Southern Yellow Pine Publishing - grace grits and gardening

Yesterday I worked farmer’s hours editing The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee. 5:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. That’s a long day with 117,822 words. I took a quick break for lunch at my desk, walked the dogs at least twice, and in the afternoon, I raked leaves for thirty minutes to clear my mind. This morning I’m giving a shout out to the editors who have worked on my book—a good editor is more than worth her weight in gold or good bourbon or homemade pizza or whatever deemed valuable. Editors find needle-in-haystack errors, as well as huge problems, like plot nonsense and timeline confusion.

One thing this process has taught me is that my knowledge of punctuation isn’t as strong as I thought. Continue Reading

I have the best news! And if it’s possible to truly walk on sunshine, I’m doing it. Yesterday, I signed a publishing contract with SYP Publishing, a Florida press that specializes in southern authors. Someone pinch me. I have a publisher.

I love the way those four little words feel in my mouth and melt on the tip of my tongue like old-fashioned butter mints, the sort served in a crystal compote at baby showers and weddings.

Know the mints I mean?

♫♫ Wonderful feeling, wonderful day! ♪♫

I plan to enjoy the floating-on-cloud-nine-feeling for as long as it lasts. And, yes, the clichés are flowing in this post, but I can’t help myself. The air is light, the sun is bright, and the view is brilliant.

Right this very second, I want to thank every single person who reads my writing (on-line and print) at Grace Grits, Front Porch Magazine, Winthrop Rockefeller Institute Blog, OnlyinArkansas(dot)com and wherever else I am lucky enough to finagle an article. I am especially grateful to those who stop me in Wal-Mart or tell my Momma at church how much they enjoy my writing. This often keeps me going, and having a following, however modest, has helped me obtain a publishing contract. I truly believe this.