A Southern Missive

It seems interest in Stories of the Confederate South is increasing. I’m on my way to Oklahoma, and it looks like a busy week promoting my new collection of short stories. I’ve got a TV interview Tuesday on KXII in Sherman Texas, an interview on a local radio station in Durant, Oklahoma, then a two-day signing (July 14-15) at Roby’s Hallmark also in Durant. I had such great success when I was there a few years ago with my first novel. I’m confident I will sell a lot of books. By the way, I have an order form I’ve made that meets Booklocker’s standards. It gives the bookstores quick reference information. Make it easy on stores to order your books. If you write me, (rickeyp@bayou.com) I’ll send it to you so you can have a model to promote your own books.

After I return from Oklahoma either late Saturday or Sunday, I have a radio interview in Monroe, Louisiana, then a signing at the Lincoln Parish library in Ruston, Tuesday night, July 18, at 6:30. I’m picking up more business cards and setting up orders and a signing at the Ouchita Parish library on my way out of town this morning.

Sometimes I cringe at the amount of work and shamelessness required to promote one’s work, but I’ve read enough biographies of writers to know that I’m not alone in this. For example, Presently, I’m reading Erica Jong’s The Devil at Large, about Henry Miller. He’s an examplel of how self-promotion can pay off. Anyway, if you have any interest at all in Henry Miller, I’d encourage you to read that book.

I just finished reading the English Patient. I know–I’m late getting to it. At least my “to read” list is one shorter. I enjoyed it tremendously. As a writer, I was most intrigued by how he presented the men who explored, mapped, and were devoured by the desert. I like fiction like this–the book was sensual, engaging, and the researched details fascinating. I think Ondaatie’s acknowledgements is the finest model of how to do that I’ve seen. In short, it was a read that moved me and informed me. That makes for good fiction.

My next nonfiction book has a working title of The Civil War Writer with 100 Story Starters for the Fiction Writer. The idea came about as a result of my research for my collection of short stories, Stories of the Confederate South. You can see the link to the book on this page. The book should be of great benefit to anyone who likes to write historical fiction. The main sections will include: Why the Civil War appeals to readers, some common pitfalls to avoid in writing about the Civil War, how to do research on the Civil War, a glossary, and of course, the stoy ideas themselves. I have been a collector of stories, anecdotes, and facts (some of them VERY unusual, thus lending themselves to writing some unique fiction about them). Hopefully, I will have it completed sometime this summer. One of the true values of fiction is that it speaks to the heart and to human experience. There was so much emotion before, during, and after the War Between the States that I don’t think we’ll ever get it all down. I know I’ve collected so stories I’ll never get to, and perhaps the b ook will help some writers. I do know that they are stories that need to be told, and that they are stories waiting to be written.