according to aagpbl.org, during the league’s peak year in 1948 the teams attracted 910,000 paid fans.

Photo Credit: State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory; 1948

Before the movie “A League of Their Own” came out in 1992, the women’s league was hiding out in the dusty shadows of history. The film is actually done quite well, with a decent amount of historical accuracy.

Most importantly, the film brought these incredible women who changed history into our modern lives.

Besides the film and some non-fiction, my online search the other day did not provide any fiction books written about the All-American Girls Baseball League. To tell you the truth, I’m a bit shocked.

I hope this book will honor the female players in the smallest way that I am capable of. For they were brave women who forever deserve to be recognized and celebrated.

An excerpt from NOLA FRAN EVIE—from the first chapter we meet Nola in 1954, ten years after she has left the league…

Dark shades receded from her face. Nola soon became a welcoming victim to the cloudless skies and breathless majesty of the stadium. Brick red dirt intermingled with apple green grass, both pristinely groomed for the occasion. White bases littered the canvas sporadically, accenting the no man’s land like islands of security.

It smelled like her dreams.

Silently, Nola reached her son’s side and gave him the soda. He drank straight from the rim of the bottle while she applied more lipstick to her curvy straw.

They joined hands and slurped. Energy, awe-inspired energy, radiated through their palms.

They descended the stairs—toe ball heel, toe ball heel—tiptoeing upon the unsuspecting field with care. Sunlight bounced off their shiny hair, illuminating them as they drank their pops.

At the railing they released hands and leaned forward to absorb every scent on the field. The earth, the sweat, the leather.

Grady spoke first, his voice clear over the murmuring crowd and the provoking announcer. “Can you imagine, Ma?”

Drunk with memories, Nola briefly touched the back of his head. “Imagine what, little sir?”

He folded his lanky arms on the railing and rested his chin. “All of this.” His blue eyes devoured the field, admiring each player warming up.

Nola followed his gaze and mirrored his love for all that was happening.

The ball shot through the air, a stitched bird gliding until it met the leathered hand of its receiver. Then it catapulted to another, simultaneously graceful and open-minded about its destiny. Tobacco spit shredded the clean air like tarred fireworks. Backsides were scratched with opulent vigor. Sneers and jeers traded seamlessly from one ace to another.

Like the thick noise of the stadium every part of the experience blanketed her, smothering everything Nola thought she needed, replacing it with what she really craved…baseball.

“Yes, I think I can imagine all of this.”

He squinted at her, confused by her unexpected response.

She cupped Grady’s chin with her quivering hand. “I think I can.”

If you missed meeting my characters, please check out “Meet the Dames” and “Meet the Fellows” for a little background.

NOLA FRAN EVIE will be available in paperback on Friday, March 8.

My Book Gets an Outfit

It’s strange how my book didn’t seem real until I woke up this morning.

Why?

Because thanks to my gorgeous and talented husband, Mr. H, Nola Fran Evie has an outfit…a cover.

I compare the cover not to clothes—something we throw onto our bodies when we are in a hurry or something we are sick of because we wear it incessantly.

No, no. I’m talking about the artistic precision it takes to create an entire outfit to capture an essence.

My story is a living, breathing person to me. In this case with three main characters, there was a unique trio of women to dress, which is no easy task.

An outfit is a look that pulls everything together. It cloaks the physical body of the pages. It hints at every curve of emotion hiding within the words. It expresses the mood and even the very definition of the characters.

A book without a cover is a naked soul. Not an exhibitionist but a demure being who is fragile, in need of that protective shell which accentuates what lies beneath without giving everything away.

So, I can rest easy.

My story is a little less vulnerable today. My story is dressed. My story is now a book.

NOLA FRAN EVIE releases one week from tomorrow…July 22.

Meet the Fellows

A couple of years ago when my mother-in-law had just finished reading/editing my first book, Beneath the Satin Gloves, she brought up an interesting thought…I wonder if your work is something men would read.

Truth be told, I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t thought about genders at all, I just wrote the thing.

While my books feature strong female characters, told from their point of view, I have greatly enjoyed writing male characters as well. A few men have read my work and said they were entertained.

My parents divorced when I was pretty young. I lived with my dad until my early college years, so I mostly had a male’s perspective growing up.

I remember my dad trying to do my impossible hair for school and dressing me in Dallas Cowboys T-shirts. I was the kid that looked pretty kooky in that Southern California school—and, you guessed it—I got made fun of.

Later in life my mom received her Bachelor’s degree at 38-years-old and ran her first marathon at 40. She worked her way up to the very top of her career, one dominated by men.

In other words, I’m not a girly girl.

I love fashion, I’m a romantic, and yes, I wore a tutu for a number of years as a ballet dancer, but I’m also a go-getter, beer-loving, potty-mouth who tells it like it is.

I wanted to take a moment today to highlight some of the fellows in my upcoming book, Nola Fran Evie, because I think they’re pretty darn awesome.

If you missed “Meet the Dames” last week, click here.

Mr. H on the patio — Mr. H rockin’ the retro look on our patio.

LAUREN RHYS

“She smiled at Lauren’s profile, framed perfectly by the open window of his mustard yellow, beat-up Ford. Dusk’s long finale cast a soft glow on the zooming fields behind him. He looked otherworldly, as if the gods had dropped a perfect specimen for all men to strive to be and for all women to strive to be in bed with.”

Lauren grew up in Waterford, Wisconsin and when he wasn’t working on the farm or playing baseball, he sat on an old fence with Nola talking about nothing and everything. During WWII, they lost contact with one another when he became involved in clandestine work in Europe.

In 1954 he’s a school teacher at a rough city school in Chicago who plays jazz music. Nola reenters his life at the Blue Note Club while he’s making an important speech.

(A big thanks to Mr. H for coming up with Lauren’s sweet name.)

ROLAND DUBOIS

“His tall, athletic build was enough to leave any woman weak in the knees. That dark exterior and lovely confidence were unmatched in the realm of men. But man, oh man, his voice. His voice was warm cookie comfort.”

Roland grew up very poor in Louisiana with his parents and three older sisters. The army was his one chance to see the world, so he enlisted and fought in the war from start to finish. He became a janitor at Horlick Field, the home field of the Racine Belles, and he met Fran.

In 1954 he’s a star baseball player for the Cubs. He and Fran live together, unmarried, dealing with more issues than the average couple.

SAL MARCIANO

“She looked him over and decided he was quite good-looking. He was of medium height, not much taller than she was in heels, with dark hair, skin, and eyes that oozed Italian guy. Unsettling though it was, he looked at her in a special way.”

Fran’s brother, Sal grew up on the South Side of Chicago, in a studio above their family’s Italian restaurant. He volunteered for service first and his two brothers followed him. He came home from the war early when he lost his leg.

In 1954 he’s a top reporter for the Sun Times. While he’s covering Fran’s important event at the Blue Note, he sees Evie for the first time.

So, those were the good guys. Here’s the bad one…

HARVEY SHAW

“Like enemies on opposite sides of a muddy trench, equally suspicious of stray bullets and gangrene, Evie and Harvey glared at one another from the top of their opposing staircases. His face was a blur from her vantage point, yet she knew his body language well. It was stiff and emotionless, much like his heart.”

Harvey grew up in North Shore, Chicago, born to a privileged family of old money dating back to the city’s industrial beginnings. Harvey’s money and power got him out of the war, and he remained unscathed during America’s fateful years.

In 1954 he’s one of the owners of the Cubs. Harvey ran the women’s league into the ground and cheats on Evie every chance he gets.

Thanks for taking the time to meet my fellows. Nola Fran Evie is coming out in 3 weeks…July 22!

Dirt in the Skirt for a Good Cause

With my upcoming book release next month for Nola Fran Evie, which is about three women in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, I thought this was a perfect current event to share with you guys.

I stumbled across an awesome news story courtesy of the AAGPBL Players Association’s Facebook page.

Yesterday the San Rafael Pacifics, an independent professional baseball team, wore replicas of the Rockford Peaches historic uniforms during a game to honor Breast Cancer survivors.

And, yes. They were men in darling pink dresses…

We’ve seen men in professional sports support Breast Cancer Awareness with different pink accessories—gloves, cleats, hats—but never before have they played like this!

They are the first men’s professional baseball team in history to wear dresses. Love it!

Two of the uniforms were autographed by Academy Award winner Tom Hanks, who starred in one of my all-time favorite movies and the reason I was obsessed with the women’s league from a young age, “A League of Their Own”. They were auctioned off with proceeds going to a breast cancer foundation in California called “To Celebrate Life”.

This was a very cool way to honor these women—the brave gals who played in the All-American Girls Professional League seventy years ago and the courageous women battling Breast Cancer today. I applaud these men for dressing up and getting some “dirt in the skirt”.

As many of you know, back in February I found out that my mom was battling her second stint with Breast Cancer. If you missed the posts, you can read about the experience here “This one’s for you, Mom” and here “We Surpass the Tough”.

My mom is doing beautifully.

She “got lucky” with Stage 1, but the emotional scars are just as challenging as the physical ones, and she’s still on a very challenging journey to healing. But, as I’ve said before, she’s a trooper and she’ll kick ass as she always does.

I don’t think we can ever raise enough awareness for Breast Cancer, so I was delighted to see a fresh take on a good cause with these ball players. I’m sure my mom will be tickled when she reads this as she recovers from one of her final surgeries this week.

If you want to check out the full story, there’s a good one right here on Yahoo Sports.

And just for fun, I wanted to leave you all with a few photos of the gals of the All-American Girls Baseball League wearing the original uniforms from 1948. I especially love the pic of the girls huddled around the magazine together.

(All images are courtesy of Florida Memory.)

Photo Credit: State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory

Credit this photo: State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory

You may have noticed I added a little countdown on the sidebar for the big book release. Twenty-four days to go…woot!!!