If there’s one thing Southern gals know how to do, it’s gab. Silly or serious, all it takes is a glass of iced tea and time. Pull up a chair, kick off your shoes, and make yourself comfy…get ready to dish!
Newbery Project: 1920s
Some time back, I began a project to read all of the books that have been awarded the Newbery Medal. After scanning the list of winners, I realized that I’d only read a dozen or so of the books, the earliest of which was written in 1949 (Marguerite Henry’s King of the Wind). So delving into the list at the beginning seemed a good way to tackle it. Unfortunately, a couple of ridiculously busy school years threw a giant roadblock into my progress, but I think I have my momentum back. For now, I’ll space out the posts...
read moreDigging for the Pony
Most of us have heard the story about the man who wanted to teach an optimist a lesson. He’d finally had enough of the optimist’s good nature, sunny outlook, and buoyant spirit. Frankly, the optimist bugged the living daylights out of him. So, he filled the optimist’s room with manure. Instead of freaking out (as most people would), the optimist grabbed a shovel and got to work. After all, the optimist reasoned, with all this manure, “There just has to be a pony in here somewhere!” Normally, I totally identify...
read moreFifteen Cool Authors
I don’t know how I missed this game on Facebook, but thanks to a Jaunty Quills post from my dear friend Nancy Robards Thompson, I’m stealing it. The Rules: list fifteen authors (poets included) who have influenced you and made an impression. Don’t take too long to think about it. List the first fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Dr. Seuss – This man taught me to love reading, as he did for most American children. Irresistible wordplay, humor, and wisdom, packaged with loopy, over-the-top...
read moreOdd Couplings, Book Version
This post at Bookriot is one of the best things I’ve read in a while. It’s a listing of the Top Ten Made-Up Literary Couples, with explanations of why the two belong together. With pairings like Jane Eyre/Rhett Butler, Katniss Everdeen/Aragorn, and Bella Swan/Lestat, how can you miss? Reading a post like this makes you think of the possibilities. How about these? Guy Montag and Belle (Beauty and the Beast) – Okay, cheating a little since she’s a movie character, but she’s drawn to tortured, guilty souls and...
read moreYou Ain’t No ‘Lectric Elephant
I grew up in awe of my maternal grandmother. A farmer’s daughter, she rarely had idle time. Nearly every hour of the day, she was busy—cooking, managing the books for the farm, making phone calls, volunteering at the church—and that was when she was retired! This is a woman who woke every morning at the ungodly hour of 5:30 am (so I thought then; I’ve since discovered I share her love of early mornings) and often had a pound cake cooling on the counter by the time the rest of us stumbled groggily into the kitchen. I can’t imagine how her...
read moreFirst Footings
New Year’s Day is a big deal in the Scottish culture. Trust me, you haven’t partied until you’ve done it with people in kilts and bagpipes. “Auld Lang Syne” was written by Robert Burns, remember? Hogmanay, as the celebration is called, has a number of traditions, but one of the most fun is the First Footing. According to Scottish tradition, the first person to cross the threshold of your home in the new year will determine the kind of year you’ll have. Well, I’m not combing my friends list to find a tall, dark-headed male in the...
read moreMerry Christmas!
One of my favorite moments of Christmas is proceeding into a candlelit sanctuary on Christmas Eve, singing “Of the Father’s Love Begotten” accompanied only by handbells. That moment encompasses the mystery and hopefulness of Christmas. May you all have a day filled with many blessings! Of the Father’s love begotten, Ere the worlds began to be, He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, the ending He, Of the things that are, that have been, And that future years shall see, Evermore and evermore! O ye heights of heaven...
read moreWriters Behaving Badly
Years ago, when I first started writing, I bought a copy of Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women, a collection of scholarly essays about the appeal of the romance novel edited by bestselling author Jayne Ann Krentz. You see, reading romances was bad enough. Wanting to write them was tantamount to spitting in the Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey and betraying all my hard work as an English major. Reading dreck like romances required that I turn over my Mensa card immediately and scurry back to the respectable fiction aisle. But what exactly...
read moreThanks and Giving
I’m sitting at my kitchen table, the smells of fresh bread permeating the air. Nearby are sleeping dogs and a happy family. In a bit, we’ll drive over the river and through the woods to one of the grandmother’s houses (my sister’s MIL). We will have plenty to eat today, plenty to laugh about, plenty to share. This weekend will bring the Florida-Florida State game, Wicked’s Chex Mix, my Daddy, dinner with my sisters, and a meal with the men at the Fresh Start ministry downtown. If we’re lucky, we’ll also have some quiet time and even a nap....
read moreI’m a Mean One
Unless you grew up under a rock, you recognize this image from the incomparable How the Grinch Stole Christmas holiday special, characters by the inimitable Dr. Seuss, animation and direction by the peerless Chuck Jones. I am totally feeling the Grinch as he stares balefully down on Whoville right now. I’m sitting in a Starbucks and getting blasted by Christmas music. Note the date above. We haven’t even, to quote the Coneheads, “consumed mass quantities.” No turkey coma. No football immersion. No Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (best moment...
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