February 26, 2024 • 17 mins
Emily Huey paid a visit to the Book Drop Mic to introduce her brand new illustrated children's book: Wat Kept Playing: The Inspiring Story of Wataru Misaka and His Rise to the NBA. Learn why Emily chose this particular true story and the impact this unsung hero had on her life. You'll find both the author and her book equally inspiring.
Buy Emily's book:
https://shadowmountain.com/product/wat-kept-playing-the-inspiring-story-of-wataru-misaka-and-his-rise-to-the-nba/
Learn more about Emily's work:
https://emilyhuey.com/
Learn more about Jason:
http://www.jasonfwright.com
About the book:
As the child of Japanese immigrants, Wataru “Wat” Misaka often felt like he didn’t fully belong in either Japanese or American culture. He was sometimes excluded, treated differently, and bullied, even though he was born in the United States. As he grew up, however, Wat discovered he had a very special talent for playing basketball. Even at just five foot seven, he was unstoppable.
After leading his high school team to a state championship, Wat played for the Utah Utes and helped the team win the 1944 NCAA championship. Wat kept playing even as Japanese Americans from the West Coast were sent to incarceration camps for the duration of World War II. Then, after two years serving in the United States Army, Wat returned to basketball, leading the University of Utah to Madison Square Garden and winning another national championship. The cheering crowd recognized Wat the way he wanted to be seen—as a person who was both Japanese and American and an amazing basketball player. Talent scouts from the New York Knicks were so impressed, they drafted Wat to their team. Wat’s undeniable talent changed history as he became the first person of color to play in the NBA.
This podcast is brought to you by InkVeins, your source for book publicity, promo, press releases and more. Text 540-212-4095 for more information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, hello friends, Welcome to the Book Drop Mic
brought to you by Inc Vane's,your source for book publicity,
promo and pressure releases.
This is Jason Wright.
How are you?
I am really excited about someof the guests coming up over the
next few weeks.
Okay, first, before I forget, areminder if you follow my work
on social media, if you're on myemail list, whatever, you know
(00:23):
that Skardakoda is available forpre-order on Amazon.
You can do me a huge favor.
You can right, Sure you can.
You can do me a huge favor andgo to Goodreads and mark the
titles, Want to read it.
Super helpful for the Amazonalgorithm and authors appreciate
as much pre-book buzz as we canget Re-release buzz, and we'll
(00:46):
talk about that in a minute withour guests.
Also, by the way, if you're onNetGalley, you can request the
title and read it for free.
Today I can just approve yourrequest because I will, because
you're cool.
Okay, for a lot of our guests Idon't have an opportunity to
read the book first, but I didread today's guest book first.
In fact, I read the pressrelease, which was kind of cool.
(01:08):
I'm kind of geeked out by that.
Actually.
That is a first for me to havedone a little again pre-release,
marketing and press work on abook, to then have the guest on
the show.
Her book is called you Knowwhat, Emily?
I'm going to hand this to youout of great respect for you and
the family and the fact thatI'm going to butcher the name.
Emily Hupe, what is the name ofyour new book?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
The book is called what Kept Playing the Inspiring
Story of Watarumi Saka and HisRise to the NBA, and thank you
for the press release.
I really appreciate itAbsolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Folks, this is the coolest story that you probably
have not heard.
I'm a sports guy, I like theNBA, I've followed the NBA for
most of my life and I considermyself a bit of a fan of sports
history.
This story was really reallynew to me, and so that's
(02:05):
exciting.
I love to dive into somethingthat is both new and so
unbelievably inspiring, which Ibelieve this is going to prove
to be many, many readers.
All right, emily, first tell usa little bit about you and why
you and this book, because I'malways interested in the
marriage between an author andthe material.
(02:27):
So tell us about Emily.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
So I am a Japanese-American who lives in
Utah and I would not call myselfa sports Well, I would not call
myself an athlete, let's put itthat way.
But I happened to know this manthat this book's about,
watarumi Saka.
He was my Well, I thought hewas my uncle for years, but it
(02:51):
turns out that as I got older Ifound out that he's actually my
uncle's brother, so he's mygreat aunt's husband's brother
and so not related by blood noathletic blood in this body.
But I knew who he was and he'sjust this incredibly wonderful
man who was just alwaysno-transcript until I was an
(03:15):
adult, that he had actually beenthis amazing athlete who played
in the NBA and all these thingsbroke all these barriers.
I didn't know any of that.
He never talked about it.
He was incredibly humble.
But you know, when I got married, I remember my well, even
before that, someone else toldme his story.
And then, when I got married,my husband's father was like, oh
, I know his story.
You know he had inspired allthese people because he's this
(03:38):
five foot seven JapaneseAmerican living during the time
when Japanese Americans were putin these, in prison camps, you
know, during World War two, anddespite the fact that all that's
going on here he is likeWinning championships, becoming
the first ever person of colorto play in the NBA.
So kind of an inspiring personand someone I wanted my kids to
(03:59):
know about.
I got involved.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
I don't know if we said this, but this is an
illustrated children book.
But it's important to know andI want to know why why you chose
that path.
You probably could have mind afull length Bio.
So why a children's book?
And how?
How did you get paired up withyour illustrator?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Well, so I write for children.
I write for teens and children,and so I think that's always my
interest.
But I think, especially thetime when I started writing this
book, I had two little boys.
I now have three little boys,but at the time I had two little
boys who were really intosports.
I also have a daughter who'salso into sports, but I
especially had one son who isvery into basketball and he is
(04:48):
Shorty, shorty and.
I remember after one junior jazzgame he came home he'd been
over a head shorter than some ofthe other kids and he was kind
of disappointed in how he playedthat day and I told him the
story of this man who I admiredand I saw how he reacted to it
and I thought, oh, this is astory lots of kids need and
(05:09):
that's I think it's always in mymind because of his age at the
time that happened.
It's always been a children'sbook in my mind.
So yeah, I think it could be anincredible novel to.
I think His story I mean youcould go outside of what
happened in his basketball worldas well he's he's a hero in
many, in many ways to me.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, well, I was chatting with Becky Conley I
don't know if you know Becky.
She's a writer same publisherbelieves you and she's Just a
brilliant storyteller as well,and she was telling me about her
, her upcoming book, hiddenyellow stars, and her belief,
really deep belief, that thebook Shows her that she didn't
(05:51):
really choose the story as muchas it kind of found her and
asked her to be written.
And I sort of feel like you hadto be the one then to write
this, given your relationshipwith the family.
I love that.
You thought it was your uncle,that's my favorite part of the
story.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yeah, at the time, you know, as a kid, I just knew
that he's at these familydinners and he sat at the same
table with all the other unclesand aunts and I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
but yeah, now I do my , so my, my take away from the
story, both from.
You know I haven't read thebook and a little bit research
for the press release that Iwrote Is that you don't Okay.
So spoiler alert he did not goon to win an NBA championship or
become league MVP five times ina row or when a scoring title
(06:37):
none of that.
He had a relatively short, wellnot intended career with New
York, right, but I think themessage that is so powerful and
that I would want my kids andanyone listening and considering
the book for your family, orfor yourself, for that matter,
the message I would want peopleto take away is that here's the
(06:59):
thing I'm gonna go for.
This ceiling I'm going to break, and if that's all that happens
, that's okay.
That's the success.
The success is that he is still,I think, number six or seventh
shortest player ever to play inthe NBA Asian American.
He breaks these barriers andthat's kind of it.
He doesn't go on to have thislong, illustrious career and
(07:22):
that doesn't matter at all.
I'm sure that if he were withus right now, he wouldn't say,
well, I was kind of a failure, Ikind of burnt out.
Right.
Here's the goal, here's thefinish line.
I did this incredible thing.
I wanna talk about it in hisown humble way.
I understand from your tellingthat he's a very, very humble
man.
Don't you think there's amessage there that it's about
(07:44):
setting the goal, identifying,setting, reaching, achieving and
then being satisfied with that,and there doesn't have to be
more.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Yeah, yeah, no, and I would say, actually I don't
think, probably in his mind thatbecoming a member of the NBA
was like the goal.
I think you talk about storiescoming to you.
I feel like this title is onethat just kind of came to me
what can't playing?
And for him I think it was justI'm gonna keep playing, I'm
gonna keep playing, I'm gonnakeep doing these things.
(08:14):
There's all these thingsagainst me, but I'm just going
to keep doing it and trying anddoing my best.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
But he had to know he was making history right and
naive to that.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
I think it was.
I mean, obviously he playedincredibly well.
Obviously he accomplished theseamazing things, but at the time
he became the first player ofcolor in the NBA the same year
that Jackie Robinson crossedthat line in Major League
Baseball.
But there wasn't a big hooplaabout what he said.
(08:45):
I think he said it wasn't a bigthing, nobody cared, and so I
don't know if he was, like, everthought that it would be this
historically significant moment.
In fact, I don't really thinkit was until kind of the turn of
the century.
Can you believe we call it theturn of the century now, but the
turn of this century thatpeople started acknowledging it,
and I think it was 2009, whenyou know it was really kind of
(09:07):
acknowledged in, you know,across the nation that he had
been that barrier breaker.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Yeah, so I think, to clarify I think I said first
Asian-American he was the firstplayer of color period, right?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
And at the time it was called the Basketball
Association of America, buteventually it became the NBA, so
yeah, I think it became the NBAthe very next year, didn't it?
Speaker 1 (09:28):
if I read that right.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Boo, I don't have the year with me and I'm afraid to
say that Come on, anthony, comeon.
It was, yeah, it was soon.
It was soon after that, but Ican't remember the exact year.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
So how did he spend?
He passed away in 2019,.
How did he spend those twilightyears of his life?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
You know he continued to play sports his whole life.
So you know, actually he was avery good baseball player.
I think in high school heplayed basketball.
I think he played baseball andfootball too, is my
understanding and then, afterthe NBA, he came back and was an
engineer for years and yearsand years well into well past
(10:09):
when most people retire and thenhe also was this really avid
bowler and he did that farlonger than he actually played
basketball.
But he just kept going andgoing with it and you know he
just kept playing.
You know that idea of he justkeep going with the things that
you wanna do In those goals,yeah, Love it.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
So okay, so you are.
You're standing in front of 500elementary school, you know, in
some school district somewherein America, and you've just got
20 seconds to tell them why thebook and more importantly what
(10:52):
kept playing, why this storymatters not then, but today, in
this world.
We're living in 2024, why dothese young people need this
story in their lives?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
What I want them to know is that, no matter what
other people think about you andno matter what other people
think you should do, you canpursue the things you want to
pursue.
He's not the typical basketballplayer in any way not in height
, not in race, not in familybackground, nothing.
(11:35):
He challenged all thosebarriers and became this person
he wanted to be.
I think that they can do thattoo.
I think every kid can.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Yeah, I love that.
I love that I can see why youwrite for kiddos and why you
feel sort of drawn there.
What is next for you?
The book releases March 5,although we have heard that it
might be a little early for myfew folks.
You might even see it somewhere, but the official date is March
(12:06):
5 and it's going to blow up andbe huge.
I have no doubt what comes next.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
I'm working on another novel.
I have YA novel out beneath thewide-silk sky and I'm working
on another one of those.
And, oh, wrestling with it.
Sometimes books are easier thanother times and right now I'm
wrestling, I know the wrestle.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Well, it's a part of that creative process.
The books that you wrestle themost tend to be the ones that
really resonate with readers andI think they appreciate very
much the wrestle.
I was talking to an author atBEA Book Expo, america years ago
(12:53):
, which I don't think existsanymore, at least not as a
traditional trade showconvention.
But we're in New York and we'rechatting and it was the first
time we'd met and he had a bookthat had gone nuts and we were
chatting a little bit about kindof that origin story and he
said you know, I wrote thisthing in like 10 days, like it
was the easiest thing I've done.
(13:14):
I just sat down and it justthere it was.
He's like I almost feel guiltyat how easy it was and I said
maybe don't tell a lot ofaspiring writers that story, or
even readers for that matter,because they love.
I love knowing.
You know, I interviewed, uh, uh,steve Wilkinson.
Um, folks can catch thatinterview in a week or two, but
(13:37):
he's been working on this book.
It's phenomenal and it's a 15year passion project for him.
Um, a nonfiction book on thisbalance between faith and
science that I think people arereally gonna love.
But 15 years of his life, blood, sweat and tears into this
nonfiction title.
And so I compare that to myfriend at BEA a decade ago.
I was saying, yeah, it justkind of fell out of me.
(13:59):
And I actually had a friend, um, who writes romance, who for a
while we shared the same agentand she went home on Friday from
her day job and on the subwayin New York city had an idea for
a new romance novel and she wasalready under contract for a
different project and she wrotethat thing between Friday on the
(14:21):
subway heading home and Mondaymorning and sent it back into
her agent and at the time Mondaymorning is, the doors were
opening.
So in in two full days and afew hours on the two others, she
wrote a full 80,000 wordmanuscript.
Yeah, I can't wrap my headaround that.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
So I love the.
I'm so jealous.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I know, I know, I know, I know.
Well, you know what, with uh,with AI and chat, gpt and all
that, no one's going to bewriting real books anymore, are
they?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
I don't know, I I got one of those, um, those word
trackers on my computer.
It tells you how many words youwrite, and I tend to be someone
who writes and then I erase,and write, and erase and it
doesn't count if you erase itright.
And it told me that I waswriting 28 words an hour and I I
got rid of that app.
I did not want to know anymore.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Oh, that's hilarious.
I, I track, I track my wordcount um by hour and it, it, can
, it can range.
Let me tell you a range, and Iwish people could see the zoom,
because you are, you are abright, hopeful, happy, joyful
person, and every son oh, thankyou.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
That's so nice of you .
No, it's true.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
You look like the kind of person people want to be
around, because you make themfeel like you know what it's all
going to be okay.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Well, I do believe that.
I do believe, you know, and Ithink that's something that, um,
I really admire about Mr Misakatoo.
He was the kind of person whomade you just, you know, even
looking back at some of the hardthings that happened to him, he
was always, he's always had, apositive outlook, so yeah, Well,
that's a great place to wrap.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
May we all have such a positive outlook as what and
Emily.
Oh, by the way, we should shoutout your illustrator real quick
before we go, oh yeah, I loveK-King and she is, um, someone
that I've never met.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I sent her thank you one time, but that's all.
That's all.
It's someone that the publisherjust picked for me.
But, man, I'm so grateful forthese illustrations that just oh
, it's my first time with anillustrated book and it just
brings it to another level andit's better than anything you
could have thought it would be.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, it's a unique style.
I love it.
It's very different, I think,than what most folks might be
used to seeing, particularly inthe contemporary world.
You go into Barnes and Nobleand you look at the bestselling
children's books and this is themost, this will be the most
unique, I think, illustratorbook that you see.
Even just in the cover it hasthis really cool old school um,
(16:57):
I mean, it almost looks like itwas drawn in 1947, 48 a month.
It's lovely, so shout out toher for her work.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
I really appreciate it.
Yeah, I'm really grateful.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Well, we are grateful to have had you on the show.
What a fun book.
We will put links to you andyour good work and this book and
your other books, of course, inthe show notes.
I invite people to follow yourwork to pick the book up.
Thank you again, emily.
You're the best.
Let's do this with your nextbook, shall we?
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah, I love that.
Thank you so much.
We'll tell you.
Hello, hello friends, Welcome to the Book Drop Mic
brought to you by Inc Vane's,your source for book publicity,
promo and pressure releases.
This is Jason Wright.
How are you?
I am really excited about someof the guests coming up over the
next few weeks.
Okay, first, before I forget, areminder if you follow my work
on social media, if you're on myemail list, whatever, you know
(00:23):
that Skardakoda is available forpre-order on Amazon.
You can do me a huge favor.
You can right, Sure you can.
You can do me a huge favor andgo to Goodreads and mark the
titles, Want to read it.
Super helpful for the Amazonalgorithm and authors appreciate
as much pre-book buzz as we canget Re-release buzz, and we'll
(00:46):
talk about that in a minute withour guests.
Also, by the way, if you're onNetGalley, you can request the
title and read it for free.
Today I can just approve yourrequest because I will, because
you're cool.
Okay, for a lot of our guests Idon't have an opportunity to
read the book first, but I didread today's guest book first.
In fact, I read the pressrelease, which was kind of cool.
(01:08):
I'm kind of geeked out by that.
Actually.
That is a first for me to havedone a little again pre-release,
marketing and press work on abook, to then have the guest on
the show.
Her book is called you Knowwhat, Emily?
I'm going to hand this to youout of great respect for you and
the family and the fact thatI'm going to butcher the name.
Emily Hupe, what is the name ofyour new book?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
The book is called what Kept Playing the Inspiring
Story of Watarumi Saka and HisRise to the NBA, and thank you
for the press release.
I really appreciate itAbsolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Folks, this is the coolest story that you probably
have not heard.
I'm a sports guy, I like theNBA, I've followed the NBA for
most of my life and I considermyself a bit of a fan of sports
history.
This story was really reallynew to me, and so that's
(02:05):
exciting.
I love to dive into somethingthat is both new and so
unbelievably inspiring, which Ibelieve this is going to prove
to be many, many readers.
All right, emily, first tell usa little bit about you and why
you and this book, because I'malways interested in the
marriage between an author andthe material.
(02:27):
So tell us about Emily.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
So I am a Japanese-American who lives in
Utah and I would not call myselfa sports Well, I would not call
myself an athlete, let's put itthat way.
But I happened to know this manthat this book's about,
watarumi Saka.
He was my Well, I thought hewas my uncle for years, but it
(02:51):
turns out that as I got older Ifound out that he's actually my
uncle's brother, so he's mygreat aunt's husband's brother
and so not related by blood noathletic blood in this body.
But I knew who he was and he'sjust this incredibly wonderful
man who was just alwaysno-transcript until I was an
(03:15):
adult, that he had actually beenthis amazing athlete who played
in the NBA and all these thingsbroke all these barriers.
I didn't know any of that.
He never talked about it.
He was incredibly humble.
But you know, when I got married, I remember my well, even
before that, someone else toldme his story.
And then, when I got married,my husband's father was like, oh
, I know his story.
You know he had inspired allthese people because he's this
(03:38):
five foot seven JapaneseAmerican living during the time
when Japanese Americans were putin these, in prison camps, you
know, during World War two, anddespite the fact that all that's
going on here he is likeWinning championships, becoming
the first ever person of colorto play in the NBA.
So kind of an inspiring personand someone I wanted my kids to
(03:59):
know about.
I got involved.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
I don't know if we said this, but this is an
illustrated children book.
But it's important to know andI want to know why why you chose
that path.
You probably could have mind afull length Bio.
So why a children's book?
And how?
How did you get paired up withyour illustrator?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Well, so I write for children.
I write for teens and children,and so I think that's always my
interest.
But I think, especially thetime when I started writing this
book, I had two little boys.
I now have three little boys,but at the time I had two little
boys who were really intosports.
I also have a daughter who'salso into sports, but I
especially had one son who isvery into basketball and he is
(04:48):
Shorty, shorty and.
I remember after one junior jazzgame he came home he'd been
over a head shorter than some ofthe other kids and he was kind
of disappointed in how he playedthat day and I told him the
story of this man who I admiredand I saw how he reacted to it
and I thought, oh, this is astory lots of kids need and
(05:09):
that's I think it's always in mymind because of his age at the
time that happened.
It's always been a children'sbook in my mind.
So yeah, I think it could be anincredible novel to.
I think His story I mean youcould go outside of what
happened in his basketball worldas well he's he's a hero in
many, in many ways to me.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah, well, I was chatting with Becky Conley I
don't know if you know Becky.
She's a writer same publisherbelieves you and she's Just a
brilliant storyteller as well,and she was telling me about her
, her upcoming book, hiddenyellow stars, and her belief,
really deep belief, that thebook Shows her that she didn't
(05:51):
really choose the story as muchas it kind of found her and
asked her to be written.
And I sort of feel like you hadto be the one then to write
this, given your relationshipwith the family.
I love that.
You thought it was your uncle,that's my favorite part of the
story.
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Yeah, at the time, you know, as a kid, I just knew
that he's at these familydinners and he sat at the same
table with all the other unclesand aunts and I didn't know.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
but yeah, now I do my , so my, my take away from the
story, both from.
You know I haven't read thebook and a little bit research
for the press release that Iwrote Is that you don't Okay.
So spoiler alert he did not goon to win an NBA championship or
become league MVP five times ina row or when a scoring title
(06:37):
none of that.
He had a relatively short, wellnot intended career with New
York, right, but I think themessage that is so powerful and
that I would want my kids andanyone listening and considering
the book for your family, orfor yourself, for that matter,
the message I would want peopleto take away is that here's the
(06:59):
thing I'm gonna go for.
This ceiling I'm going to break, and if that's all that happens
, that's okay.
That's the success.
The success is that he is still,I think, number six or seventh
shortest player ever to play inthe NBA Asian American.
He breaks these barriers andthat's kind of it.
He doesn't go on to have thislong, illustrious career and
(07:22):
that doesn't matter at all.
I'm sure that if he were withus right now, he wouldn't say,
well, I was kind of a failure, Ikind of burnt out.
Right.
Here's the goal, here's thefinish line.
I did this incredible thing.
I wanna talk about it in hisown humble way.
I understand from your tellingthat he's a very, very humble
man.
Don't you think there's amessage there that it's about
(07:44):
setting the goal, identifying,setting, reaching, achieving and
then being satisfied with that,and there doesn't have to be
more.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
Yeah, yeah, no, and I would say, actually I don't
think, probably in his mind thatbecoming a member of the NBA
was like the goal.
I think you talk about storiescoming to you.
I feel like this title is onethat just kind of came to me
what can't playing?
And for him I think it was justI'm gonna keep playing, I'm
gonna keep playing, I'm gonnakeep doing these things.
(08:14):
There's all these thingsagainst me, but I'm just going
to keep doing it and trying anddoing my best.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
But he had to know he was making history right and
naive to that.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
I think it was.
I mean, obviously he playedincredibly well.
Obviously he accomplished theseamazing things, but at the time
he became the first player ofcolor in the NBA the same year
that Jackie Robinson crossedthat line in Major League
Baseball.
But there wasn't a big hooplaabout what he said.
(08:45):
I think he said it wasn't a bigthing, nobody cared, and so I
don't know if he was, like, everthought that it would be this
historically significant moment.
In fact, I don't really thinkit was until kind of the turn of
the century.
Can you believe we call it theturn of the century now, but the
turn of this century thatpeople started acknowledging it,
and I think it was 2009, whenyou know it was really kind of
(09:07):
acknowledged in, you know,across the nation that he had
been that barrier breaker.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Yeah, so I think, to clarify I think I said first
Asian-American he was the firstplayer of color period, right?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
And at the time it was called the Basketball
Association of America, buteventually it became the NBA, so
yeah, I think it became the NBAthe very next year, didn't it?
Speaker 1 (09:28):
if I read that right.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Boo, I don't have the year with me and I'm afraid to
say that Come on, anthony, comeon.
It was, yeah, it was soon.
It was soon after that, but Ican't remember the exact year.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
So how did he spend?
He passed away in 2019,.
How did he spend those twilightyears of his life?
Speaker 2 (09:46):
You know he continued to play sports his whole life.
So you know, actually he was avery good baseball player.
I think in high school heplayed basketball.
I think he played baseball andfootball too, is my
understanding and then, afterthe NBA, he came back and was an
engineer for years and yearsand years well into well past
(10:09):
when most people retire and thenhe also was this really avid
bowler and he did that farlonger than he actually played
basketball.
But he just kept going andgoing with it and you know he
just kept playing.
You know that idea of he justkeep going with the things that
you wanna do In those goals,yeah, Love it.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
So okay, so you are.
You're standing in front of 500elementary school, you know, in
some school district somewherein America, and you've just got
20 seconds to tell them why thebook and more importantly what
(10:52):
kept playing, why this storymatters not then, but today, in
this world.
We're living in 2024, why dothese young people need this
story in their lives?
Speaker 2 (11:09):
What I want them to know is that, no matter what
other people think about you andno matter what other people
think you should do, you canpursue the things you want to
pursue.
He's not the typical basketballplayer in any way not in height
, not in race, not in familybackground, nothing.
(11:35):
He challenged all thosebarriers and became this person
he wanted to be.
I think that they can do thattoo.
I think every kid can.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Yeah, I love that.
I love that I can see why youwrite for kiddos and why you
feel sort of drawn there.
What is next for you?
The book releases March 5,although we have heard that it
might be a little early for myfew folks.
You might even see it somewhere, but the official date is March
(12:06):
5 and it's going to blow up andbe huge.
I have no doubt what comes next.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
I'm working on another novel.
I have YA novel out beneath thewide-silk sky and I'm working
on another one of those.
And, oh, wrestling with it.
Sometimes books are easier thanother times and right now I'm
wrestling, I know the wrestle.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Well, it's a part of that creative process.
The books that you wrestle themost tend to be the ones that
really resonate with readers andI think they appreciate very
much the wrestle.
I was talking to an author atBEA Book Expo, america years ago
(12:53):
, which I don't think existsanymore, at least not as a
traditional trade showconvention.
But we're in New York and we'rechatting and it was the first
time we'd met and he had a bookthat had gone nuts and we were
chatting a little bit about kindof that origin story and he
said you know, I wrote thisthing in like 10 days, like it
was the easiest thing I've done.
(13:14):
I just sat down and it justthere it was.
He's like I almost feel guiltyat how easy it was and I said
maybe don't tell a lot ofaspiring writers that story, or
even readers for that matter,because they love.
I love knowing.
You know, I interviewed, uh, uh,steve Wilkinson.
Um, folks can catch thatinterview in a week or two, but
(13:37):
he's been working on this book.
It's phenomenal and it's a 15year passion project for him.
Um, a nonfiction book on thisbalance between faith and
science that I think people arereally gonna love.
But 15 years of his life, blood, sweat and tears into this
nonfiction title.
And so I compare that to myfriend at BEA a decade ago.
I was saying, yeah, it justkind of fell out of me.
(13:59):
And I actually had a friend, um, who writes romance, who for a
while we shared the same agentand she went home on Friday from
her day job and on the subwayin New York city had an idea for
a new romance novel and she wasalready under contract for a
different project and she wrotethat thing between Friday on the
(14:21):
subway heading home and Mondaymorning and sent it back into
her agent and at the time Mondaymorning is, the doors were
opening.
So in in two full days and afew hours on the two others, she
wrote a full 80,000 wordmanuscript.
Yeah, I can't wrap my headaround that.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
So I love the.
I'm so jealous.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I know, I know, I know, I know.
Well, you know what, with uh,with AI and chat, gpt and all
that, no one's going to bewriting real books anymore, are
they?
Speaker 2 (14:54):
I don't know, I I got one of those, um, those word
trackers on my computer.
It tells you how many words youwrite, and I tend to be someone
who writes and then I erase,and write, and erase and it
doesn't count if you erase itright.
And it told me that I waswriting 28 words an hour and I I
got rid of that app.
I did not want to know anymore.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Oh, that's hilarious.
I, I track, I track my wordcount um by hour and it, it, can
, it can range.
Let me tell you a range, and Iwish people could see the zoom,
because you are, you are abright, hopeful, happy, joyful
person, and every son oh, thankyou.
Speaker 2 (15:34):
That's so nice of you .
No, it's true.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
You look like the kind of person people want to be
around, because you make themfeel like you know what it's all
going to be okay.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Well, I do believe that.
I do believe, you know, and Ithink that's something that, um,
I really admire about Mr Misakatoo.
He was the kind of person whomade you just, you know, even
looking back at some of the hardthings that happened to him, he
was always, he's always had, apositive outlook, so yeah, Well,
that's a great place to wrap.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
May we all have such a positive outlook as what and
Emily.
Oh, by the way, we should shoutout your illustrator real quick
before we go, oh yeah, I loveK-King and she is, um, someone
that I've never met.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I sent her thank you one time, but that's all.
That's all.
It's someone that the publisherjust picked for me.
But, man, I'm so grateful forthese illustrations that just oh
, it's my first time with anillustrated book and it just
brings it to another level andit's better than anything you
could have thought it would be.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
Yeah, it's a unique style.
I love it.
It's very different, I think,than what most folks might be
used to seeing, particularly inthe contemporary world.
You go into Barnes and Nobleand you look at the bestselling
children's books and this is themost, this will be the most
unique, I think, illustratorbook that you see.
Even just in the cover it hasthis really cool old school um,
(16:57):
I mean, it almost looks like itwas drawn in 1947, 48 a month.
It's lovely, so shout out toher for her work.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
I really appreciate it.
Yeah, I'm really grateful.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Well, we are grateful to have had you on the show.
What a fun book.
We will put links to you andyour good work and this book and
your other books, of course, inthe show notes.
I invite people to follow yourwork to pick the book up.
Thank you again, emily.
You're the best.
Let's do this with your nextbook, shall we?
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah, I love that.
Thank you so much.
We'll tell you.
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