Me and The Chanticleer Reviews Conference

By Claire Fullerton

My writer’s life is an insular life. Months are stretched together wherein I look for a reason to schedule opportunities outside my office, in an attempt at leaving my desk to live a balanced life. It’s not that I’m unduly obsessed with my work, it’s only that I recognize the merits of seeing a project through once I’ve started. I’ve heard it said that once one begins a writing project, it’s best to work on it every day, lest a break in the work changes one’s voice. I do write every day, yet every so often I take the opportunity to attend a writer’s conference, which does me good because it gets me out in the “real world.” Always the adventure is worth the logistics of setting aside my work, packing, getting to the airport, and staying in what feels like a beehive for three days or more.

I recently returned from the Chanticleer Reviews Conference in Bellingham, Washington. Bellingham is a short enough journey from my home in Malibu, California. When I received the news that my book, Mourning Dove, was a finalist in the Chanticleer contest, I reviewed the conference’s online schedule, considered that Bellingham and Malibu are on the same time zone, and decided it would be well worth my while to attend the conference. 

There are great advantages to attending a writer’s conference. Everyone who attends is there for the same reason. Though authors who write in different genres are assembled, we all share the same passions and interests. Writers conferences are geared toward imparting information that pertains to the craft and business of writing. It is one thing to read about this in a book or online, and quite another to listen to individual speakers address subjects ranging from writing a series, to character development, to book marketing and promotion, and the current trends in publishing. When a personality is front and center, and the audience is invited to ask questions, a writer’s conference is a great opportunity to learn as well as compare notes about how we as writers engage with our career.

And then there’s the social aspect to attending a writer’s conference.  A writer is gifted with meeting fellow authors from different parts of the country. It is typical for authors who have books out in the world to cross paths with each other on social media, and through this, relationships are formed in cyberspace yet all there is to go on are pictures. Meeting fellow authors in person solidifies a sense of writer’s community, and when a conference holds a contest, the camaraderie is intensified by an award ceremony. In the case of the Chanticleer conference, a fully-realized banquet was held in the beautiful ballroom of the historic Hotel Bellwether, and the festive, water-front atmosphere was the perfect setting to handle the suspense followed by heartfelt congratulations as awards in fourteen categories were announced. 

I spent three days at the breathtaking Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Washington listening to one speaker after another alongside a jury of my peers. The conference was organized and eye-opening. It was a wonderful place to meet fellow authors and the information I acquired invigorated my enthusiasm for staying the course of my writing career.

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Claire Fullerton is from Memphis, TN., and now lives in Malibu, CA. She is the author of Mourning Dove, a Southern family saga set in the genteel side of Memphis. Mourning Dove is the 2018 Literary Classics Words on Wings award winner for Book of the Year. It is the 2018 bronze medal winner for Southern Fiction by Readers’ Favorite, a finalist in the 2018 Independent Authors Network Book of the Year, and was listed in the International Faulkner Society’s 2018 William Wisdom competition in the novel category. Claire is the author of Kindle Book Review’s 2016 award for Cultural Fiction, Dancing to an Irish Reel, and paranormal mystery, A Portal in Time. She contributed to the book, A Southern Season: Four Stories from a Front Porch Swing, with her novella, Through an Autumn Window. Her work has appeared in Southern Writers Magazine, and was listed in 2017 and 2018 in their Top Ten Short Stories of the Year. Claire’s work has appeared in The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature; Celtic Life International; The Wild Geese, and The Glorious Table. The manuscript for her next novel, Little Tea, is a finalist in the 2018 Faulkner Society’s William Wisdom competition.  She is represented by Julie Gwinn of The Seymour Literary Agency.          

The Pulpwood Queens and Me

By Claire Fullerton, author of Mourning Dove

For the uninitiated, first I’ll answer the question, “What in the world is meant by the Pulpwood Queens?” Thank you for asking. The Pulpwood Queens is a book club. It is the brain-child of one fabulous woman from Texas, Kathy L. Murphy, a painter and hair stylist who owned a salon in Jefferson, Texas, worked as a publisher’s rep until she lost the job, and, rather than lying down, bounced back by consolidating her talents. She opened Beauty and the Book, the world’s only combined hair salon and bookstore. From there, she founded The Pulpwood Queens of East Texas Book Club, which exploded into a nation-wide success. Today, The Pulpwood Queens has 765 book club chapters comprised of the most enthusiastically dedicated readers under the sun. I know this because many of the book club members showed up last weekend in Jefferson, Texas for the annual Pulpwood Queens Girlfriends Weekend. They brought their giddy-up in their get-along, wore tiaras and full costume for 2019’s How the West was Won theme, and, for the first time, I was there as a featured author. I will tell you in no uncertain terms that the weekend was the Mardi Gras of the book world. Three days of back-to-back panels comprised of authors introducing themselves and their latest work to a rapt audience of readers eager to discover new books. And in the middle of it, Kathy Murphy: the hub of the wheel, the Pulpwood Queen herself, her magnanimous heart on her sleeve in the middle of her mother-hen joy.

The Pulpwood Queens Girlfriends Weekend was an organized, over-the-top, combined book and love-fest. It’s not so easy to corral unbridled enthusiasm into a manageable space, though we all made the trip to Texas for the same reason. We came to fraternize with each other in an arena without hierarchy. We were there because we love books, the people who write them, and all those who read. All this reported, there was a plan. There was structure, lest the two hundred or more participants melt into a fawning, neck-hugging puddle of ecstasy over meeting a long-admired author in person for the first time, or someone known only through Facebook, now within arm’s reach.  For months prior, Kathy Murphy’s right-hand administrator, Tiajuana Anderson Neel, sent notice via social media about what to expect from the weekend and when. She posted a list of recommended lodging, suggested costumes, and shared the weekend’s schedule of events on the Pulpwood Queens Website, where she instructed all authors on how to donate an item pertaining to their book, for silent auction, whose proceeds were to benefit everyone’s favorite non-profit, The Pat Conroy Literary Center, in Beaufort, South Carolina.   

On a personal note, I wasn’t going to miss this. No fire, torrential rain, nor threat of mudslide could keep me from leaving Malibu, California and making my way to LAX. I was going to Jefferson, Texas on January 17, if I had to walk, spurred by the fire of anticipation over a three-day book festival aimed at mingling authors and readers.  Every second it took to get from Malibu to Atlanta to Shreveport then make the forty-nine- minute drive into Jefferson, Texas was worth it, and I knew it for what it was when I checked into the Excelsior House Hotel.

I’d be hard-pressed to envision a better backdrop for a book festival than Jefferson, Texas. Everything in the historic town was within walking distance to the convention center, where the party was held. Ambling down the spacious sidewalk on my way to the opening ceremony, I passed restaurants, a coffee shop, and the fully-realized General Store, which had a sign out front reading, “Welcome to the Pulpwood Queens.” It seemed the entire town was behind Girlfriends Weekend. So much so, that even Jefferson’s mayor showed up. Local shops contributed discount codes to the weekend’s attendees, and area restaurants remained open long past their closing schedule because word of the weekend’s festivities was all over the streets.

One foot inside the convention center, and the party was in full-swing. People milled about in cowboy hats and tiaras, smiling ear-to-ear, wearing boots. It was like being in a bee-hive holding the reins of a live wire, until the introduction of each featured author ensued, and the eight Southern Writers on Writing panelists took the stage, then the entire room suddenly felt like being in church. The audience was riveted as each of the panelists shared their thoughts on what it means to be a writer—a Southern writer, certainly, yet the breadth and scope of the discussion was also far-reaching, setting the tone for the following two days.

To bare witness to authors, nationally known and otherwise, talking about the premise of their books was a study in the passionate fires that lead a writer to pick up a pen in the first place. Throughout the weekend, there were key-note speakers that brought down the house: Revis Wortham, Paula McClain, Ann Weisgarber, Ann Wertz Garvin, Lisa Wingate, River Jordan, and we were all thrilled by the repeated participation of author Patti Callahan Henry, who appeared wearing a black, bouffant wig as the singer, June Carter Cash. One after another, Kathy Murphy moderated panels, giving a forum to authors who introduced themselves and their books in what seemed an intimate setting. Primarily, the Pulpwood Queens Girlfriends Weekend is geared toward readers; it was to them that each author gave their all, before taking a position at a table to shake hands and sign their book.

A highlight of Girlfriends Weekend was the group that came from Beaufort, South Carolina to share the stories about beloved author, Pat Conroy, who was written about in a series of essays assembled in the engaging book, Our Prince of Scribes. Pat Conroy, many knew, was a proponent of and participant in Girlfriends weekend. On the last day of the weekend, the pillars of The Pat Conroy Literary Center gave a talk about Conroy, with an attendant video that touched the hearts of everyone in the room.

Girlfriends Weekend concluded with a party unlike any other. Billed as The Big Hair Ball, it was all that and more. I’ve never seen such thought go into a bevy of costumes aimed at a western theme: cows, Indians, a pioneer woman, Annie Oakley, outrageous wigs, studded cowboy hats, and a mustache to rival actor Sam Elliot’s swirled on the dance floor in a celebratory vortex to the beats ranging from country to disco to pop.

The Pulpwood Queens Girlfriends Weekend was simultaneously an education and a blast. I’m thinking I made life-long friends there, in a jury of my peers. Three days in a weekend that felt too short by half, the first thing I did when I got home was mark my calendar for next year’s Pulpwood Queens Girlfriends Weekend.

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Claire Fullerton is from Memphis, TN., and now lives in Malibu, CA. She is the author of Mourning Dove, a Southern family saga set in the genteel side of Memphis. Mourning Dove is the 2018 Literary Classics Words on Wings award winner for Book of the Year. It is the 2018 bronze medal winner for Southern Fiction by Readers’ Favorite, a finalist in the 2018 Independent Authors Network Book of the Year, and was listed in the International Faulkner Society’s 2018 William Wisdom competition in the novel category. Claire is the author of Kindle Book Review’s 2016 award for Cultural Fiction, Dancing to an Irish Reel, and paranormal mystery, A Portal in Time. She contributed to the book, A Southern Season: Four Stories from a Front Porch Swing, with her novella, Through an Autumn Window. Her work has appeared in Southern Writers Magazine, and was listed in 2017 and 2018 in their Top Ten Short Stories of the Year. Claire’s work has appeared in The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature; Celtic Life International; The Wild Geese, and The Glorious Table. The manuscript for her next novel, Little Tea, is a finalist in the 2018 Faulkner Society’s William Wisdom competition.  She is represented by Julie Gwinn of The Seymour Literary Agency. 

 

Hey, Reese Witherspoon Book Club, I’ve Got a Book for You

By Annette Cole Mastron, Communications Director for Southern Writers Magazine

Did you know actress, Reese Witherspoon, is an author and started a book club in 2017? Her book, Whiskey in a Teacup, released in September. It is a must for anyone’s coffee table, Southern or not. It solves the mystery of why everything that doesn’t move in the south is monogrammed from flask to combs. There is a whole chapter on “The Magic of Sweet Tea,” our blog title’s play on words. Here is a Southern Living Magazine link with more information on her book. I sat in our local Barnes & Noble and flipped through the beautiful pages of her book that I purchased for my daughter’s birthday. I was so delighted with each page that I texted my daughter who finally said “stop, Mom-I want to be surprised, too.” Confession, I’m buying my own copy for my coffee table.

In 2017, Reese started a book club called Hello Sunshine. You can check out all her recommendations. My daughter introduced me to Reese’s book club monthly picks. Thank you!

Reese’s newest book in her own words, “Ready for my first book pick of 2019?! This month, we’re reading The Library Book by Susan Orlean. This book is like a love letter to libraries, and made me nostalgic for the long hours I used to spend there when I was a kid. The story follows the investigation of the huge fire that destroyed the Los Angeles Public Library in 1986, and the mystery, history and people that surround it. It’s a captivating story and I can’t wait for y’all to read it with me!”  Susan Orlean is also the author of The Orchid Thief which was a fascinating read. I can’t wait to read The Library Book, but I’ll have to read it after my daughter, who ordered it first.

I’ve read 10 of Reese’s monthly picks and have loved them all. Her book club introduced me to authors that I was unfamiliar with like British author Ruth Ware. I devoured all of Ms. Ware’s books. They left me hungry for more. The books Reese picks tend to have a strong female protagonist with flaws that may or may not be resolved. The books also tend to be by authors who are wordsmiths of painting a vivid picture that plays like a movie in your mind’s eye. Maybe Reese is drawn to books that read more like a screenplay.

I recently read Mourning Dove by author, Claire Fullerton, her third book. It is an upmarket fiction book. After reading it in one sitting, I thought it would be the perfect fit for Reece’s monthly book pick. It’s a coming of age story set in Memphis in the 1970’s. One of my favorite quotes from Claire’s book states, “Your heart breaks only once in a lifetime. Every offense in its wake is only a variation of the original laceration. Only once can you say you have no frame of reference. Only once you're knocked to your knees by an intractable powerlessness, where the only option is surrender in listless defeat. Subsequent infractions are damaging in their own right, but they’re only a visitation of the original wound, which remains half-healed forever, with scar tissue that defines you for the rest of your life.” I found this passage to be so poetically descriptive, I know everyone can relate to their first heartbreak that forever changes one’s life.

My second favorite quote from Claire’s book is, “It’s life’s choices that scare me the most. Those critical crossroads that direct or redirect the course of a life. And what unsettles me to no end is the recognition that the choices that shape our lives are not always of our making. Sometimes we’re on the bitter end of somebody else’s.”  Ain’t that the truth, as we say in the South.

Claire has appeared as a guest author blog poster on this blog several times. She gives great insight for authors with her blog posts, “On Giving an Author's Speech” read it here at these links, “Writer’s Block...Nope,”  “CreativeSide?,”  “Rooted as a Southern Writer,” and  “Surprise at a Book Signing.” 

Claire will appear tomorrow on this blog and tell of her recent adventures at the weekend with the legendary Texas book club, The Pulpwood Queens. It’s definitely on my bucket list to attend after scheduling Claire’s guest author blog post. By the way, have you appeared on SWM’s blog, Suite T? It’s a great way to layer your branding if yourself as an author. Here is a link to the guidelines for submissions as a guest author on this blog.

Claire’s Story “Burn” was a finalist in Southern Writers Magazine’s 2017 contest. You can read “Burn”at this link. With a previous career as a DJ, Claire recorded Mourning Dove for the audio book release. She also provides the first chapter to pique readers, here is the link. Mourning Dove has been awarded finalist in both, The Independent Authors Network 2018 and Literary Classics Book of the Year 2018. It also received the 2018 Bronze Medal in the Southern Fiction for Readers’ Favorite Book Reviews and Awards Contest. The book was a semi-finalist in the 2017 Faulkner Society William Wisdom Contest.

After reading 10 of Reese’s monthly book picks, I have no idea how she picks her books. I do know a book like Mourning Dove would be a great fit for her “Hello Sunshine” book club. So hey, Reese Witherspoon Book Club, I’ve Got a Book for You!

It’s winter, so this is the perfect time to read, write a guest author blog post for Southern Writers Magazine, blog, Suite T and of course, write. We all know every good writer is a reader, first and foremost. 

Has anyone else read books on Reese Witherspoon’s book club? What are your favorites?

Can You Only Imagine?

By Annette Cole Mastron, Communications Director for Southern Writers Magazine

This week, I saw the excellent movie, I Can Only Imagine. It is the story of the writer and performer of the song of the same title. It is also about Bart Millard's, MercyMe's singer/songwriter, inspiration for the song. Quite literally, it is a David and Goliath story, with a twist. The songwriter learns forgiveness for his childhood monster, which includes his own personal Goliath, his father. Bart also witnesses his father’s redemption, a powerful message indeed.

In Bart’s story, there are 2 people highlighted who helped him along the way. One of them, an gifted music teacher in a small rural town, saw his talent when he didn’t even know he could sing. Another is a famous singer who unselfishly gave him back his song. These two individuals gave him their help which ultimately made Bart, and MercyMe, a success. This isn’t just a movie about Bart’s story. It’s also a movie about being in the right place, doing the right thing to help someone else’s dreams come true. It’s a theme we at Southern Writers Magazine, and especially this blog, believe in wholeheartedly. There’s a lesson in his story for us all. Giving your support to others, showing kindness and doing the right thing will ultimately lead to your own success. 

Author, Claire Fullerton has this philosophy, too. She writes amazing reviews of other authors books, all while writing her own books. She then shares these reviews on all her social media sites. She’s an author who is also a supporter and giver to other authors, and to her readers. 

My first introduction to Claire’s, Millie & Finley characters was in November 2016 in this short Christmas piece titled, A Place In The World, free to read at this link. Claire gave to readers a snippet of her characters at the The Dead Mule Society website. These characters have occupied a corner of my mind ever since 2016. I think of them from time to time, craving more of their story. Her third book Mourning Dove, with Millie & Finley’s story, releases in June. Well done, Claire Fullerton you have helped fellow authors and pre-marketed your book by introducing these memorable characters two years before the book releases. 

It costs nothing to help another author. Just show your kindness for a fellow author. Write a book review for a fellow author and watch your own success occur. In the comments, please share a book review you’ve written for a fellow author. If you’re a reader writing a review will help authors to stay motivated to continue honing their craft. Then, share it on your own social media links. 

You could even share this blog post which will include all the comments. Authors will appreciate your support, and readers will love finding out about your memorable characters and new books they can read. 

Success can occur if “YOU Can Only Imagine?

Writer’s Block…Nope

By Claire Fullerton

I don’t believe in writer’s block because I think everyone has their own writing process; the task is to honor it. When I begin a novel, I have a story to tell. My aim is not so much to entertain as to say something about the complexities of living through the art of story. I am fascinated in the deep-seated emotional life within all of us. 

I firmly believe most people hide a significant part of who they are. In my mind, there are many possibilities on why this is so: fear of not fitting in, or of being misunderstood; unreasonable expectations dictated by someone close and domineering; the weight of psychic and emotional baggage accrued from any number of avenues, or perhaps wanting to toe the line of status quo in the interest of cultural society. It’s our emotional life that shapes much of our fate, and I never underestimate its motivational significance. Because this is a subject that intrigues me, I weave it into all of my books, for I aim to tell more than a story; I like to give the reader suggestions on how the story came to be because I think we are all subject to cause and effect.

When I have a novel in mind, I know its beginning, middle, and end, which gives me a story line, yet I am more concerned with the book’s message. I go into writing a book with both considerations in play, and allow the book to breathe and grow. Because I realize that most of us play out our lives in contrast and comparison to other people, and that our lives are somehow reflective of the people, places and things around us, I use characters as triggers for cause and effect within the story. It is the interplay, the exchange between characters that gives a story meaning, and I’ll go one further to say it’s the characters in a book that show us who we are.

All this said I take my time in writing a novel because I believe it has its own life force.  I have yet to write anything wherein I did not pause and reflect in the process, which is exactly why I am not a believer in writer’s block. I believe the story is within me, flying around on the wings of inspiration, and my job is to let it make itself known in its own terms then put it into words in my own timeframe.

I’ve heard it said by some writers that even when they are not writing, they are writing in their head. This makes perfect sense to me, and it takes mineral patience and iron trust to finagle the weight. If a writer can do this, then it allows for a living, breathing work in progress to create itself, along with anything else attendant to their personal process. 

As for writer’s block, I never claim it; when in downtime, I only think I’m taking a breath.

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Claire Fullerton hails from Memphis, Tennessee and now lives in Malibu, California. She is the author of paranormal mystery, A Portal in Time, set in Carmel-by-the-Sea, and contemporary fiction, Dancing to an Irish Reel, set on the west coast of Ireland; both books published by Vinspire Publishing. Claire's third novel, Mourning Dove, is a Southern family saga set in Memphis. It will be published in June, 2018, by Firefly Southern Fiction. Her Social Media Links are: http://www.clairefullerton.com  Http://twitter.com/@cfullerton3  https://cffullerton.wordpress.com/

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