2011 Louisiana Book Festival Author Line-Up

Swag Bags and Fabulous Meals

There are some days when a writer sits in his or her office and frankly wonders "why bother?" Then there are days when it is

absolutely fantastic to know and be known. I have fortunately had almost an entire week of the latter.

Monday, August 22, 2011 was a day that I have been preparing for and looking forward to for months. Louisiana Cookin' Magazine, of which I am a writer for, hosted the 10th Annual Chefs to Watch Awards Dinner at Harrah's Casino, proceeds benefiting Cafe Reconcile. With dress and husband in tow, we traveled from Shreveport to New Orleans the day before the event. I took notes for research as we spent hours riding and listening to jazz. We made it to the swanky Le Pavillon Hotel "the belle of New Orleans". It was the first hotel to in the city to have an elevator and also is home to the largest gas lantern in the country...as well as its share of ghosts (of which I had no encounters, darn!).

After an incredible meal at Chef John Besh's French restaurant Luke in the CBD, a night of jazz at Irvin Mayfield's Jazz Playhouse (Love Sessions, a trumpet battle between Irvin and

Kermit Ruffins), it was finally time for the Chefs to Watch Dinner.

My husband and I got "gussied up" in our finest and took a cab t

o the casino. The theater of Harrah's was set up for an evening of fine dining fit for royalty. We were seated at a table with the General Manager and Business Manager of Cafe Reconcile as well as six other fabulous people I am now happy to call friends. We all dined on passed hors d'oeuvres, 5 of the best courses I've ever eaten, 4 different wines, and 1 shot of whiskey. (I was fortunate of being capable of walking without trouble in my heels to the restroom in between the salad and entree) By the end of the evening, the guests at our table were swapping contact information, giving hugs, and hauling lime green swag bags full of Louisiana culinary products, including an 8oz. can of chipotle baked beans. (look out muggers!)

We had been back in Shreveport an hour when I had to turn around and host a dinner at Ristorante Giuseppe for my book club chapter with special guest, author and the belle of all things Southern, Shellie Rushing Tomlinson. She had driven all the way from Lake Providence, LA to be with us and it was truly an incredible evening! There was plenty of eating and swapping stories to go around!

As the week is coming to a close, I am looking back at what a wonderful time I have had and how fortunate I am to do what I do. The weekend is approaching and I plan on trying a second time to meet Swamp People stars Troy and Jacob Landry. I will also be hosting a dinner at my church with local writer and great friend Judy Christie. Next week, I am sure to be getting back to the world of typing and researching, but for right now...I am Carey Weeks, writer and journalist.

Life, A Sombrero, And A Potential Novel

It feels like it has been forever since I have posted. With my daughter getting out of school for the summer, bathroom renovations, lightning striking a tree in my back yard, and various church obligations, I feel as if my virtual world has run off and left me. While buying a pinata yesterday afternoon, in the shape of a sombrero no less, it dawned on me that I have not updated my blog in quite some time.

I have to admit that I haven't done much creative fiction in the past couple of months. My office is now 3/4 of the way finished. Thanks to my husband's help, the ceiling fan is up and I eagerly await the closet makeover he promised.

I have, however, turned in a couple of articles and have gotten very excited about what I hope will one day be a novel set in post-apocalyptic Louisiana. I will be storyboarding for the first time and have a brand new pack of index cards and a blank cork board ready to go. I have gone to the library for research materials and have come home with more books than I can possibly read in two weeks...thank God for the renew button on the library's website!

For exciting news, I recently made a trip to Dallas to pick out the perfect dress for my attendance at the 2011 Chef's To Watch dinner at Harrah's in New Orleans coming up later this month! It is sponsored by Louisiana Cookin' Magazine, in which I write for. I'm sure there will be photos to share at the end of the month!

In the meantime, here's to hopefully getting my writing mojo going again!

Color of the Week...Plum Pudding

I'm sitting here this morning in my newly painted office. Plum Pudding is what the color is called. I'm wearing it. Little purple "birthmarks" pock my arms, legs, and even the bottoms of my feet. My little girl reminded me last night that all I have to do to get it off is scrub with soap and water. I haven't as of yet. Like tribal warriors, I wear these smears of purple paint proudly, as proof that I have done something wonderful.

I've been trying to coax my husband into taking the leap and moving us further south to New Orleans. My head understands the politics, the school systems, and of course the weather...but get me talking about it after a few drinks and I'll start packing my bags. I travel down to the Big Easy as often as I can and feel like a part of me is being left each time I get back on I-10 toward Shreveport.

Solution. Although my husband doesn't quite understand my obsession with all things NOLA, he does understand ME. His suggestion...bring New Orleans home. Make my little office space a haven for all things that would make me believe that I am sitting in a loft just outside the French Quarter. So I began with the walls. Purple. My Cafe Du Monde coffee cup sits on my desk beside me as I stare at a plastic sheathed original signed print by New Orleans artist Terrance Osborne. It is called Post Katrina Blues. A single tree in the background looks a lot like Plum Pudding. Behind me on the floor ready to be hung, metal squares..W..R..I..T..E.

By Leaps And Bounds

The last few weeks have been very exciting in my life as a writer. I have been shown that, without a doubt, that where one window closes, a door can ofttimes open.

After over three years, I made the decision to end my Peculiar Jaunts column in Louisiana Road Trips magazine. It has been a great run but there eventually comes a time when any creative person must take a risk in order to reach new goals. I thank all of the readers who have supported me over the years by reading my articles. My last article will be published in May.

And here comes the doors...

The summer issue of Southern Tour Magazine will include the article I wrote about my own walking tour around the French Quarter in New Orleans. Apparently, my massive sunburn has paid off!

Louisiana Cookin' projects that I have going are covering the Mudbug Madness Festival here in Shreveport; taking a trip to Houma to find out about the shrimping industry; and attending the 2011 Chefs To Watch Awards in New Orleans with the Louisiana Cookin' staff. Don't forget to pick up the newest copy of the magazine to read my article about the World Championship Etouffee Cookoff!

It has...been a good April. Here's keeping my fingers crossed for May!

Everyone just THINKS I Write My Own Stuff

I'm not the only writer who loves her kitty cat. Check out this blog called Writers and Kitties which showcases photographs of famous authors and their feline friends.

April Louisiana Road Trips

Peculiar Jaunts: Three Oaks Bed & Breakfast , pg 29.

Typewriters, Files, and New Spaces.

Although I have yet to start building a typewriter collection of my own (I have my eye on a couple I found in some antique shops in East Texas), I still love the beauty of the typewriter. I still remember using the large olive green typewriter that my mother inherited from my grandfather. I loved to just run my index finger around the rim of each keys, feeling the coolness and smoothness of them. The tell-tale "clack clack clack...ding!", more like a song than the finishing of a sentence. Since the holiday seasons are over, I WILL find room in my trunk when I go back home to Alabama this summer for my grandfather's typewriter to come back to Shreveport with me.

In the meantime, this article from Flavorwire titled Famous Authors and their Typewriters whet my appetite this morning. I love seeing photographs of "artists" at their craft.

Another great article I found this morning is featured in the Nervous Breakdown written by Ronlyn Domingue. She is the author of The Mercy of Thin Air, which is a MUST READ! Today's article is titled Burning Fate of a Writer's Archive. In this, she ponders what to do with her used notes and what famous writers in the past have done with theirs. After reading The Paris Wife by Paula McLain and discovering the drama between Ernest Hemmingway and his first wife Hadley after she loses all of his manuscripts and notes on a train, I wonder as well, the importance of a writer's notes. I admit that I am very mysterious when it comes to my fiction and try not to "let loose" any of the intricate details of my ideas almost as if I were keeping super secret information from "getting into the wrong hands." Surely I have a short story on file that could cause mass panic or total government shut down...

On another note, I have spent the weekend hauling out what used to be my "office/junk room/craft room/artist studio/and a few things in-between". Pulling a table from the dining room, a wobbly end table for my printer, a Tiffany-style lamp that needs rewiring, and a bucket full of pens and paper clips, I now have a new writing space. The walls shall be plum pudding from Martha Stewart's line of paint and I have acquired a cute little ceiling fan called Metairie. If I can't live in New Orleans, I shall endeavor to bring New Orleans to me.

Writer's ADD...Really?

Is there a clinical condition for writers that is the equivalent of ADD? If so, I think I have it. Even as I'm blogging at this very moment, I am thinking of other things that I could be writing.

When it comes to writing fiction, I have no problem whatsoever with starting stories. The first paragraph is like the first hit of a strong drug to me. Once it's written, I just tend to get tired and sleepy. Then I look back later and think "I wrote that? Wow! I guess I should finish it now." But while I'm trying to finish up that "wild and crazy night", I remember other stories that I have started, waiting as if they were a puppies begging for treats.

I spend a good bit of my writing time trying to DECIDE what to work on, and either I get pulled in another direction and don't write anything at all, or I discover that I only have just a little bit of time left to even do it! It's not procrastination...it's writer's ADD, right? I wonder if any of the great authors had this problem. And the bigger question is, how do I tame the beast?

"A half-baked idea is okay as long as it's in the oven." - Unknown

Paula McLain On Writing - The National Post

A fantastic article about being a woman, writer, and mother by The Paris Wife author. Paula McLain: A room, a cranny, a borrowed (public) chair of one's own - published in The National Post, March 22, 2011.

Modern Writing and Reading, My Month of Firsts

As a writer, reader, and avid book buyer, the month of March has been a big month for me. I will ALWAYS support the printed, paper book. I don't care how many trees it saves to use other formats, the feel of a book in my hands (and even the smell) will always be special moments in my life. I don't think I could manage very well without books, coffee, chocolate, etc. etc.

For Christmas I ended up getting a Kindle, which I have to say, although it took me about 2 months to pick it up, I finally gave in and LOVE it! No, I can't smell the ink or feel the smoothness of paper under my fingertips, but I can read a large novel without giving myself carpel tunnel and it fits nicely in my purse. So, when I went to the bookstore a week ago and found myself picking up books and putting them back down, thinking I could just get them on my kindle, I shocked myself beyond belief. After rebelling for so long, I have become one of those people. And I have to say, I have no problem with it.

Another first for this month is the fact that I took a weekend trip to New Orleans and didn't go into a SINGLE bookstore!! Mind blowing, I know. I only even brought home one brochure, for a tour I didn't even get to take. I will admit, however, that I have been home from New Orleans for two days and have already called the Garden District Book Shop to order a signed book.

After months of hearing from various people that I should try writing on my iPhone in Evernote (an app that I have had for months but never really used much), I finally reached a point where I just had to do it. Fat-fingering on a phone keyboard is one of my big pet peeves, which is why I don't even text much. But on the way home from New Orleans, in the dark, there was no way I could pull out my notebook and pencil. So, I picked up my phone and wrote like made all the way from Natchitoches to Shreveport. Now...I just have to remember to actually transfer it all to my computer.

Where The Words Go...

I was on my way to the bookstore to pick up a handful of magazines that feature my newest article and I started thinking about all of the articles that I have written in the past 4 years. It is SO exciting to see the words, the thoughts that you have created in the printed form (especially if it's glossy!). I have poured my heart into approx. 4 years of experiences in the written form. I began laminating each article several weeks ago and was amazed at the portfolio I have created.

Then I thought...what happens to published articles after they've "done their time"?

I'm not talking about the actual paper that the piece is printed on...just the words, the story. Is it doomed to be filed away and forgotten forever? Do the words die a quick death with no hope for resurrection? Is it stolen by the same little gnome that tends to kidnap my socks on laundry day? Is it calling out to me, stretching out its "arms", yearning for me to pull it out of the flood of other published works?

I see each piece that I write as a part of me, a baby that has grown up and left home but it is still MINE. So as I work on new articles to distribute throughout, I continue to wonder about my "babies". Do they miss me?

April Issue of Louisiana Cookin'

The newest issue of Louisiana Cookin' Magazine is now in bookstores! My article about the World Championship Crawfish Etouffee Cook-Off in Eunice, LA is a mus-read!

Interruptions...And Who's Doing the Dishes?

The best time for planning a book is while you're doing the dishes. ~Agatha Christie

Getting my daughter ready for school, carpool, dishes, laundry, church obligations, Facebook, paying bills... these are just a few things that are scratching around in my mind while I try to write. My husband asked me the other day "Are you a house keeper or are you a writer?" I immediately said "A WRITER, of course!".

But who is going to vacuum the rug? Who is going to make sure we have toilet paper and the cat is fed? Even taking the time to shower or brew a single cup of coffee interrupts what could be precious minutes of writing. What's a writer to do? Put on your blinders to the floor that needs mopping or the fact that you're down to your last pair of undies? Oh, and there's this little thing called sleep...

How to balance the creative process with the reality of family life...it's a mystery to me.

Brain Washed

Writing, I think, is not apart from living. Writing is a kind of double living. The writer experiences everything twice. Once in reality and once in that mirror which waits always before or behind. ~Catherine Drinker Bowen, Atlantic, December 1957

I have discovered that the more I write, the more I think like a writer in every situation I find myself in. For example, it is sometimes hard to read books without feeling the urge to edit even the tiniest mistake. And possibly to a fault, I sometimes gauge the quality of books, not by plot or character appeal, but how the manuscript is constructed...much like a composer of music. If it sounds awkward, do the words make any sense?

Another instance of "writer interference" was during a conversation with my husband several days ago. I was telling him about my day while propped up in bed and he stopped me in my tracks, pointing out that I had configured my last sentence as if I were introducing a character instead of just discussing the details surrounding a person that we both knew. I believe my e-mails could possibly sympathize with my husband as well.

I went to a concert with a close friend over the weekend and although I thoroughly enjoyed the music, I found myself focusing more on the song lyrics and how they told the story that the band wished to convey. In soaking the "stories" in, I began having idea after idea for things that I could write...and oddly enough, during the 2 hour show, I sometimes wished that I was at home in front of my computer, purging all of these thoughts. Of course, now that I am home, I cannot remember most of my "bright ideas". Even as I sit here writing this, I am thinking about new ideas for stories...yet it is time for carpool. How is it that we can have such wonderful ideas if we haven't the time to jot them down or remember them an hour later? Hmm...

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. ~Mark Twain

When it comes to writing submissions, I think that the bone folder is possibly mightier than the pen. How else can you take about five pages and a SASE and thin it down to the point that it only needs one, maybe two postage stamps, max?

Proofread carefully to see if you any words out. ~Author Unknown

There is nothing creative about writing query letters, printing manuscripts, folding (if the submission is small) and stamping. Thank God for self-adhesive stamps and envelopes, however! The process is drone work almost making me want to "hire" my 5 year old to do it for me while I sip a latte and read a novel.

As for keeping up with my submissions, it is now extremely easy since I found the program Sonar online. It allows me to keep up with when I mailed my submissions, and if they have circled back like a boomerang for me to dispense yet again to another editor.

Don't be too harsh to these poems until they're typed. I always think typescript lends some sort of certainty: at least, if the things are bad then, they appear to be bad with conviction. ~Dylan Thomas, letter to Vernon Watkins, March 1938

Here goes nothing....yet, maybe something?

A Weekend of Inspiring Characters

As I'm sitting here listening to the rain dripping steadily outside, I am sipping on a cup of coffee brewed in just a flash with my Keurig coffee pot...one of the best Christmas gifts I have ever received. I sprinkled in a dash of cinnamon as the waitress at the Austin Street Bistro in Jefferson, Texas suggested over the weekend.

Speaking of the weekend, I found myself in some situations that I would never have believed possible. To begin with, I got to meet the great Pat Conroy. What can I say about Pat Conroy that can sum up what kind of writer he is. He is the Elvis of literature. My signed copy of My Reading Life is tagged with little neon green sticky notes, reminding me of all of the phrases that simply made me weak in the knees.

Another special happening was friend and author Allen Whitley (Where Southern Cross the Dog) pointing me out to hundreds of book club members, thanking me for being his friend and being the first person outside of his family to buy his book. I was completely flabbergasted and had to try really hard not to cry in front of everyone. I could not believe what I was hearing. Talk about unexpected!

I also had the chance to sit beside the 2010 Texas Poet Laureate Karla K. Morton for the entire day. While not listening to interesting panels of authors, we discussed poetry and frustrations with the submission process.

Have I mentioned that I met Fannie Flagg??!! Yes, I actually posed with Fannie Flagg for pictures, me shaking like a leaf of course. Come on, it was Fannie Flagg! Later in the evening she and I met again at the costume ball, I was wearing rubber vampire bite marks and blood on my neck and she was dressed like a Munchkin from the Wizard of Oz (I think) with rosy pink cheeks.

Perhaps the highlight of my weekend was meeting author Susan Vreeland...while wearing my vampire get-up. The writer of Luncheon of the Boating Party, Clara and Mr. Tiffany, and my favorite Girl in Hyacinth Blue, she is a tall, delicate woman with a smile that could melt butter. She sat down at my table the night of the ball and I quickly dished out a selection of books to have signed (I couldn't fit all of them in my bag, so I had to leave some at home). Feeling like a complete child, the only thing I could get out of my mouth was how much I loved her and her books. I can only imagine what was going through her head as I was fawning over her like a fat kid at a fudge counter. I couldn't for the life of me think of anything to discuss with her, my brain was completely stuck in "fan mode". We posed for several pictures and she wisped away (she didn't really walk, just floated like a sweet little ghost) to other tables. I turned to my best friend Michelle, as giddy as a school girl. My weekend was complete. All I can possibly say now is "Thank you Kathy Patrick for gathering this cast of inspiring characters for my delight."

Satisfying the Ghosts

I admit that it has been several months since I have touched base with my blog. With the craziness of the holidays, every day tasks seemed to have been put on hold. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

It is now 2011 and I feel the ghosts of 2010 past weighing heavy on my conscience. My writing ghosts, that is. I feel as if there should be some kind of place I should go to confess my writing sins. "Yes father, I have sinned 6 times. I have started short stories that I have not finished. I have quit writing poetry completely, and I have become a slacker in my article writing." Surely there's a support group for this! Writers Anonymous or something.

My New Years resolution is to get off of my ass and be the writer that I know I can be. I spent the weekend in Jefferson, Texas with some of the BIGGEST names in Southern Literature. Hell, I even sat beside the 2010 Texas Poet Laureate Karla K. Morton for an entire day and she even gave me a list of journals that she submits to! I have NO excuse not to be a good writer, I have NO excuse not to be a good writer...as I click my fuzzy slippers 3 times like Dorothy. No, mine aren't covered in rubies, but mine are more comfortable! Ha!

This will be an extraordinary year of words and books, I can just feel it.