Varian Johnson was a published, professional author several times over. Still, he considered giving up.
He explained to a gymnasium filled with the Poughkeepsie City School District’s fourth graders Friday morning, his books weren’t selling. His dream of gaining fame and acclaim had vanished. By the time he couldn’t find a publisher for his fourth book, he was defeated.
But, when he shared his feelings with his literary agent, he heard the words he needed.
“‘I know you can do this. I trust in you. I believe in you. So, stop complaining and get back to work,’” he recalled. “I got back to work and I started writing again. And I realized, I not only like writing, I love writing.”
Johnson, author of “Playing the Cards You’re Dealt” and other works, spent Friday in Poughkeepsie talking to students about the persistence and support systems needed to succeed, how he became a writer and how the writing process works, and provided behind-the-scenes information about several of his works.
“Playing the Cards You’re Dealt” is this year’s Read the World motivational reading program book. Now in its third year, the program aims to enhance students’ reading abilities, strength comprehension skills and ignite excitement for reading. As they all read the same book, students’ reading comprehension is monitored through quizzes and teachers assess areas of strength and improvement. The students are incentivized with possible prizes for those who know the book best.
This year, for the first time, Read the World has expanded to include all fourth graders across the district.
The students at Smith and Warring traveled to Clinton Friday morning to hear Johnson speak and, afterward, ask questions. Johnson then visited classrooms at Clinton and Smith, providing more opportunity for small-group discussion, before he attended a family fun night at The Academy.
Johnson explained, his love of writing began with a love for reading such books as “Beezus and Ramona” and “The Mouse and the Motorcycle,” and “The Chronicles of Narnia” series, among others. His world was expanded, though, when he encountered Walter Dean Myers and his 1984 book “Motown and Didi.”
“Not only was this a book with characters that looked like me, it was written by someone that looked like me,” he recalled.B
elieving in yourself and pursuing what you love to do was a central theme of Johnson’s presentation. He explained, he dreamed of being a professional writer as a kid, but became more practical as he aged and ended up pursuing his other passions for math and science, becoming an engineer. Though it was a lucrative job at which he excelled, it didn’t light him up the way storytelling did.One question in a Smith class astutely asked if his family was supportive of his career change. Johnson explained, leaving a dependable job to take a chance on becoming an author made his father, in particular, nervous.
“You always want your kids to do better than you. … He was supportive, but he was probably the most worried,” he said. “You have to surround yourself with people who support you, but also tell you the truth. I had lots of people around me who supported me, even when it wasn’t going so well – even when I wanted to quit.”
The Read the World program was inspired by a conversation between Sheba Abrahaim, the program lead who was in attendance Friday, and Bill Duke – a Poughkeepsie-born actor, director, humanitarian and author.
In addition to encouraging students, Johnson lifted the veil on the revision process. He showed students images of draft pages that included dozens of notes from editors, and walked them through how those notes became fewer through the revising process. He also showed early versions of cover art and illustrations that, too, needed revisions before they could be ready for publication.
“Writing is kind of like a team,” he said. “My editor just wants to do the same thing that I want to do: We want to make the best book possible. So, I revised, and revised, and revised.”
Johnson also lifted the veil on the book the fourth graders are reading, “Playing the Cards You’re Dealt.” He shared, his father’s love of the card game Spades, which he has shared, was part of the inspiration for the book. And, he explained, the book’s main character, Ant, is somewhat autobiographical.
“I see a lot of me in Ant,” Johnson said. “Out of all the characters I have written, I’m probably the most like Ant.”