A wiser author printing book 9 - Arkansas Online

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LaTonya Richardson is releasing her ninth book, and even now, she marvels at what she didn't know when she first started writing 20 years ago.

"A children's book always has a problem and a main character that figures out the problem rather than the adult figuring it out," she said. "I never knew that."

But she knows a lot now, and she attributes that to hard work and getting a little help from her friends.

She's part of a group of 30 African American authors from across the country who work with one another, as well as listen and give advice and in the end, motivate one another to keep pursuing their dreams. She also meets individually with highly experienced writers who have helped her get to the heart of what she enjoys most about writing.

That pursuit of excellence, which has included numerous writing retreats and workshops, takes her back to her days at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock where she received her master's degree in journalism.

"In graduate school, one of my teachers, Bill Rutherford, said 'You cannot do something you don't know how to do,'" she said. "'If you want to do something, you have to find someone who's doing it and start reading about it.'"

Richardson has stayed plugged into the younger mindset through her day job at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff where she has worked for 30 years, with about 20 of that as an instructor in the Multimedia Communication Department. Across that period of time, she has evolved as a writer.

When Richardson started, she wrote for children, meaning youngsters from the very young up to age 8 to 10. But writing picture books, as they are called, requires a lot of coordination with an illustrator. One of her mentors suggested she consider the young adult genre, which includes children up to age 18 and older.

So Richardson gave it a try -- eventually. She got part-way through a book, and then her busy family life took precedence and she stopped for a time. But she started back, and when she showed it to one of her mentors, the person told her bluntly to "finish it" and then "publish it."

Since then, she's written a three-book series for young adults, including a journal that goes with the second book. And just recently she released her fifth book for young adults called "A Double Play Summer."

"In 'A Double Play Summer,' what starts as the best summer ever, quickly turns into a foul play," stated a news release describing her new creation. "D.J. has to give up her bedroom, and the most important softball tournament of her short career, for Gran. Without D.J. the team isn't confident they'll be able to make it past the Summer Softball Showdown for a shot at Nationals. Being at Gran's turns out to be more rewarding than D.J. could have imagined. Unexpectedly, Gran becomes her biggest advocate and cheerleader."

Richardson's books are available in paperback on Amazon, where she has received many positive reviews, as well as via e-books.

Her advice to young writers is similar to the advice she has gotten, which is to set a goal and stick with it.

"Make up your mind and set a goal and get to it," she said. "Get a date when you want to be finished and released. If I had not done that, I would probably still be sitting on it."

With such a goal-oriented mindset, Richardson is relentless in finding time to write. In many cases, she's up early, before her house comes alive. And sometimes she writes at night, although she admits she's not a night owl.

"Occasionally, when something is on my mind, it just wakes me up," she said. "And when it's on my mind, I have to write it down, because if I don't, it might not be there the next morning when I wake up."

Richardson said "writing for children has always been her passion," according to her press release. And her aim " is to create books where Black young women can see themselves and be proud of who they are."

And her fans do take notice. Because she's been an author for so long, and started writing for the very young, she now runs into young adults who have grown up with her.

"Young people who were just kids then will come up to me and talk about one of my earlier books and say, 'I remember when you came to my school and read to us,'" Richardson said. "That is very rewarding."

For more information on Richardson, go to her website: LaRichMedia.com.

LaTonya Richardson said the best advice she can give budding authors is to set a goal and stick with it. (Special to The Commercial)

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