I can finally announce . . . It’s here! — Well, almost. My new book is being printed now and will be available in bookstores during the first week of November. I don’t have a specific day yet, but you, my blog readers will be the first to know! I’ll probably have the release party in Fairhope sometime during the second week of November – around Veteran’s Day. – stay tuned!
Exploding Hushpuppies! is my second collection of short columns that will whisk you away from this stressful world and take you into a place of families, dogs, marriage, friends, pockets in skirts and hamsters in the money bank.
My blog readers are at the top of my list for a huge thank you for your support and encouragement. Many of your comments and emails have inspired new stories or helped me decide which columns to include in this collection.
The title comes from one of my most popular stories — yet one that was left out of the Birmingham and Huntsville papers. I posted it here on the blog, so you may remember the story of how too many cooks added baking powder to the hushpuppy mix, and they shot all over the kitchen like exploding molten lava. It’s the first story in the book, followed by 39 others that each take just a few minutes to read.
My Bob is great at graphics and has degrees in Advertising and Marketing, so he came up with this first idea.
We asked artists to draw a version of me looking surprised.
You won’t believe what we got.
Submissions started coming in and I was amused, shocked and horrified at some of the ways people interpreted me! Yikes!
Here’s just a sample of what we received. I didn’t even include the one that looked like Hillary Clinton. Have you stopped laughing yet? (I haven’t).
Back to the drawing board.
We realized there were several stories that mentioned kitchens and home, so we decided to focus more on the home.
This is all I have at this point — a copy from my home printer. “Why do you have to print everything out?” He wants to know. “So I can hold it like a long-awaited baby!” I tell him.
Another reason I printed the book was so I could take it with me to show my Bible Study group and ask them to pray for me while it’s being released. Those ladies are serious about their prayer lives and I feel blessed to be part of their group. With COVID still swirling around the world, it may be a terrible time to release a book, but I’m determined to make It work. A quote I keep next to my desk says, “Am I to fear the gift God gave me? Would He give me a gift just so he could torment me?”
This is the very time people need something distracting and wholesome to read. Believe me, this publisher made sure it was wholesome. I even had to remove the word, “gosh.” I’ll be calling on my blog-buddies soon to help spread the word and make up for limited book signing events. (thank you in advance).
Available at Barnes and Noble, local bookstores (Page and Palette) and Amazon, Exploding Hushpuppies will be popping!
There will be a hardback, paperback and ebook version of the book. I’m also on my way to record the audiobook in a studio soon. There was an offer from the publisher to provide an actress from oo-la-la-Hollywood to read the book for me, but . . . no thank you. Or should I say, “no thank y’all.” Seriously, can you imagine a fake Southern accent saying, “I Swanee!”
Thanks for the support over the years. I’m so excited to share this book with all of you.
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