grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

I have a publisher!

By

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 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.

I'm floating on a cloud!

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.

I'm grateful!

More coming on this later, but for now, I have a publisher, and it feels like one of those Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah days!

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

And p.s. this is for the publication of my first novel…might help if I told you that:)

[tweetthis]Oh my stars, I have a publisher! @SYPPublishing @BookPeople @nightbirdbooks #AccidentalSalvationOfGracieLee [/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:

Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah (original)

 

 

on researching and writing and keeping it real

By

When I decided hey, I’m gonna write a book, I had no idea the amount of research that would be involved. Researching. Writing. Sitting around eating Jiffy Pop helps me keep it real. It’s all part of the deal I made when I set out on this adventure. One leads to another, Sunday melts into Monday, and shockingly it’s March. A year later. And I’m still working on “my book”. What began as memoir has morphed into fiction and taken me on a path I never imagined, even though I’m the person doing the imagining. Crazy how that works.

the someplace, Mississippi Co, Ar. Tate Farms

The setting for my story is part of me. The place I grew up during the time I grew up. 1972. And even though I lived that time and place, research is a big part of my project. Making sure I have the description, sound, smell, feel of a specific place or object accurate for 1972, that’s imperative. I want my readers to see through my eyes. Feel what I feel. Taste the Jiffy Pop.

Mark Twain said Don’t say the old lady screamed. Bring her on and let her scream. That’s what I’m trying to do. Letting the old lady to scream takes work and time and research and remembering.

A sample of the things I’ve researched the last few days: Watergate, Chinese finger trap, phases of the moon in 1972, Memphis cotton trade, Mark Spitz. Just your regular, run-of-the-mill, 1970s stuff.

Sometimes I listen to seventies music while I write. Sonny & Cher. Tony Orlando and Dawn. Marvin Gaye. Yes I do. That takes me back to my groovy cassette player as quickly as anything. (I loved that thing. I hated that thing. It ate more tape than it ever played.)

Saturday I even made Jiffy Pop. Jiffy Pop was a weekend tradition at our house. Shaking that pan over the flame, hearing the kernels sizzle, then seeing the foil expand like a balloon (more quickly than I remembered) made that memory as real as it could be forty years later, plus it was a fun snow day activity.

on researching and writing and keeping it real

On researching and writing. Jiffy Pop to keep it real. www.gracegritsgarden.com

Now, back to writing. If anyone needs me, knock three times on the ceiling, but only if you’re bleeding (to quote my friend Laurie Reichart).

Happy Monday.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]Writing, research and eating #JiffyPop to keep it real. #writingabook #fiction #1970s[/tweetthis]

Knock Three Times, Tony Orlando with Jimmy Fallon & Will Forte (sorry Dawn)

“The challenge of the writer is to transform—artistically and imaginatively—a unique personal experience into a universal, meaningful story.”

― Hillel F. Damron

Ernest Hemingway Wrote Here

By

Ernest Hemingway Wrote Here. Piggott, Ar

Hemingway’s Barn, Piggott, Arkansas

I am fortunate to be attending my fifth writer’s retreat at Hemingway-Pfeiffer Educational Center, a truly magical place not only because Ernest Hemingway wrote here(!) but because of the synergy created by the writers who gather.

This spot in Northeast Arkansas is hallowed—the trees, the grounds, the barn where he wrote a portion of A Farewell to Arms and other short stories. If you know me, you are rolling your eyes and saying, “Here she goes ago again.” Yes, I’ve written about this place before. And I likely will again.

Ernest Hemingway Wrote in this barn.

I am reminded of the reasons to attend a writer’s retreat. The benefits extend well beyond the words on the page. Each session is different, a result of the mentor-teacher and the student writers who bring different backgrounds, ideas, experiences, and voices to the table. We feel safe to share the truth and write our stories.

I imagine a swirl of creative color flowing over the room. Colors as bright as the fall leaves outside our window.

Although this group spans the nation from coast to coast with careers ranging from education, anthropology, military, and others, I am reminded of how alike we are in our upbringings, our dreams and desires, the things that touch us.

I am also reminded of our differences.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

 

 

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!