Tennant shares best of regional storytellers

(Photo by Randy M. Cauthron) Jean Tennant served as both editor and publisher on her recently released anthology collection, "Walking Beans Wasn't Something You Did With Your Dog: Stories of Growing Up in and Around Small Towns in the Midwest." Tennant runs Shapato Publishing in Everly and is published author as well. [Order this photo]

Jean Tennant was first published in fourth grade. A poem she penned as part of a class project landed in the pages of the popular youth magazine, "Highlights," when her teacher thought it worthy of submission.

But the writing bug didn't really bite Jean until her early 30s when her love of reading led her to become an author herself.

"Like most writers, I was a avid reader. It kind of grew from there," Tennant, the Everly-based writer, editor and publisher said.

Tennant's latest work will be on display both Friday and Saturday locally when she appears at a pair of book signings to promote her newest release, "Walking Beans Wasn't Something You Did With Your Dog: Stories of Growing Up in and Around Small Towns in the Midwest."

Walking Beans is a compilation of some of the best short stories she was able to solicit in the Midwest, edited and published in one 169-page, soft cover anthology. She will be signing copies of the book at a special event next to the cafeteria at the Spencer Hospital from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday; and then at On Eagle's Wings from 1-2 p.m. Saturday.

Tennant spent several months collecting submissions for the book, beginning with piece's from a writer's group she takes part in twice a month at Arts on Grand.

"They always have great stories about growing up and life in the Midwest. I started there, but I needed more," Tennant said.

Additionally, Tennant used a variety of resources at her disposal to solicit stories from a broader audience. The result: Over 200 submissions ranging in length from two to five or six pages. She spent many months reviewing the work before finally whittling the stack down to what she felt were the 30 best short works described as heartwarming, funny and dramatic.

For the author, sending out the rejection notices was the least fun portion of the process. "The hardest part of receiving all of those submissions was being in that position. After having received so many rejection slips over the years, to have to be the one to send them out, it was hard."

Tennant said that there is plenty of nostalgia in the book, although the book covers a varied time frame.

"They are great stories. There is one poem included, and a story called, "Chautaugua" by Verla Klaessey of Spencer whose mother was a maid at the Higgins Mansion. It's the only story in the book written in the third person. She writes about her mother and it takes place in 1922."

Other stories including: "Cyrano the Pig" and "The Great Snowman War of 1952" provide great humor, while "Stars in the Window" will bring back memories of widespread patriotism and rationing during WWII.

Tennant credited "Stars in the Window" author, Betty Taylor of Hartley, for making the entire book a success. "I have to mention Betty Taylor…She was so valuable to me. We had so many editing sessions together. So many late night phone calls. She was just invaluable. I couldn't have done it without Betty."

The editor's husband is even featured in the book and on the cover. The cover features a pair of young boys in wash tubs, one of whom is Grower Reiser, her husband. His story details one particular winter when his family ran out of fuel to heat the house and were forced to burn the furniture inside the house, and eventually begin burning fence posts from outside to overcome the cold.

Published by the couple's own publishing company, Shapato Publishing in Everly -- a combination of their sons names: Shawn, Paul and Tony -- Walking Bean includes work by three authors from Spencer; plus authors from Spirit Lake, Arnolds Park, Hartley, Sanborn and Everly; as well as writers living in Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois and Ohio.

Walking Bean is available locally at Midwest Health Foods, Arts on Grand, On Eagles' Wings, Hartley Drug; Hill Avenue Books in Spirit Lake; and on Amazon.com. A few places around the area also have it: Midwest Health Foods, On Eagles' Wings, Hartley Drug. I am making the rounds, getting it placed in area gift and book stores as well.

A follow up book is already in the works.

"I have another anthology planned for 2009 with stories like these. But we won't really start exploring this until 2009. I'm going to look at the submissions I received and kept. Some of them were quite good and I'll keep some of those for the next book. In some cases, they were so good that I let the author's know that I liked their work and I would hold on to it for later consideration."

She's going to have to work on the new project around a full load of other obligations. Tennant's schedule remains busy with promotion of Walking Beans, plus additional publishing responsibilities for a pair of children's picture books in development from authors in Massachusetts and Texas.

Tennant is also involved in traveling and teaching writing workshops throughout the region, and if time allows, she might like to do some writing of her own.

"I have a couple of things that I'm working on, but it's really hard finding time to get back to it. I enjoy the publishing so much that it's not really a huge loss, I just wish that I had more than 24 hours in each day or that I didn't have to sleep," she said. Not that she's complaining. "I'm enjoying the heck out of it."

As a writer, Tennant has had a number of articles and short stories published in magazines early on. Her first book was published as a Silhouette young adult romance.

"Romances have been an enduring genre. I was reading them and thought I would like to tackle that. That was the only romance I wrote. I didn't want to do another one. Then I kind of wrote on the Stephen King craze. I wrote a few thrillers."

Her early writing years were spent in Sioux Rapids and Spencer before she moved up to Minnesota where she wrote a couple of books, before returning to Iowa, settling in Everly 15 years ago.

Her most recently authored piece and eighth book overall, "Olivia's Birthday Puppy," was a children's picture book published in May.

"I really started thinking about that a year ago, then I found an artist. The theme of that story is adopting pets from the rescue shelters. That's a theme that's very close to my heart. It really addressed the benefits of adopting from the animal shelters," she explained.

Her own dog Kirby served as a model for one of the dogs in the book.

Tennant offered aspiring writers some advice. "Really study the type of writing your interested in. How it's done. How it's laid out. Study examples of the type of writing you want to do. With the Internet, there are a lot of options that weren't there years ago. Online writing classes people can take. If you want to learn the basics, find some courses at the community colleges to take that can help."

As for dealing with the rejection that the majority of authors face when shopping their books. "I've certainly learned over the years, you certainly can't give up and quit if you want to keep at it. I've developed a thick skin over the years, and learned not to take rejection personally."

Jean Tennant will be at the Spencer Hospital from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, and will sign books at On Eagle's Wings from 1-2 p.m. on Saturday.