The Friday 5: Blurbs, Books, and back to regular life

The kids went back to school this week–woohoo! It was a “short” week, meaning four days of school instead of five (and two instead of three for my preschooler) but the parental readjustment to making lunches and getting myself dressed before 8 more than made up for whatever shortness the school people intended. I have to say though–at the end of this holiday break, I wasn’t as at the end of my rope as I have been in the past. The girls (age 6 and 3.5) played together more and better than ever before. Sure, they were often dancing on the fine line between total contentment and total angry hysteria, but they stayed on the right side of that line more than the wrong side. So for that, I was hugely thankful.
Anyway, end of babbling. The Friday 5…

1. Nothing is really happening yet with The Hideaway (book #1), but in February, I think we (me + my “team” at HarperCollins/Thomas Nelson) will start to talk about preliminary marketing things. My agent suggested I come up with a list of authors we could contact for blurbs and/or endorsements for my book. This is a wee bit uncomfortable (basically asking for praise) but I think it’ll be part of the job, so I better get used to it. And all authors do it, and probably all authors get asked to do it, so it won’t be anything new. I’ve put together a list of people I’d like to contact–some are total pie-in-the-sky authors who could possibly just sniff at me, and some are a little more accessible, and hopefully more likely to be willing to help. Or who knows, maybe those big-time authors will take it as a chance to help out a little writer like me.

Every since I heard a writer tell the story of how she asked Fannie Flagg to write a blurb for her book and Fannie basically told her to write the blurb herself and she’d sign off on it, I’ve been sort of wishy-washy about blurbs. They don’t necessarily make me buy a book, but I know they are important to some readers, as in, “If Danielle Steele/John Grisham/E.L. James says this is a good book, then by golly, I’m gonna read it.” For those readers, it’ll be nice to have some authors who write similar types of southern fiction to say nice things about my book. And if, I don’t know, let’s say Rick Bragg happens to read my book and has anything even remotely positive to say about it, that’d be okay by me.

2. I just today signed up for Hoover library’s Southern Voices book festival. If you’ve never been and you like books and you live anywhere bear Birmingham, you should come to it. They have a handful of authors who speak every year and I promise you, it’s interesting whether or not you’re a writer. These are great writers, but also great speakers. I’m most excited to hear Tom Franklin and Beth Ann Fennelly, the husband/wife team who wrote The Tilted World, about the 1927 flood in Mississippi. Beth Ann is a poet and Tom is a novelist. (Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is one of my favorites.) I’m also looking forward to hearing Laura Lane McNeal, author of Dollbaby. I haven’t read this yet, but it takes place in New Orleans, so that automatically makes me a fan. (I love New Orleans and part of The Hideaway takes place there.) But the cool thing is, after Katrina came through and wrecked things, Laura took a different direction with her life and decided to pursue her passion of writing. Dollybaby is her debut and it’s gotten a LOT of attention. I’m hoping to glean lots of wisdom and inspiration from her.

As a side note, I planned to attend the Friday night talk with Erik Larson. He writes nonfiction that reads like fiction–like supercharged, edge-of-your-seat fiction. Pick up Dead Wake or Devil in the White City (or probably any of his others) and you won’t be able to put it down. I got online at 9:02 to order tix (they went on sale at 9.) I went through the whole payment system on my phone, entered my info, got all the way to the end, then got a message that said payment didn’t go through due to a problem with the system and to please try again in a few moments. Well, a few moments later I was working my rear off in YCross, so I waited an hour until class was over. And Friday night was sold out. (Sad face.)


quote

quote

3. For those of you following what’s going on with my mom, she’s just finishing up her fourth out of six week-long chemo treatments. She’ll go home tomorrow for what we hope and pray is two weeks of rest, good food, relaxation, and visits with friends and family before she goes back in for her fifth week of inpatient chemo. Cancer is bad. Chemo is bad (I mean, it’s good, but seriously, it’s so bad). But I read something today that offered some calm:It’s really hard to not worry, not FRET, not be anxious. But that’s what Jesus tells us to do. DO NOT worry. DO NOT be anxious. It’s hard, but we try.

4. My friend Anne Riley has written a children’s book based on the story of a family friend of hers. It’s beautifully written and illustrated, and it will be released in the next couple of weeks. As Anne says in her press release, “Inspired by a real-life family, Voyage to the Star Kingdom is a vivid reminder that our stories don’t end in death, and that the King is indeed making all things new.”


star voyage

star voyage

Here’s the gorgeous cover: 

This is her blog post that tells all about the book and the family that inspired it. Rather than me paraphrasing everything, just read it from her. Heads up, you may need some tissues.

(And PS, Anne is also a YA writer and her second book PULL is coming out in FEBRUARY! I’ve already preordered it on Amazon!)


tami-and-eric-taylor

tami-and-eric-taylor

5. Eric and Tami Taylor have the best marriage that’s ever been on TV, I’m convinced. A real, honest, loving, patient, selfless, imperfect but hardworking marriage. That’s not common. Long live Mr and Mrs. Coach Taylor. (And the Dillon Panthers.) 

See y’all next week.

Leave a Comment