Welcome to a website designed to show case the award winning childhood memoir entitled: Pieces from Life's Crazy Quilt, by Marvin V. Arnett--Winner of the 2001 African American-Authors Helping Authors Best Nonfiction Book Award. The story of why, and how, the author wrote and published the book is as fascinating as the memoir itself. The essence of the story was captured in an article written by Dr. Deborah Smith Pollard, and published in the July 2002 issue of the Gospel Today Magazine. So pour yourself a cup of coffee, sit back, and enjoy.
*****SEE SPECIAL BLACK HISTORY ESSAY ON STORIES PAGE WRITTEN BY MY YOUNG
FRIEND, KYLE VIETH
(GRADE RECEIVED---A+)
Excerpt from Gospel Today, July 2002 Issue
It's Never Too Late
Taking individual courses can also help students to find a new calling and a new voice later in life.
Marvin Arnett wrote so well in her first English course that her professor told her that she could get paid for her writing. The next semester, her creative writing professor told her the same thing and encouraged her to complete a book of essays. Now after meeting his challenge and distributing that collection, Pieces from the Crazy Quilt: Memoirs of a Great Grandmother, through an on-line, print on demand publisher, she recently signed a deal with The University of Nebraska Press to have a hardcover edition of her book released in 2003. For Arnett, her foray into college has led to awards and a new way of honing her talent in writing.
One day in 1994, I noticed an article in the Detroit News describing a Seasoned Citizen's Program at U of M-Dearborn. For a nominal fee a senior could take 12 accredited hours in any subjects they chose. I immediately signed up for the Creative Writing Class. I was uncertain whether I wanted to enter a degree program but thought that a writing class would fit into several programs if I decided to go that way. I took several other classes, but became enamored with writing. The class gave mecourage to take some of my work out of hiding and shop it around. I had an essay about a trip to Ghana published in the Detroit News Magazine section. The die was cast.
My writing instructor, Professor Linn, encouraged me to write a memoir of my childhood growing up in Detroit, beginning with my birth in 1928, moving through the Great Depression and ending with the infamous race riot of 1943. I self-published the book with some success. When a copy fell into the hand of a MSU professor, lightning struck. I accepted a book contract from The University of Nebraska Press, and a revised version of my book (Pieces from Life's Crazy Quilt) is due out April 1, 2003. All is in divine order.
Like most positive things in life,"Pieces from Life's Crazy Quilt" came about in a seemingly haphazard manner. I retired in 1988, and by 1994, I had made numerous trips aboard, volunteered at several Detroit area hospitals, tutored students in the "Let's Read Program and established a program to train young people how to fill out job applications. I also spent hours playing the organ, listening to jazz, playing with my grandchildren, catching up on reading, and writing short stories for my own pleasure. In short, I was bored, bored, bored!
One day I noticed an article in the Detroit News describing a senior citizen's program at U of M Dearborn. For $50 dollars a semester, a senior could take 12 credit hours in any subjects they chose. I immediately signed up for Creative Writing.
I was delighted when the Lyceum Literary and Fine Arts Journal accepted two of my essays for the fall 1994 and winter 1995 issues. One of the essays, "The Good Reverend," became Chapter 5 of "Pieces from Life's Crazy Quilt." The class instructor suggested that I combine the several essays I had written about my childhood, add to them and publish them as a book. The idea fired my imagination, and I set to work. And that is how "Pieces from Life's Crazy Quilt," was born.
It was not an easy task. Over the next two years, I stopped and restarted the process too many times to count. Efforts to shop the completed product resulted in over 97 rejections from literary agents. In the end, perseverance won out. The University of Nebraska Press is scheduled to release a hardcover version of "Pieces from Life's Crazy Quilt on April, 2003.
