November 30, 2022 | Issue #121 |
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Latest News From "The Fab Four"
Patti Callahan Henry enjoyed a Lowcountry Thanksgiving with her family, and is now back at home preparing for a trip to New York City with her husband this weekend! She’ll be there for the lights, the window-shopping, publisher meetings, a look at the Rockefeller tree, and a Broadway musical. How many things can she fit in 48 hours? She is preparing her pre-order package for ya’ll while also trying to hang the garland, which is right now all cattywumpus – but who needs perfect?
Kristy Woodson Harvey had the most fun Thanksgiving celebrating with family and getting the house ALL decorated. She can’t wait for this weekend for the local tree lighting, the Christmas parade and—her favorite—the flotilla boat parade!
What Kristy Woodson Harvey is reading: Merry Ex-Mas by Courtney Walsh
Mary Kay Andrews celebrated her alma mater’s winning season by attending the Georgia-Georgia Tech game this past Saturday. Now MKA has thrown herself headlong into Christmas prep. The tree(s) are up, the vintage decor is flung around the house, and shopping is underway. There are only THREE more signings for The Santa Suit this year. Catch her Thursday, Dec. 1 in Savannah at the St. Vincent’s Academy Christmas Shopping Extravaganza.
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Get to Know Our Friend, Kevin Wilson!
What would you be if you weren't a writer?
Well, I'm also a professor at the University of the South, and I really love teaching, so I imagine I'd be teaching high school and working with kids. It would keep me on my toes, allow me the chance to keep reading interesting books, stay connected to the larger world, and I'd have a little time in the summer to, I don't know, work on some other artform.
What's the biggest misconception people have about you and your work?
I really don't have an idea of what people think about me and my work. It's hard to know, and I never really feel like people aren't getting it, or even if they don't like my work, I can see why. I mean, that's the freeing thing about art. You make it and you get to spend all that time inside of yourself making this intensely personal thing and once you let go of it, you don't really get to control it. It's scary but it's the necessary thing if you want to connect with the world. So if it isn't received exactly how I'd like, that's the gamble. I'm fine with that.
When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
I know a lot of people who knew when they were kids, but I was not really aware of that being a possibility. I just loved reading so much and that was my primary concern, being able to read forever. It wasn't until I went to this summer program in Tennessee for high school students that I started to imagine writing as being an extension of my love of reading. And then I went to college and I learned from Tony Earley, and I remember after that workshop I told my dad I wanted to pursue writing. It was the summer after the second year of college and I was mowing yards for money and he was helping me load the truck and I said I wanted to change my major to creative writing and he completely supported me and I think it was the first time I said it out loud. And it was received and so I focused on making it happen.
Tell us about the first piece of fiction you ever wrote.
I went to a very tiny elementary school in Winchester, TN, and so if I got my work finished, I could just go to this corner of the classroom and there was a green box of writing prompts, like "Henry was walking and found a mysterious door in a tree," and you'd complete it. And I would do those constantly, and I wasn't very imaginative, but I tried to figure out what the first line wanted, what was possible, and it felt a little like a riddle. I'd see Henry, so I knew I had a character, and I'd see the mysterious door, and I knew I'd have to go into it, but I was more interested in Henry, why he'd do it, what he'd be leaving behind, if the trees and the woods around him were a part of his regular life. And I'd kind of work all that out in my head and then write the rest of the story. I loved those. The first story I wrote in college for workshop was about a boy stuck in a tree, hanging from a limb, and a hobo finds him and encourages him to let go, and the boy breaks his ankle and the man puts him in his wagon and starts carting him somewhere. I don't really understand what I was going for, honestly.
Do you have any writing rituals?
Almost none. Candy is helpful. Repetitive, drone-like music. I write in bed almost exclusively because I am lazy. But, honestly, you can't have many rituals when you have kids. You have to kind of take it when you can get it, because you don't know who is going to run a fever and be home sick or what costume they need last-minute for a play, and so you just kind of stay attuned to the rhythms of the week and look for your opening.
Is there a particular independent bookstore or library you'd like to shout-out?
Always Parnassus Books, which is our favorite bookstore and the one closest to my heart. It's a place that is so perfectly representative of what an indie bookstore can be to a community. But I'd also like to shout out a newer bookstore in Chattanooga, TN, The Book and Cover, which is absolutely beautiful and I believe that Chattanooga deserves a wonderful bookstore like this.
The last book you raved about:
Blair Braverman's Small Game, which is such a genre-blending and clear-eyed book. It's her first novel but she has a command of the story and an understanding of the natural world that made me instantly fall in love with this book.
Tell us about your work-in-progress.
I wish there was more to tell! I'm writing a new novel, another novel about complicated familial dynamics, but this one involves a cross-country trip with half-siblings looking for their dad. I almost never leave the South in my books, so I'm interested to see what I do with all this space. Hopefully I'll still find my way to something that makes sense.
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Spotlight on Sheila Roberts
We are so excited to welcome USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly best-selling author and fan favorite, Sheila Roberts to the After Show tonight to discuss her latest novel The Road to Christmas! Sheila has almost fifty books to her credit! Under different names she’s written Regency romance novels, loads of Christmas books, as well as devotionals and personal development books. She did lots of things before settling into her writing career, including owning a singing telegram company and playing in a band. Her novel On Strike for Christmas was a Lifetime Network movie and her novel The Nine Lives of Christmas was made into a movie for the Hallmark channel. When she’s not speaking to women’s groups or hanging out with her husband or her girlfriends she can be found writing about those things near and dear to women’s hearts: family, friends, and chocolate. Sheila divides her time between Washington State and California.
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FREE Ornament & Holiday Card When You Order the Friends & Fiction 2023 First Edition Subscription Box by December 15th!
Purchase of this special 2023 Friends & Fiction First Edition Subscription Box includes each 2023 NEW & SIGNED hardcover release from ALL FOUR of the Friends and Fiction host authors plus a fun, small gift included with the first shipment. ORDER BY DEC 15TH and you will receive a special FREE BONUS GIFT of an exclusive 2022 F&F Christmas ornament and holiday card from the Fab Four while supplies last.
Subscribers will receive four shipments around each book release:
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Patti Callahan Henry's The Secret Book fo Flora Lea, May 2023
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Kristin Harmel's The Paris Daughter, June 2023
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Kristy Woodson Harvey's The Summer of Songbirds, July 2023
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Mary Kay Andrews's new Christmas novel (title coming soon!), Sept 2023
Subscription price of $125 includes shipping and tax. ORDER NOW!
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Friends & Fiction Merchandise
SHOP THE F&F MERCH STORE!
BOGO T-SHIRTS IN THE F&F MERCH STORE!
Our figure-flattering, cozy cotton v-neck T-shirts with our signature Friends & Fiction logo are now on sale Buy One Get One FREE! ORDER T-SHIRTS HERE. Use Code FFBOGO at check-out to claim your FREE T-shirt when you purchase one!
Also available:
We can’t wait to see you model your merch!
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Listen to the F&F Podcast!
Coming this Friday, December 2nd—Ron welcomes one of the world’s most respected and sought-after story consultants and writing teachers, John Truby, whose legendary The Anatomy of Story is indispensable to novelists and screenwriters alike. John joins us to discuss his brand-new book, The Anatomy of Genres, a guide to understanding the major genres of the story world—and to do a deep dive into Patti’s and Mary Kay’s latest works in each of their respective genres.
Out Now! WB_S4E17—Ron & Patti speak with Reyna Grande about her sweeping and powerful historical novel, A Ballad of Love and Glory, delving into Reyna's beginnings as a writer and her path to becoming a strong immigrant voice in literature. LISTEN NOW!
Out Now! WB_S4E16—Ron & Kristy talk to Tori Whitaker about her brand-new historical novel A Matter of Happiness. LISTEN NOW!
Out Now! WB_S4E15—Ron speaks with Jennifer Coburn about her thoroughly researched and fascinating first historical fiction novel, Cradles of the Reich and about her path to change genres in her writing. LISTEN NOW!
Listen, download, subscribe, rate, review & share wherever you get your podcasts!
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News from the Zibby Award-Winning Friends &Fiction Official Book Club with Brenda & Lisa
We’ve got some great events coming up! Take a look at our book club schedule and be sure to save the dates. All events begin at 7pm Eastern unless otherwise noted.
Dec 8: Happy Hour with Ron Block and special guest Mary Kay Andrews, 7:30 pm ET
Grab these books and start reading now!
If you missed our Nov 21st book club discussion with Kristin Harmel
If you missed our Oct 24th book club discussion with Stacy Willingham about A Flicker in the Dark, please view it on our YouTube channel HERE.
The Friends & Fiction Official Book Club is on YouTube! You can view previous book club discussions and happy hours at your leisure. Please subscribe to our channel HERE!
Not a member of the Friends & Fiction Book Club? Join us. We would love to have you!
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Join the F&F 2022 Reading Challenge!
Have you been enjoying our fun 12-month reading challenge in 2022? We’ve been challenging each other all year long to read books in a different category every month. Hopefully this has helped all of us broaden our horizons and read books in different genres we may not have chosen for ourselves. The theme for December is: Holiday. What holiday-themed novel will you read in December? We will run another challenge for 2023, so stay tuned for details. The timeless F&F Reading Journal makes the perfect companion piece to this or any reading challenge, helping you keep track of all the books you read all year long. Grab your reading journal HERE.
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F&F is on YouTube!
Subscribe Today!
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Did you miss our Thanksgiving Special on November 23rd? If so, you can watch it on our YouTube channel HERE. We air our show on YouTube every Wednesday night at 7pm ET. And every episode since our show’s inception can be found there too. So if you ever miss one, or in case Facebook is being difficult, check us out on YouTube. Subscribe today so you never miss an episode and get alerted every time we post new content. We also have book trailers and highlight clips on our channel, too! Watch the November 23rd show HERE.
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Join Us on Fable!
Introducing Friends & Fiction: Behind the Book
Have you joined F&F on Fable yet?! We are taking our immersive reading experience a step further by partnering with this unique social platform to form the “Friends & Fiction: Behind the Book” Premium Book Club! Let’s discover, read, and talk about great books together! Download the FREE Fable app for your phone or tablet. Join MKA, Kristin, Kristy & Patti as they talk about their own books, the books they love, and books they're just discovering together. They’ll feature a new book selection every month, plus special club events, exclusive content, and more! Join our Premium Club for just $5/month! JOIN TODAY!
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