One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2022!

Tara M. Stringfellow

“Readers will come to see that Stringfellow is demonstrating the erratic movements of history, the false starts and reversals and, yes, the moments of progress that are reflected in our haphazard march toward realizing King’s vision for America. . . . With her richly impressionistic style, Stringfellow captures the changes transforming Memphis in the latter half of the 20th century.”—The Washington Post

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • READ WITH JENNA BOOK CLUB PICK AS FEATURED ON TODAY • A spellbinding debut novel tracing three generations of a Southern Black family and one daughter’s discovery that she has the power to change her family’s legacy.

“A rhapsodic hymn to Black women.”—The New York Times Book Review

“I fell in love with this family, from Joan’s fierce heart to her grandmother Hazel’s determined resilience. Tara Stringfellow will be an author to watch for years to come.”—Jacqueline Woodson, New York Times bestselling author of Red at the Bone

ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2022—Oprah Daily, Essence, Glamour, Business Insider, Marie Claire, The Millions, She Reads, Book Riot, Bad Form

Who is the author every one is talking about?

She is Tara M. Stringfellow. A Southern Storyteller. Stringfellow is a poet, former attorney, Northwestern University MFA graduate, and semifinalist for the Fulbright Fellowship. Tara M. Stringfellow has written for Collective Unrest, Minerva Rising, Jet Fuel Review, WomensArts Quarterly Journal, and Apogee Journal, among other publications. After having lived in Okinawa, Ghana, Chicago, Cuba, Spain, Italy, and Washington DC, she moved back home to Memphis, where she sits on her porch swing every evening with her hound, Huckleberry, listening to records and chatting with neighbors.

What is her book, Memphis about?

Summer 1995: Ten-year-old Joan, her mother, and her younger sister flee her father’s explosive temper and seek refuge at her mother’s ancestral home in Memphis. This is not the first time violence has altered the course of the family’s trajectory. Half a century earlier, Joan’s grandfather built this majestic house in the historic Black neighborhood of Douglass—only to be lynched days after becoming the first Black detective in the city. Joan tries to settle into her new life, but family secrets cast a longer shadow than any of them expected.

As she grows up, Joan finds relief in her artwork, painting portraits of the community in Memphis. One of her subjects is their enigmatic neighbor Miss Dawn, who claims to know something about curses, and whose stories about the past help Joan see how her passion, imagination, and relentless hope are, in fact, the continuation of a long matrilineal tradition. Joan begins to understand that her mother, her mother’s mother, and the mothers before them persevered, made impossible choices, and put their dreams on hold so that her life would not have to be defined by loss and anger—that the sole instrument she needs for healing is her paintbrush.

Unfolding over seventy years through a chorus of unforgettable voices that move back and forth in time, Memphis paints an indelible portrait of inheritance, celebrating the full complexity of what we pass down, in a family and as a country: brutality and justice, faith and forgiveness, sacrifice and love.

Be sure and follow Tara at: https://www.tarastringfellow.com/

REJECTION AND THE WRITING LIFE—WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?

By Alice Faye Duncan

All writers suffer the same nemesis. Rejection! When a book goes to print, so often another manuscript returns with a note exalting your talents without the offer to publish. Or maybe like toast, rejection arrives dry with a perfunctory, “Thank you.” Whatever the case, writers must learn to endure stinking wounds of rejection with egos intact and pens still poised to write. How is this done? Jesus is an example.  

The Master Teacher suffered a barrage of rejection.  Friends left him in a lurch and despite the denial—He maintained determination. Jesus practiced 5 habits to overcome rejection. These same habits will fuel your writing when faced with naysayers. So, what did Jesus do? He practiced gratitude, silence, benevolence, forgiveness and tenacity.

Gratitude helps every writer WIN.  When publishing opportunities are few, focus on the goodness in your present tense. What is good about your life right now? Give thanks for that. Jesus consistently turned his focus up and out toward the horizon with a “Thank You, Father,” on his lips. Like King David, perhaps you should also play music. Raise the volume. Dance. Celebrate past victories and call them by name. Let gratitude’s joy rest on you. Then sit down and write.

When Jesus was rejected and needed the support of Infinite Wisdom, he went to the mountains alone. Sometimes, all you need is YOU. Help for faulty plotting or drab dialogue is not always a book on craft. Dedicate a part of each day to silence.  Go within yourself to perceive the Divine. In your solitude on a couch or favorite chair, you will hear God direct your words with precision and power. But first, you must still your mind and make room and time to listen.

Rejection can twist a writer into knots of self-loathing.  Therefore, like Jesus, it is essential to lavish care on others.  Don’t brood over rejected manuscripts.  Rise up to be a hearth for the hurting.  When you wrangle attention off yourself, sharing with others shines light through clouds of rejection. Benevolence is a healing balm and the big-hearted always reap a harvest.

Besides serving alms, Jesus said that as we forgive others, we are also forgiven. The greatest feat is learning to forgive yourself for wasted time, misguided choices, and unsuccessful writing.  Remind yourself each day that rejection and shoddy drafts pave the road to successful writing.  As a creative, you refine your craft while composing poor sentences and bad rhymes. Don’t choke on unforgiving sentiments toward yourself.  Your life is a WIP.  Stay the course.

Yes! FINISH YOUR MASTERPIECE.  Understand that the stories you are seeking to tell are also seeking you. Be tenacious. Remain steadfast—even when editors sneer and agents say, “You are not a good fit for my list.” You might feel wounded and weary just like Jesus, but don’t quit until you achieve the Heavenly Vision. Write ON!

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Alice Faye Duncan writes books for children and adults. Her devotional meditations will appear in Guideposts’ MORNINGS WITH JESUS (2020).  She is also the author of HELLO SUNSHINE—5 HABITS TO ‘UNCLOUD’ YOUR DAY and Memphis, Martin and the Mountaintop.  Please visit her website www.alicefayeduncan.com

Rooted as a Southern Writer

By Claire Fullerton

Recently I was called a “Southern writer,” which tickled me silly because my latest novel takes place on the western coast of Ireland, and as I’ve spent the last year mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and creatively enmeshed in the magical land of my forebears, I had to take a step back and think about this classification.

I will say this: as a Southerner, I’m a dead giveaway. I speak in the regionally specific, rolling tones of what’s known as the Delta accent. All my childhood friends do, because the Delta accent is passed down generationally along with the family china; it’s a tribal source of identification, lyrically revelatory of one’s place in the world. And a Southerner is definitely tethered to a place in the world, and there are many Southern loyalists who stand fiercely beside them no matter the change of venue or the passage of years.

The fact is I grew up along the bluffs of the Mississippi River, in a town so peacock proud of its place that it gave itself the moniker “The River City” and fashioned a bridge to stretch across that legendary watercourse in the shape of the letter “M” as if staking claim of ownership in skywriting. Memphis is a city with every right to be proud of its legendary artists, yet it is its artists that extol their affiliation with the historic city. I am not perplexed by this; I think I know exactly why.

If you come from Memphis, you’re a thread in a particular fabric, and its people will never let you go. You could move to Mongolia and put down roots, but no Memphian would ever take it seriously. I happen to know this without question: although I am now long in California, I am still in the flow of a rhythm gifted to me at birth. When something of significance happens in Memphis, I am connected to a grapevine that makes its vibrant livewire straight to me. In a land where you’re indelibly one of us, what happens to one affects us all, world without end, amen.

But it’s not any different in Ireland. After spending a year there followed by subsequent visits, I started to feel I was Irish myself. I grew compatible with the region and comfortable with the Irish culture—so much so that there’s a part of me cordoned away that sees the world through Irish eyes.

I think a writer has to be fluid with the idea of wearing different hats. I think they have to possess the ability to slide in chameleon-like to whatever grabs their fancy and immerse themselves fully until it resonates. If they do, they can get about the business of doing what they do best and put the experience into words.

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Claire Fullerton is the author of “Dancing to an Irish Reel” (Literary Fiction) and “A Portal in Time,” (Paranormal Mystery), both from Vinspire Publishing.  She is an award winning essayist, a contributor to magazines, a five time contributor to the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book series, and a former newspaper columnist. Claire grew up in Memphis, TN and now lives in Malibu, CA with her husband, two German shepherds and one black cat. Currently, she is writing her third novel, about a Southern family. She has appeared recently on Author Visits blog hosted by Susan Reichert editor-in-chief of Southern Writers Magazine. She can be found on social media at https://www.facebook.com/clairefullertonauthor?ref=hl  and http://www.clairefullerton.com/

Spring Has Sprung...Has Your Writing Sprung?

By Annette Cole Mastron, Communications Director for Southern Writers Magazine

Yesterday's weather was an invigorating start to Spring. There is no turning back the calendar. Spring arrived as scheduled. Hibernation time is over. Winter is over. 

As I'm writing this post, two birds are chirping their hearts out just outside my sunny desk window. It's as if their tune signals "wake up and get moving". In Spring, more than any other season, it's time to awaken your brain. Get all those words you have been mulling over onto paper. 

Signs of spring are evident everywhere. Memphis's cityscape has sprung to life, seemingly overnight. Tulip, Dogwood, and Bartlett Pear trees are in full bloom. Sunny yellow Forsythia bushes burst open in all their beauty. Buttercups and surprise lilies appear through the dead drab winter grass. The Spring rebirth reminds me that new beginnings abound. Is it time to renew your writing?

One of the easiest ways to renew your writing is to stop your current piece. Set it aside, temporarily. Yes, we all have deadlines but hear me out. Let your current project rest for just a little bitty bit. Now, start a new piece. Enter a short story contest. Do something different. You may be astonished by the results. When you hit the submit button, go back to your winter project. Those problem areas that had you in a winter slump may magically disappear and spring you forward to completion.

Yes, I know not everyone has weather that is Spring like. In fact the local TV weatherman just announced our area is under a winter snow storm watch for tomorrow. In the words of Mark Twain, "In the Spring, I have counted 136 different kinds of weather inside of 24 hours." Snow may return, but I know Spring is here. I'm taking my own advice and writing a 2000 word short story. 

Let's face it. The weather may not cooperate with the fact that Spring is here. As Henry Van Dyke stated, "The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month." But know it's coming so plan to be sprung by Spring this year. Change your writing project which will recharge the winter hibernation of your brain.

"Spring is the time of plans and projects." -Leo Tolstoy in "Anna Karenina"