Page Turner - Summer 2024 - Vol 2 / Issue 3

Donald Windham

Mary Hood

EDITOR’S NOTE

Page Turner is a magazine for Georgia’s readers and writers and any Georgiaphiles who enjoy learning about our state’s literary offerings, heritage, and events.

Editor’s Note Each quarter, a team of experienced, award-winning writers will bring you suggested readings from the Reader’s Corner, tips and helpful advice from the Writer’s Corner and Writer’s Toolbox, and a feature on notable Georgia writers.

For children, their educators and guardians, and anyone working on children’s books, we will feature four Children’s Books each quarter with suggested activities in Children’s Corner. Spotlight on Book Clubs will share book club stories from across our state, and maybe inspire you to start one! These articles will be staples of each issue, but others will pop up from time to time, so don’t miss out each quarter.

Georgia Writers Museum celebrates the state’s rich literary history, promotes its contemporary writers, educates readers and writers of all ages, and connects people to the literary arts of Georgia.

Atlanta Writers Club teaches the craft and business of writing, supports the local literary community, and encourages more reading by the public.

Cover Photo: L.P. Grant Mansion, Atlanta Preservation Center

Melissa Swindell Executive Director

Georgia Writers Museum georgiawritersmuseum.org info@georgiawritersmuseum.org 706.991.5119

Page Turner Magazine

SUMMER 2024 | ISSUE 3

Brought to you by:

EDITOR’S NOTE

Meet the Team!

Chip Bell

Managing Editor, Page Turner Author & Keynote Speaker Chip is a renowned keynote speaker and author of several bestselling, award-winning books. He has appeared live on CNBC, Fox Business, and CNN, and his work has been featured in Fortune, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, USA Today, Entrepreneur, Inc. Magazine, and Harvard Business Review.

George Weinstein

Writer, Page Turner Executive Director, Atlanta Writers Club George is an award-winning author, two-time President of Atlanta Writers Club, and since 2008, he has directed the twice-yearly Atlanta Writers Conference, bringing in acquisitions editors and literary agents to help AWC members understand the business of writing and achieve their dreams of publication.

Kim Conrey

Writer, Page Turner Kim is the author of the sci-fi romance series, Ares Ascending, and the urban fantasy, Nicholas Eternal. She was the 2023 Georgia Author of the Year for Romance.

Betty Liedtke

Writer and Copy Editor, Page Turner Former Columnist, Chanhassen (MN) Villager Award-winning columnist Betty Liedtke currently serves as Secretary of Georgia Writers Museum, and is an active member of Toastmasters International, Pathways to Hope—Africa, and the Greensboro Writers Guild.

Jim Auchmutey

Writer, Page Turner Former Reporter, Atlanta Journal-Constitution Jim spent almost 30 years as a writer and editor for the AJC, specializing in stories about the South and its history and culture. He was twice named the Cox Newspapers chain’s Writer of the Year and was honored by the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards, and the Associated Press.

Roger Johns

Writer, Page Turner Roger is a former corporate lawyer, retired college professor, the author of the Wallace Hartman Mysteries, and the 2018 Georgia Author of the Year for Mystery/Detective.

EDITOR’S NOTE

Page Turner is a magazine for Georgia’s readers and writers and any Georgiaphiles who enjoy learning about our state’s literary offerings, heritage, and events.

Join the Fun! Chip and I invite you to: Share your feedback. Do you love Page Turner? Let us know!

Tell us what you want to see in upcoming issues.

Sponsor a low-cost ad for your book talk, writing workshop, festival, or bookstore.

Write with us! Submit an application to join our all-volunteer writing team.

Spotlight a Book Club. Are you in a book club, or do you know

Contact us online at: www.georgiawritersmuseum.org/ page-turner

Melissa Swindell

Editor-in-Chief

Chip Bell

Managing Editor

Emme Clause Graphic Designer

Page Turner Magazine

SUMMER 2024 | ISSUE 3

one that should be featured? Send it in!

“There was no museum like this one, dedicated to Georgia writers, in which to feel at home. Now there is one!”

Alice Walker and Valerie Boyd at AW 75 Birthday Celebration Hosted by Georgia Writers Museum

109 S. Jefferson Ave. Eatonton, GA 31024 706.991.5119 georgiawritersmuseum.org Thursday - Saturday 10am - 4pm Donations Appreciated

Page Turner

CONTENTS

27 Profile of a Georgia Writer Donald Windham

34 Townsend Prize for Fiction Meet Mary Hood, 1988 & 2016 Winner

58 Summer Literary Events

8 Writer’s Corner A Ghost of an Idea 10-14 Writer’s Toolbox How Writers Can Use the Five Senses with Settings 15 If You Only Have an Hour Setting Up Bookstore Events: The Basics 17-19 SPOTLIGHT: Georgia Book Club GA Hall of Fame Book Club The Wonderful Women of Macon 25 Business of Authoring Marketing Through Connections 39-42 Reader‘s Corner The Woman with the Cure 43-44 SPOTLIGHT: Georgia Indie Bookstore The Crazy Book Lady Book Bound Bookstore

20 Haunted Houses of Famous Georgia Writers

46 Profile of a Brand-New Georgia Author Dr. D.L Mitchell 48-53 Children’s Corner 55 Meet a Page Turner Team Member Betty Liedtke

WRITER’S CORNER

TIPS FOR FINDING INSPIRATION PAY ATTENTION Train yourself to pay attention to everything going on around you, knowing that anything you see, hear, or experience can provide the inspiration for your next story.

JOT IT DOWN Always be within reach of a notebook and pen, or note-taking feature on your phone, so you can write down ideas, observations, or clever comments as soon as they come to you.

They can dissolve and disappear quickly if you don’t!

THINK ABOUT IT Actively look for unusual or out-of-place actions or incidents in your ordinary, everyday tasks and errands. If you go out consciously expecting to find something odd or interesting, it’s more likely that you will.

When you do, ask yourself, “How can I use this in my writing?”

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A GHOST OF AN IDEA

by Betty Liedtke

Most writers will talk freely of their Muse—that unseen and sometimes elusive source of ideas and inspiration. The Muse sits on our shoulder, whispering the words and thoughts that we craft into poetry and prose. But sometimes she disappears for days or weeks at a time—or even longer. There’s another term for this, by the way: Writer’s Block.

Elsewhere in this issue of Page Turner, you can read about ghostly phenomena, and about several writers’ houses that are said to be haunted.

Perhaps the spirits of writers long gone are still walking the halls of their previous residences and, like a Muse, are whispering words of inspiration to the homes’ current owners.

WRITER’S CORNER

Whether you believe in ghosts, Muses, or divine inspiration as your source of creativity, in order to benefit from them, you need to listen to them. And listen for them. When you train yourself to pay attention to everything going on around you, inspiration can come from an overheard comment, a song on the radio, or the observance of something that startles you or makes you laugh.

During the 16 years I wrote a weekly newspaper column, people often asked where I got my ideas. The truth is I never went looking for ideas. Instead, I just stayed open to them all the time. I got many columns from out-of-the-ordinary experiences like going to Uganda, or dancing with a man in a wheelchair. But I also got column ideas from everyday experiences and occurrences, like chatting with a grocery store cashier or lighting a candle I received as a Christmas gift.

Once this becomes automatic for you, you’ll be surprised at how much and how often your Muse talks to you, giving you plenty of material for your next novel, poem, or memoir. Or maybe a great ghost story.

Betty Liedtke is a writer, proofreader, copy editor, and the author of Find Your Buried Treasure—Nuggets Mined from Everyday Life.

WRITER’S TOOLBOX

How Writers Can Use the Five Senses with Settings

by George Weinstein

Whether you’re writing historical fiction or a contemporary story, setting is crucial.

Make sure to include key sensory details to keep your reader in each scene. The brilliant author and teacher Steven James tells us that setting serves numerous purposes in our stories:

1. The physicality of the location must be clear, so the reader will not only envision it but feel it as you intended, from the quality of the air to how surfaces feel underfoot.

2. Ensure that the influences of your chosen time period are apparent on your characters, affecting their experiences.

3. Setting must reinforce the emotions and mood you want to evoke in your story through description.

4. Ideally, the setting is so important that the significant actions in the story could not have occurred in the same way anywhere else in the world.

5. The locale either assists the protagonist or interferes with their pursuits, depending on the tone you want to convey.

6. Overall, the setting should reflect the goals for your story in terms of its meaning and purpose—what your point was in writing it.

In addition to the images and feel of the setting, the smells, sounds, and even flavors can put and hold your readers in a scene and touch them at an emotional level.

That’s the key to getting people to connect with your work and creating fans for life.

George Weinstein is the twiceformer President and current Executive Director of the historic Atlanta Writers Club (AWC), which was founded in 1914.

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WRITER’S TOOLBOX

BEAT THE BLOCK WITH THESE WRITER’S PROMPTS

A writing prompt is a word, phrase, or sentence used as a catalyst to creativity. Many new authors find it helpful for getting unstuck when experiencing writer’s block. Each issue of Page Turner will provide suggested writing prompts by Distinguished Georgia Authors.

Try this suggestion by Roy Blount Jr.:

Time’s winging chariot hovering near

Roy Blount Jr. is the author of twenty-four books, about everything from the first woman president of the United States to what barnyard animals are thinking. He grew up in Decatur, Georgia, completed an undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt and a master’s from Harvard. Blount was a staff writer and associate editor at Sports Illustrated from 1968 to 1975. He won the Thomas Wolfe Award for lifetime achievement from the University of North Carolina, and was inducted in 2016 into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame.

WRITER’S TOOLBOX

9 DISTINGUISHED GEORGIA WRITERS’ BIRTHDAYS

Mary Hood

September 16, 1946 Author of:

And Venus is Blue, Familiar Heat, A Clear View of the Southern Sky, and more!

Jul 1 Walter White (1893) The Fire in the Flint; Rope and Faggot Jul 2 A.E. Stallings (1968) Like; Olives; Hapax Jul 17 Olive Ann Burns (1924) Cold Sassy Tree; Leaving Cold Sassy Aug 5 Conrad Aiken (1889) Selected Poems, Collected Poems Aug 12 Sue Monk Kidd (1948) The Secret Life of Bees; When the Heart Waits Aug 16 Bill Shipp (1933) Murder at Broad River Bridge Sept 22 Augustus Longstreet (1790) Georgia Scenes Sept 26 Ferrol Sams (1922) When All the World Was Young

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WRITER’S TOOLBOX

“Why I Write” I began writing before I could read, much less put words on paper. From as far back as I could remember, my mom and dad had told me stories.

Mom read me “Little Women” each day when it was naptime. So at the young age of three, I fell in love with Jo March. A child has full access to a rich imagination. Mine was more active than most. My thoughts came to me in story form as early as twoand-a-half while under Mom’s sewing table. The vibration of the sewing machine traveled down the metal legs into the wooden floor and through my body as I told my dolls long, intricate stories about pirates and girls walking the plank. I had the family’s storytelling gene that was passed down from generation to generation.

Humans have the need to tell stories.

Our minds are wired this way. Some of us use paint brushes and canvases; others sing; many sculpt; and then there is writing.

by Ann Hite

As a ten-year-old, I spent one weekend a month sitting in my greataunt Stella’s (pronounced Stellar) front room in a small house with no indoor bathroom in Appalachia. All Granny’s sisters would gather there to visit with us. I did my best to blend in to the high-ceiling room and be forgotten. Soon the stories began, and I soaked them in. Ghosts of longlost relatives appeared in my mind’s eye. My fiction writing came forth in that room full of women’s voices and tales of the past.

I write because I am a storyteller at heart. This is my art and releasing words onto the page calms my soul.

The fact that some readers walk away with a thread of hope or longing to continue the story is icing on the cake, sugar in my coffee, heart in my effort.

I write for the sake of writing. My true art is being so passionate about using my voice that I would write even if not one word was published. Coming to the page, whether it is frustrating and slow or inspiring and passionate, reflects my writing life. Losing myself in a story gives me the ability to enter another world for hours on end. A world I create woven with dreams.

And in this place, happy and content, I’m in my own skin.

Ann Hite is an award-winning Southern writer and admits to being a storyteller from birth. Her Ghost on Black Mountain won Georgia Author of the Year and was shortlisted for the Townsend Prize in 2012. Her novel, Sleeping Above Chaos, was a Georgia Author of the Year 2017 Finalist. She lives near Atlanta.

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IF YOU ONLY HAVE AN HOUR

Setting Up Bookstore Events: The Basics For most writers, especially new ones, independent bookstores offer some of the best opportunities for book signings, book talks, and readings, and all the steps below, for getting your foot in the door, can be put into practice using short blocks of time.

by Kim Conrey & Roger Johns

Step One: Identify the stores you’d like to try for. The Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance maintains a searchable directory of dozens of independent bookstores across the Southeast, complete with contact information, at https://sibaweb.com/page/booksellerdirectory. This is a great resource to begin your search with.

Step Two: Identify a range of dates that work for you and each of the stores you’re interested in, by comparing your calendar to the stores’ online event calendars to find dates that are open for both of you. And remember: lead time is critical. To give yourself the best chance of scheduling events that kick off as soon as your book is out, start this process at least four months before your publication date, because calendars at many stores tend to get booked up far in advance.

Kim Conrey is the author of the sci-fi romance series Ares Ascending and the urban fantasy, Nicholas Eternal.

She was the 2023 Georgia Author of the Year for Romance.

Roger Johns is a former corporate lawyer, retired college professor, the author of the Wallace Hartman Mysteries, and the 2018 Georgia Author of the Year for Mystery/Detective.

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ATLANTA WRITERS CLUB TEACHING THE CRAFT AND BUSINESS OF WRITING SINCE 1914

CLICK HERE TO JOIN TODAY!

MEET FELLOW WRITERS & INDUSTRY EXPERTS MEMBER BENEFITS Members can participate in an annual contest with cash prizes and three conferences per year: two focus on traditional publishing, with agent and publisher meetings, and one is devoted to self-publishing. The AWC also offers online and inperson critique groups around the region, discounts for events, and promotional opportunities for members with books for sale.

2X MONTHLY MEETINGS The AWC meets on the 3rd Saturday of each month at GSUDunwoody during the school year and at the Lilburn Library in the summer and features two speakers each time discussing different aspects of the craft and business of writing. Online workshops throughout the year provide education about screenwriting, elements of craft, paths to publication, marketing, and more.

CONFERENCES CONTESTS CRITIQUE GROUPS & MORE

SPOTLIGHT: GEORGIA BOOK CLUB

GEORGIA HALL OF FAME BOOK CLUB “We are dedicated to shining a light on books written by inductees into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame,” said Sarah Trowbridge, the discussion leader of Georgia Hall of Fame Book Club. The club meets quarterly, both virtually and in person at GWM. JULY 18 7:00-8:00 PM Join Here

Sarah continued, “That includes recent honorees and ones from long ago. You'll see some well-known names, and some that may be less familiar.” The next meeting on July 18 features a renowned inductee, Alice Walker, and her novel, Meridian.

“We mix it up, both in terms of demographics and with regard to genre.

Everyone is welcome to attend. Even if you did not finish reading the book— though there WILL be spoilers. Even if you did not like the book—differing opinions make for a lively discussion.” In the last meeting, attendees who did not finish reading Under Magnolia by Frances Mayes still joined in and had a wonderful time!

“There are more than 80 members of the Hall of Fame so far, and since we cover only four per year, this club has plenty of interesting reading ahead!”

OCT. 17 7:00-8:00 PM Join Here

Find more information about the Georgia Hall of Fame Book Club on our website: www.georgiawritersmuseum.org/bookclubs/ PAGE TURNER MAGAZINE

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You need 2 things to write great stories.

You need craft & you need magic.

Let me help you get there.

CRAFT AND CURRENT A MANUAL FOR MAGICAL WRITING

SPOTLIGHT: GEORGIA BOOK CLUB

THE WONDERFUL WOMEN OF MACON The Wonderful Women of Macon book club began around 1989. The unique name came from a conversation a member had with a woman newly transplanted to Macon who was struggling to find interesting women. A member informed the newcomer there were plenty of wonderful women in Macon and the name stuck!

Monthly meetings are held September through June at members’ homes, and begin with a shared meal followed by the book discussion. Frequently the host ties the meal to the book’s setting or historical period.

Sometimes, authors visit the group, always enriching the meeting. This year’s book choices range from Dinners with Ruth by Nina Totenberg to The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro to Everyday Use by Alice Walker.

New members are proposed by current members, which triggers a brief discussion of the strengths that person might bring to the club. New members are asked to begin their participation with the fall meeting when books for the year are selected, giving them input into the selection process. Everyone brings a book or two to that fall meeting to “pitch” to the club.

Two features make the book club unique.

First, they are a female-only book club that reads only books by women authors available at the local library or in paperback, so they are affordable. Second, when a group member loses a family member, the club donates in that member’s honor to the public library. It is a book club committed to literacy and one that values its library branches.

According to book club leader Hetty Jardine, “The group has endured for 35 years, and not a single current member was a founding member. In a town with multiple colleges, people’s lives often take them away. But the group remains a source of reading and personal inspiration, support, and care for one another.”

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COVER STORY

HAUNTED HOUSES OF FAMOUS GEORGIA WRITERS

The subject of ghosts always produces three camps—believers, nonbelievers, and folks open to the idea but who have no proof. Most everyone, even doubters, enjoy the stories associated with haunts.

Some celebrate Halloween by visiting homes alleged to be haunted.

When it comes to the world of literary imagination, ghosts are stock and trade for suspense authors—from Edgar Allan Poe and Mary Shelley of yesteryear to Stephen King and Dean Koontz today. “We have been telling each other tales of otherness for a long time,” wrote author Neil Gaiman. “Stories that prickle the flesh and make the shadows deeper remind us that there is something remarkable about the state of being alive.

Georgia authors are no strangers to ghosts in their writing—and some are closely associated with homes said to be inhabited by ghosts. Here is a journey through a few.

COVER STORY

The LP Grant Mansion in Atlanta was built by railroad man and banker Lemuel Grant in 1856. It was the birthplace of golf legend Bobby Jones. By the early 1940s, the house had become rundown. Gone with the Wind bestselling author Margaret Mitchell loaned money to Boyd Taylor, owner of Grant Mansion at the time, but later sued him.

Mitchell died a year following their quarrel.

But Taylor was convinced Mitchell had forgiven him for their spat because every spring her spirit visited Grant Mansion, bringing jonquils from her Oakland Cemetery gravesite.

The Wren’s Nest in Atlanta was built around 1870 and served as the home of author Joel Chandler Harris of Uncle Remus fame from 1881 until 1908. Members of the Georgia Ghost Society, invited to inspect the home, heard a loud ringing noise and saw a figure of a woman walking toward a closet and a man’s face in a mirror. Even Lain Shakespeare, a descendant of Harris, asked the Southeastern Institute of Paranormal Research to conduct a paranormal investigation at the house.

Since then, unexplained noises have been heard on audio clips, unidentified figures have been seen wandering the halls, and objects on the property have teleported.

Eatonton’s most famous ghost is Sylvia.

Sylvia resided (some say continues to live) in Panola Hall, the home of Dr. Benjamin and Louise Prudden Hunt, purchased in 1891. Dr. Hunt is best known for his work with Louis Pasteur and contributions to the dairy industry. Sylvia’s fame started with a poem written by Louise. Her book of poetry, titled Poems and Other Writings of Mrs. B.W. Hunt, was published shortly after she died in 1929.

Today, Panola Hall is a highlight of Haunted Eatonton ghost walks held every October.

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COVER STORY

Savannah is home to the Mercer-Williams home built by the great-grandfather of Georgia Writers Hall of Fame honoree, Johnny Mercer. The house was the scene of the 1981 killing of Danny Hansford by the home’s owner, Jim Williams, a story retold in the John Berendt book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

The Pirate’s House, a 1794 Savannah home and herb garden, was featured in Robert Louis Stevenson’s book, Treasure Island.

Today a restaurant, it became a popular tavern of pirates who used a unique recruiting tactic: they got an innocent soul drunk and then transported the “recruit” through a tunnel to the shores of the Savannah River. By the time the kidnapped shipmate awoke, he was on board way out at sea. Locals say Captain Flint, from Treasure Island fame, died in the house and his spirit remains there.

The Helicon (source) of too many poets is not a hill crowned with sunshine and visited by the Muses and the Graces,” wrote poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “but an old, moldering house, full of gloom and haunted by ghosts.

EAT YOUR WORDS

It may seem strange for a Chef to take inspiration from a Voodoo root doctor.

But when asked to do a chef story for this issue of Page Turner, I kept coming back to Valerie Boles, better known as “Minerva,” the mysterious voodoo priestess in the bestselling book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

She was hired by Mercer-Williams homeowner Jim Williams to use her “magic” to influence his murder trials by spreading goofer powders on the chairs and under the tables in the court room.

Chefs use the term “seasoning” when adding flavors; root doctors use “goofer powders.” Goofer powders contain a variety of ingredients, usually with a base of “grave dust,” to change the purpose of the powder and the spell.

Some believe Williams shunned Valerie Boles after his trials were over, possibly cheating her out of a large sum he had promised. Some think his mysterious death only eight months after his acquittal was caused by one of Boles’ goofer powders. It is thought that Boles, in retaliation, made a slow-acting contact poison which she placed on the front door of the Mercer House when no one else was home, and removed it once Williams had touched it.

My recipe contains no poisons! The basic ingredients are all Cajun spices used for a variety of foods including chicken, salmon, ribs, and dishes like gumbo and jambalaya. If you prefer less heat, cut back on the cayenne, or use chili powder instead. You can also alter the tastes by substituting cayenne for ginger, or black pepper for white pepper. If you really want to bring up the heat, get some Peri Peri spice blend. Just be careful to whom you serve it, or you may be on the receiving end of someone else’s goofer powder!

Chef Brent’s Voodoo Seasoning Recipe 2 Tablespoons Salt 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar 1 Tablespoon Paprika 1 Tablespoon Smoked Paprika 1 Tablespoon Cayenne 1 Tablespoon Garlic 1 Tablespoon Onion 1 Tablespoon Black Pepper 2 Teaspoons Basil 1 Teaspoon Parsley Chicken: Rub chicken with a little olive oil, then sprinkle with seasoning. Let sit for 30 minutes and grill or pan fry. Works for cubed chicken for gumbo or jambalaya.

Salmon: Place 8-ounce salmon steaks on sheets of aluminum foil. Coat seasoning on the salmon and place two pads of butter on top. Wrap and bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or to an internal temperature of 145 degrees.

Chef Brent lives in Eatonton, Georgia, where he does private chef work, mixes and sells his own seasoning, and researches food for GWM’s Meet the Author events.

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Match the Book to the Author!

Find the answers on page 58.

A. Stephen King B. Shirley Jackson C. Jay Anson

D. William Peter Blatty E. Bram Stoker F. Mary Shelley

BUSINESS OF AUTHORING

Marketing Through Connections

by Chip Bell

People only buy books they know about, and today that starts with social media, not bookstores. All social gatherings have manners.

When you go to a party, you know to have fun but not start fights. Manners are particularly true for social media, since it can be anonymous. Positive influence comes through being nice, being networked, and being distinguished. Here are three ways to accomplish that.

Create a Buzz About Your Book Start marketing your new book before you finish writing it. Identify your target market and go to school on them—what they read, what websites they visit. Find ways to get your book (or excerpts) in front of them. Pull out short teaser chapters and send them to blog sites or online magazines likely read by your target audience. Get your book cover early and make photos of it everywhere (in the fruit section of the grocery store, on a stream bank, etc.). Cover photos make super backdrops for posts on your social media outreach.

If you have a business card, put a photo of your book cover on the back. Always have a copy of your book with you since you never know when you might be able to hand it to a key influencer. It is not about being a shameless marketer; it is about honoring the special gift bestowed upon you.

Help Other Authors Become Successful When you read another author’s blog you enjoy, send it to your followers. Give away books, especially to those who can help you promote, write a review, or encourage others to purchase your new book. Invite key influencers (especially other authors) to post guest blogs on your website and ask them for a chance to reciprocate. Don’t be limited to your connections; borrow others’ connections. Mention other authors in your posts and blogs (and send them a copy of the posts).

“If writing and publishing a book is like giving birth to a child,” wrote Heather Hart, “then book marketing is like rearing it.” Rear it well.

Check Your Humility at the Door Speak at civic, association, club, and church gatherings attended by your target audience.

Always use a handout that includes information about your new book. Make certain your teasers have the words, “Adapted from the forthcoming book…”

Chip R. Bell is an award-winning, best-selling author and serves on the board of Georgia Writers Museum.

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Uncle Remus Museum 214 Oak St. Eatonton, GA 31024 Monday - Saturday 10am - 5pm Sunday 1pm - 4pm (706) 485-6856

PROFILE OF A GEORGIA WRITER

DONALD WINDHAM

by Jim Auchmutey

Donald Windham was a novelist and memoirist who grew up in Atlanta and migrated to New York, where he became an intimate of literary giants such as Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote. He is best known for his 1963 memoir, Emblems of Conduct.

Windham was born in 1920 to a family that had once had money and blahhaha

still inhabited a grand Victorian house on Atlanta’s Peachtree Street. Then his father abandoned the family and they had to move to the Techwood Homes housing project. Windham went to work rolling barrels at a Coca-Cola warehouse. The house was demolished, leaving the family only a stained-glass window to remember the old days.

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PROFILE OF A GEORGIA WRITER

“Hard work and no success,” he wrote of those years.

Windham reached a larger audience during the 1960s, when he wrote a series of essays about his Atlanta childhood for The New Yorker and turned them into Emblems of Conduct, a bittersweet remembrance of his family’s fall from prosperity. A later collection of his correspondence with Williams sparked a public feud between the two. Windham wrote about Williams and Capote in another memoir, 1987’s Lost Friendships.

When he died in 2010, Windham surprised his friends by leaving a large gift to Yale University to endow literary prizes that annually award $165,000 apiece to eight fiction and nonfiction writers. No one knew he had those kinds of resources. Among his other talents, Windham had apparently been a shrewd investor.

Donald Windham and Sandy Campbell

In 1950, Windham published his first novel, The Dog Star, about a young Southerner whose best friend commits suicide. More novels and short stories followed, all critically acclaimed but few selling well.

Windham left Atlanta as soon as he could, arriving in New York on a Greyhound bus, nearly penniless at nineteen. He fell in with Williams, a playwright on the verge of success, and they shared quarters for a short time and wrote a play together. He soon became a fixture of the gay literary scene, befriending an array of arts luminaries that included Gore Vidal, George Balanchine, and Montgomery Clift.

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Jim Auchmutey is a former writer and editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, specializing in stories about the South and its history and culture.

Sept. 26-29, 2024

georgiawritersmuseum.org/southern-fried-crime-con/

Georgia Writer Quotes “The writer is by nature a dreamer—a conscious dreamer.”

—Carson McCullers

“When it comes to memoir, we want to catch the author in a lie. When we read fiction, we want to catch the author telling the truth.”

—Tayari Jones

“A good heavy book holds you down. It’s an anchor that keeps you from getting up and having another gin and tonic.”

—Roy Blount Jr.

TOWNSEND

TOWNSEND PRIZE

Every other year a panel of judges awards the Townsend Prize for Fiction to an outstanding novel or short story collection published by a Georgia writer during the past two years. The award is named for Jim Townsend, the founding editor of Atlanta magazine, the associate editor of Atlanta Weekly Magazine (of the Atlanta JournalConstitution), and an early mentor to such Atlanta writers as Pat Conroy, Terry Kay, William Diehl, and Anne Rivers Siddons.

TOWNSEND PRIZE

1982

1984

1986

1988 Alice Walker, The Color Purple Philip Lee Williams, The Heart of a Distant Forest Mary Hood, And Venus Is Blue

1989

1990

1991

1994 Sara Flanigan, Alice Charlie Smith, The Lives of the Dead Ferrol Sams, When All the World Was Young Pam Durban, The Laughing Place

1996

1998

2000

2002

JoAllen Bradham, Some Personal Papers Judson Mitcham, The Sweet Everlasting James Kilgo, Daughter of My People Ha Jin, The Bridegroom

2004

2006

2008

2010 Terry Kay, The Valley of Light Judson Mitcham, Sabbath Creek Renee Dodd, A Cabinet of Wonders Kathryn Stockett, The Help

2012

2014

2016

2018 Thomas Mullen, The Many Deaths of the Firefly Brothers Anthony Winkler, God Carlos Mary Hood, A Clear View of the Southern Sky Julia Franks, Over the Plain Houses

2020

2023 Xhenet Aliu, Brass Sanjena Sathian, Gold Diggers

PAST TOWNSEND WINNERS

Celestine Sibley, Children, My Children

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TOWNSEND PRIZE

Meet Mary Hood, 1988 & 2016 Winner Mary Hood was born in Brunswick, Georgia, in 1946. Her father was an aircraft worker, her mother a Latin teacher. She graduated from high school in Sylvester, Georgia, and moved to Clayton County, just outside Atlanta Atlanta, where she commuted to Georgia State University. After completing her degree in Spanish, she worked as a librarian in Douglasville, Georgia, for two years.

She did graduate work in Chemistry at Georgia Tech, but elected to devote full-time to writing.

She moved to the banks of Lake Allatoona, where she lived and wrote for thirty years. When the rural area became more of an Atlanta bedroom community, she moved to Commerce, Georgia, where she lives today. dancing Mary has authored three short story collections: How Far She Went, And Venus is Blue, and A Clear View of the Southern Sky; two novellas: And Venus is Blue (also the title of her second short story collection) and Seam Busters; and a novel: Familiar Heat. She also regularly publishes essays and reviews in literary and popular magazines.

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Stephen Corey, then editor of The Georgia Review, wrote in the September 2013 issue, “Mary Hood is one of the two or three most brilliant and perceptive people I have ever encountered, and no short fiction writer in in the country can be convincingly argued to have been better than she over the past thirty-five years.”

In 1996, she held the Grisham Chair (after John Grisham) at the University of Mississippi at Oxford. She was the first writer-inresidence at Berry College in 1997–1998, Reinhardt University in 2001, and Oxford College of Emory University in 2009. In the spring of 2010, she held the Ferrol Sams Distinguished Chair of English at Mercer University.

Mary was inducted into the Georgia writer Writers Hall of Fame in 2014. She has won the Townsend Award for Fiction twice—in 1988 for And Venus is Blue and in 2016 for A Clear View of the Southern Sky. Additionally, she won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction (1984) for How Far She Went and the Lillian Smith Book Award (1987) for And Venus is Blue.

TOWNSEND PRIZE

Excerpts from a Conversation with Author Mary Hood Dr. Hugh Ruppersburg, Professor of English at the University of Georgia, interviewed Mary Hood on March 4, 2015, after she was inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame. The 90+ minute interview profoundly revealed the mysterious power of this gifted author. Her answers seemed to source a groundwater of literary talent with unknown depth and mystical origin. Here are short excerpts from some of her answers to some of the questions. The entire interview is available on YouTube and is being used with the written permission of Dr. Ruppersburg and the UGA Hargrett Rare Books and Manuscript Library.

When you were a child, what kinds of things did you like to read?

I read what I call “true books” because they were true. I wanted knowledge. By the time I got here, my family already knew how to do everything, and I just wanted to catch up.

Facts seemed a way to do it. And so true things interested me, stlll do—the name of birds, why grass bends over, the names of the different masses.

Do you still read books about facts?

I read everything. I read somewhere that Shakespeare’s library would have been periodicals and almanacs, and Argosy and true detective and all kinds of stuff because he had an interest in the lurid details of life.

That made me feel a little better about my reading tastes.

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TOWNSEND PRIZE

How did you come to start writing as your vocation?

What do you see in the future as it relates to your writing?

I was eight when I started writing things down, making up a story that would go on and on. I think it was like crocheting, and I had a lot of thread. But I did not publish anything until I was 32. I wrote a novel and sent it to an editor named Jonathan Galassi, who turned out was Pat Conroy’s editor. He sent my book back and said, “You seem to have a problem with point of view.” I didn’t know what that meant. I was upset by it. Over the next few years of sending and getting back without comment, I learned that what success meant had to come from me and not from them. I wanted to be a writer. I did send The Georgia Review a story. I got back a tiny letter that said, “We're accepting this.”

After that, I mined through my ledger of previous writings, and I’d bring things out.

I like what Philip Larkin said—“What will survive of us is love.” And I hope that’s what shows up more and more in what I’m writing. I always wanted people to just do better. Couldn’t you just notice somebody sitting alone at lunch and sit with him? And when the short bus comes in with the kids who are challenged, not let them sit at the back where we don’t have to see them. I just write about the people nobody wants to see. Pat Conroy said in South Carolina, “I didn’t want to know about these people.

I’ve never wanted to know about these people. I’ve never even noticed these people. And now I’ve cried about these people.” That’s what I have always wanted. ★

You seem to see the South as the place that is your subject, but not a place that commands your loyalties.

I write about people who are marginalized, either by being new or being overlooked. I did a lot of listening growing up. Granddaddies had a porch, you know, with rockers.

And we just listened. Kids had a sort of a ring outside the older people’s and the stories were very important.

Usually funny. There was a lot of fun about the natural propensity of human beings to make assets of themselves over and over. And so we were always seeing human beings in a narrative context.

Photo by William Walsh, provided by The Georgia Review

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A CLEAR VIEW OF THE SOUTHERN SKY

by Mary Hood

TOWNSEND PRIZE

A Clear View of the Southern Sky tells ten stories of women at the edge of their known worlds. Some find the courage to move on; others seek the patience to stay. In the title story, a satellite dish company promises that happiness requires just a TV and a clear view of the southern sky. The story reveals the journey of a Hispanic woman whose mission is to assassinate a mass murderer. We follow her into the shadow of an enormous satellite dish on a roof across from the courthouse, and ultimately into a women’s prison class where she must confront her life.

In other stories, Hood introduces us to a kindergarten teacher, stunned by a student’s blurted-out question, as she discovers her deepest vocation and the mystery of its source. We meet a widow who befriends a young neighbor, only to realize they must keep secrets from each other. A woman trucker discovers the depth of her love as she imagines her cell phone calls―and her sweetheart’s own messages―winging their way along her interstate route. The collection concludes with the novella, “Seam Busters,” in which a diverse cast of women workers in a rural Georgia mill sew camouflage for U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

“In the collection's foreword, Pat Conroy compares Hood to Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood, saying she 'blew into my reading life with hurricane-force winds' ― a fitting description of these unsettling tales." ―Atlanta JournalConstitution

"A Clear View of the Southern Sky is a transcendent work of art and an intense reminder of what a great writer can achieve. Mary Hood is an American treasure, and this new book solidifies her place among the very best of our time." ―Philip Lee Williams, author of The Flower Seeker

"In A Clear View of the Southern Sky. . . every sentence is so delicately polished, so deliberately paced, the result is a treasury of 10 small masterpieces." ―Teresa Weaver, Atlanta magazine

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APRIL 16, 2025

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CALLANWOLDE FINE ARTS CENTER ATLANTA, GA

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THE WOMAN WITH THE CURE

READER’S CORNER

Reviewed by Raymond L. Atkins

I was a child of the 1950s, and although I don’t remember much of my earliest days, I do remember polio. It was more the rule than the exception in those days to have some classmates in wheelchairs or on crutches, and occasionally to have one disappear completely, never to return. And while I don’t recall the fear that must have accompanied that reality, I know that it was always there in the minds of my parents and the other adults in my childhood, an underlayment of dread for the children of the world. The Woman with the Cure,

by Lynn Cullen, is the remarkable story of why and how this is no longer the case.

The Woman with the Cure is the story of Dr. Dorothy Horstmann, a relatively unknown researcher who, unlike her more famous colleagues Albert Sabin and Jonas Salk, was driven to defeat the disease regardless of the accolades that would accompany that accomplishment. Her quest to end the scourge of polio was even more remarkable because, as a woman who dared to walk the male-dominated halls of medicine in the 1940s and 1950s, she had to overcome the prejudices that were always present as well as the limited technology available to scientists at that time. Dorothy and her peers were attempting to defeat a foe they could not even see, and they were always aware that summer—polio season—was just around the corner, and that when the weather turned warm, the cycle of misery would begin again.

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READER’S CORNER

Lynn Cullen is an artist, and historical fiction is her canvas. She has that rare ability to take a series of facts from history books and to weave from them stories of real people going about the business of living their lives as they build for us the world we now occupy. She does not tell us of iron lungs and hot wool wraps; instead, she sketches portraits of stoic children suffering those well-meaning remedies while attended by caring nurses and doctors who are more than aware of the limitations of their ministrations, and of their inability to relieve the agonies of gravely ill children. The Woman with the Cure is an amazing book—an important book as well—that reminds us that what we know is only what we think we know, and that at the heart of history lies people.

Lynn Cullen is the bestselling author of historical novels The Sisters of Summit Avenue, Twain’s End, Mrs. Poe, Reign of Madness, and I Am Rembrandt’s Daughter.

Her novel, Mrs. Poe, was named a Book of the Week by People Magazine, a Target Book Club Pick, an NPR 2013 Great Read, and an Indie Next List selection.

Reviewed by Raymond L. Atkins, author of Set List and They All Rest in the Boneyard Now. In 2017, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Georgia Writers Association.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND

WRITERS

Retreat ‘24 November 6 - 9, 2024

For more information, visit: atlantawritersclub.regfox.com/awc-gwm-writingretreat-on-st-simons-island

READER’S CORNER

How to Give Book Reviews —and Why

by George Weinstein

If you want to encourage others to discover the books you love, the best thing you can do is to tell your friends and family about them and recommend those books to strangers through online reviews.

Keep it simple: tell people how your favorite books make you feel. You’ll be doing your fellow readers and the authors who depend on them a huge favor.

You don’t need to compose a book report like you did in school. Instead, just write a few sentences about how the book made you feel. If you’re reviewing a nonfiction book, tell what insights you gleaned and what you learned.

Also include a sentence or two about your response to the main characters (“I love the heroine! I want to take her out for coffee!”) and your reaction to the overall story and reading experience—“Couldn’t put it down,” “Didn’t want it to end.” As a bonus, if the language is well crafted, give that a nod in your review too.

Why bother to go to this effort?

First, it’s likely you’ve benefitted from others’ reviews. Posting your feelings about a book is the best way to pay that forward to help other readers find the next book they’ll love.

Secondly, and selfishly, recommendations from trusted friends and family along with online reviews are the most influential things that drive sales. Books are no different than any other products: sales are often determined by the number and kinds of reviews they receive.

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George Weinstein is the twice-former President and current Executive Director of the historic Atlanta Writers Club (AWC), which was founded in 1914.

SPOTLIGHT: GEORGIA INDIE BOOKSTORE

The Crazy Book Lady If there is one feature that makes The Crazy Book Lady in Acworth stand out in a crowded field of bookstores, it is the strong loyalty of their customers. Since Amazon came on the market as the 500-pound book-selling gorilla, independent bookstores have too often been forced to close. Not The Crazy Book Lady. Through their strong community engagement, they maintained their competitive advantage through loyal readers, RPG gaming enthusiasts who cherish making connections and running games, and through their diverse monthly events like craft nights and book clubs. These activities foster a strong, unique bond with their community, creating a welcoming space for anyone seeking friendship.

They constantly aim to pleasantly surprise their customers with an evolving array of new reading material and their monthly events. In their dedicated event space, they host activities ranging from Bingo nights and book-themed crafts to genrespecific book clubs like Thriller, Horror, and even a Tik-Tok-inspired book club. Their monthly highlights include Open Mic Poetry nights and game nights every Friday, along with weekly local author signings, ensuring there is always something new and exciting happening.

thecrazybookladyga.com 5058 Cherokee St, Acworth, GA 30101

678 - 695 - 3064

“We want The Crazy Book Lady Bookstore to be remembered as a comprehensive library that offered “something to offend everybody,” says owner Stacey Olsen. “This is our playful way of saying we provide a rich, diverse collection that caters to all interests, backgrounds, and social statuses. Our goal is for every visitor to discover something new about the world and themselves.”

The Crazy Book Lady is not resting on its present success. Their immediate focus is on computerizing their extensive inventory to enhance efficiency and accessibility. This digital transition will enable them to better meet their customers’ evolving needs. While embracing technology, they also plan to expand and strengthen their skilled team to continue effectively serving their community.

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SPOTLIGHT: GEORGIA INDIE BOOKSTORE

Book Bound goes the extra mile to make the story a “destination” for readers—from large, open space so that customers aren’t overwhelmed with rows and rows of books, to small reading areas, especially for kids who wish to spend a little more time choosing the right book. Book Bound is about creating great memories—memories of a book that was recommended, memories of an event the bookstore held, memories of the store’s contribution to the community, and especially memories of personal relationships formed at the bookstore that made a difference in people’s lives.

Successful businesses have a secret sauce—that distinctive differentiator that sets them apart from their competition.

For Book Bound Bookstore in Blairsville, GA, that special something can be summed up in one word—PASSION. “I have a passion for reading and literacy and a passion for community that spills over into everything we do at Book Bound,” says owner Sharon Davis.

“My love of sharing books and fostering a sense of community can be seen in the curation of books and my events program.”

When asked, “How will the bookstore change to anticipate changing customer’s needs and expectations?” Davis fervently says, “The book industry may change. Technology may impact readers a little. And we may change how some events are done. But there is nothing that can change the feeling of holding a book. The smell of the pages, the texture of the paper, and the excitement of what’s to come will never change.”

Walk in the front door of Book Bound and you are immediately engulfed in a cozy, personable, welcoming experience that is coupled with a great book selection. The bookstore prides itself in being a perpetually community-focused role model.

bookboundbooks.com 32 Town Sq. C. Blairsville, GA 30512

706 - 897 - 4198

GREENSBORO WRITERS GUILD! Positive and productive feedback for all genres and levels of writing.

IN-PERSON 1st & 3rd Tuesdays @ 1pm

ZOOM Last Tuesdays @ 1pm

Lake Oconee Church of Christ, 4700 Carey Station Rd., Greensboro, GA 30642

MORE INFORMATION? Kathy Wright Barb Griffiths Betty Liedtke (706) 817-0345 (404) 693-4045 (706) 991-5387

PROFILE OF A BRAND-NEW GEORGIA AUTHOR

DR. DL MITCHELL AUTHOR TO THE PETS DL Mitchell is the author of Trust the Terrier: A Coral Shores Veterinary Mystery and a 2024 nominee for Georgia Author of the Year for Mystery/Suspense. As an Atlantabased practicing small animal veterinarian, she brings her unique perspective to the world of mystery fiction. Her transition to a house-call concierge veterinary practice has enriched her storytelling with firsthand encounters and insights into the human-animal bond. We caught up with Dr. Mitchell for a brief interview.

What most inspired you to become an author?

It began with my love of mysteries. As a kid, my best friend and I channeled our inner Nancy Drew, and would pick someone to tail around a small-town main street. We’d dart in and out of stores and hide around corners while we followed some unsuspecting citizen out running errands. We actually stumbled into a real-life case where the police were called. I was captivated.

What was the most helpful resource that enabled you to complete your book?

My membership in the Atlanta Writers Club and the Atlanta Chapter of Sisters in Crime.

These writing communities provided me with a safe place and the resources to work on my writing skills, find mentors, and gain access to the publishing industry through my attendance at the biannual Atlanta Writers Conference. I signed up for early manuscript critiques and took advantage of pitch sessions and panel discussions.

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PROFILE OF A BRAND-NEW GEORGIA AUTHOR

What was the biggest obstacle to becoming a published author?

Learning to be patient. I’m a ‘get it done’ kind of person. I received some great advice early on— you either write ten novels and the eleventh gets published, or you rewrite your first novel eleven times before it gets published. Writing takes time.

What advice would you give an aspiring author?

Get involved. Join local writers’ clubs, critique groups, book clubs, and keep reading. Go to meetings and conferences—be a sponge.

Tell us about your next book.

Parrot Prose, the second book in the Coral Shores series, will be released February 2025 by Black Rose Writing. ★

GA and Marietta

CHILDREN’S CORNER

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CHILDREN’S CORNER

Go Forth and Tell Before Augusta Braxton Baker became a storyteller, she was an excellent story listener.

Her grandmother brought stories like Br’er Rabbit and Arthur and Excalibur to life. When she grew up, Mrs. Baker began telling her own fantastical stories to children at the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library in Harlem. But she noticed there were hardly any books at the library featuring Black people in respectful, uplifting ways. Thus began her life journey of championing books, writers, librarians, and teachers centering on Black stories, along the way educating and inspiring future acclaimed authors like Audre Lorde and James Baldwin. As Mrs. Baker herself put it: “Children of all ages want to hear stories. Select well, prepare well, and then go forth and just tell.”

Dial Books February 6, 2024 40 pages For Ages 5-8

Author

Breanna McDaniel is the awardwinning author of the picture book Hands Up! and Impossible Moon. A graduate of Emory University and Simmons University, she completed her PhD in 2022.

CHILDREN’S CORNER

Blood Justice Author

Terry J. Benton-Walker grew up in rural Georgia and now lives in Atlanta with his husband and son, where he writes fiction for all ages. He has an Industrial Engineering degree from Georgia Tech and an MBA from Georgia State.

Cristina and Clement Trudeau have invented the impossible: justice. They took back their family’s stolen throne to lead New Orleans’ magical community into the brighter future they all deserve. But when Cris and Clem restored their family power, Valentina Savant lost everything. Her beloved grandparents are gone, her sovereignty revoked—she will never be Queen. Unless someone dethrones the Trudeaus again. And she’s not the only one trying to take them down.

Tor Teen April 23, 2024 480 pages For Ages 13-18

Cris and Clem have enemies coming from all directions: Hateful anti-magic protesters sabotage their reign at every turn. A ruthless detective with a personal vendetta against magical crime is hot on their tail just as Cris has discovered her thirst for revenge. And a brutal god, hunting from the shadows, is summoned by the very power Clem needs to protect the boy he loves.

Cris’s hunger for vengeance and Clem’s desire for love could prove to be their family’s downfall, all while new murders, shocking disappearances, and impossible alliances are changing the game forever. Kirkus Reviews described the book as “A supernatural force of satisfying fury.”

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CHILDREN’S CORNER

Molly’s Tuxedo Molly’s school picture day is coming up, and she wants to have a perfect portrait taken to hang on their wall. Her mom has picked out a nice dress for her, but Molly knows from experience that dresses are trouble. They have tight places and hard-to-reach zippers, and worst of all, no pockets! Luckily, she has the perfect thing to save picture day—her brother’s old tuxedo!

But mom doesn’t want her to wear a tuxedo in the photo; she thinks Molly looks best in the dress. Can Molly find the courage to follow her heart and get her mom to realize just how awesome she’d look in a tux?

“My hopes for Molly’s Tuxedo,” wrote its author, “are that young readers come away knowing it’s okay to listen to their inner compass, to be brave, and to be themselves, even if it means they make different choices than others. I want them to know they are perfect just the way they are.” Molly’s Tuxedo is a 2024 NCTE Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children Recommended Book, a 2024 ALA Rainbow List Selection, and a 2023 Ontario Library Association Top Ten ‘Best Bets’ Picture Books selection.

Author

Vicki Johnson was born and raised in rural Georgia. A graduate of Smith College and Emory Law School, she also studied in the Writing for Children & Young Adults MFA program at Vermont College.

little bee books June 27, 2023 40 pages For Ages 4-8

CHILDREN’S CORNER

K9 Mattis on the Job Profiled by Cheryl Hilderbrand K9 Mattis On the Job: A Day in the Life of a Police Dog outlines the daily routine of a working police dog from wake-up to clock-out. The author, Sergeant Mark Tappan, trained the real-life Mattis and worked with him for six years.

In this upbeat story that guides 3-7-yearolds through a regular day with Mattis and Sergeant Mark, readers will also discover the unique skills of German Shepherds and how they help the police find evidence and catch “bad guys.” Side bars on each double-page spread offer fun facts: German Shepherds can obey voice and hand commands; run 30 miles per hour; smell items up to 40 feet underground and up to a mile and a half away.

Mattis is an award-winning police dog who loves his work. He loves to sniff, chase, and search.

Mattis and Sergeant Mark sharpen their skills by practicing two hours every day.

Mattis loves this practice time. But it is not his favorite thing.

Donald Wu’s cheerful illustrations show Mattis and Sergeant Mark doing their important police work on a typical day and finally reveal their mutual happiness when Mattis gets to do his “favorite thing.”

Cheryl Hilderbrand is a former educator who writes for her local weekly newspaper and serves on her county's library board.

Tommy Nelson March 12, 2024 32 pages For Ages 3-8

Author Mark Tappan is a K9 unit trainer and SWAT team member of the Alpharetta (GA) Police Department. Mattis is one of the most decorated police K9s of all time.

Andalusia 2628 N Columbia St. Milledgeville, GA 31061 Tuesday - Saturday 10am - 4pm Sunday 2pm - 4pm (478) 445-8722

MEET A PAGE TURNER TEAM MEMBER

by Emme Clause This is the realization Betty Liedtke came to shortly after she became a certified Dream Coach in 2009, and started helping people to achieve their dreams and goals, while discovering strengths and skills they didn’t even know they had.

Her love of writing and of coaching aren’t mutually exclusive, and she particularly enjoys coaching other writers. “Especially people who don’t think of themselves as writers, but who have an inspiring or powerful story that needs to get out into the world,” she adds.

As a Dream Coach, Betty guides people through exercises to find confidence and clarity on achieving their life goals, whatever they may be. But she is more than that, as she shines in every aspect of life.

Before moving to Georgia seven years ago, Betty wrote an award-winning newspaper column for 16 years in the weekly Chanhassen Villager. She still writes regularly on her blog, Find Your Buried Treasure, where she takes pieces of her daily life and develops them into inspiring lessons.

She is a firm believer not only in people and their hidden powers, but in life’s way of offering up valuable teachings. This is the basis of her book, Find Your Buried Treasure—Nuggets Mined from Everyday Life.

In her book, Betty delves into various experiences of her own that provide insights on life, like finally paying attention to the quote on her favorite coffee mug, for example. Or cleaning out the refrigerator!

She has a knack for delving deep into “mundane” or “ordinary” moments, which is complemented by an excellent sense of humor. Her writing feels like talking to an old friend that never loses their familiarity.

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MEET A PAGE TURNER TEAM MEMBER

She is also featured in Fearless Women, Fearless Wisdom, a book highlighting women’s stories, connecting them all through photography by Mary Ann Halpin. In the book, Betty discusses her fight with breast cancer and severe heart damage, as well as the difficulty of saying goodbye when her two children moved away, one for the Marines and the other for a college 1,500 miles away. Betty is a fearless woman, through and through.

Betty is also a 20-year veteran of Toastmasters International. She held a number of offices and competed often in speech contests. Here, she sharpened her speaking skills and leadership abilities. Others began to recognize that her voice had power, and soon she realized they were right!

Add traveler to her list—Betty has enjoyed visiting a number of countries around the world, as well as numerous trips to Uganda, which is something she had never imagined herself doing. “Nobody has ever mistaken me for Indiana Jones,” she joked. “People who knew me well would say, ‘How did you end up going to Uganda?’ and I would answer, ‘God only knows.’ And I really meant that!”

Her first trip to Uganda came about when a woman from Uganda—now a close friend—visited Betty’s Toastmasters club and heard her give a speech. She believed Betty’s voice would be a powerful inspiration to women living in Ki-Mombasa, a slum outside of the capital. In Uganda, Betty listened to these women’s stories, and showed them support and guidance in her special way. She offered them possibly the most important thing—love.

When Betty and her husband made the move from Minnesota to Georgia, she was pleasantly surprised by the rich literary environment she found herself in, and soon joined both Georgia Writers Museum and the Greensboro Writers Guild.

GWM has given Betty another space to light up with her humor and talents. She serves as the secretary and commissioning editor, and is a member of the programs and education committees. Betty is kept busy with all of her duties, but when she isn’t hard at work, you might find her reading a new book, crocheting, solving a word puzzle, or—her favorite activity of all—spending time with her children and grandchildren.

Emme Clause is a freelance writer for the Eatonton Messenger and the graphic designer for Page Turner. She completed a degree in creative writing at Georgia College and State University.

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LITERARY EVENTS

SUMMER EVENTS July, August, September 2024 Atlanta Writers Club

Georgia Writers Museum

July 20 In-person at the Lilburn Public Library

July 16 Meet the Author with Lynn Cullen

Locations vary, please check the website.

August 17 In-person at GSU-Dunwoody August 21 Online Quarterly Webinar Series Part 3 at 7 pm Eastern

109 S. Jefferson Ave. Eatonton, GA 31024

July 18 GA Writers Hall of Fame Book Club Alice Walker, Meridian

September 21 In-person at GSU-Dunwoody

July 26 Crime & Wine with Sheryl “Mac” McCollum

September 26 Online Quarterly Webinar Series Part 3 at 7 pm Eastern

August 6 Meet the Author with Lo Patrick August 10 Writers Workshop with Colin Wheeler August 15 Flannery O’Connor Book Club with Dr. Bruce Gentry September 3 Meet the Author with Jan Slimming September 9 Writers Workshop with Jim Auchmutey September 16 Spooky Story Contest Opens

Quiz Answers: 1. B. 2. D. 3. E. 4. F. 5. A. 6. C. PAGE TURNER MAGAZINE

September 26-29 Southern Fried Crime Con[ference]

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Contact Chip Bell at chip@chipbell.com |

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FRIENDS

Friends of Page Turner Andalusia 2628 N. Columbia St. Milledgeville, GA 31061 (478) 445-8722 Book Bound Bookstore 32 Town Sq. C. Blairsville, GA 30512 (706) 897-4198 bookboundbooks.com

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BookLogix 1264 Old Alpharetta Rd. Alpharetta, GA 30005 (470) 239-8547 booklogix.com

The Writer’s High thewritershigh.com

Cold Case Investigative ​Research Institute coldcasefoundation.org The Crazy Book Lady 5058 Cherokee St. Acworth, GA 30101 (678) 695-3064 thecrazybookladyga.com Greensboro Writers Guild Lake Oconee Church of Christ 4700 Carey Station Rd. Greensboro GA 30642 Little Shop of Stories 133 E. Court Square #A Decatur, GA 30030 (404) 373-6300 littleshopofstories.com Magic Time Literary Publicity magictimeliterary.com The Atlanta Writers Club atlantawritersclub.org The Artisans Village 110 W Marion St. Eatonton, GA 31024 (706) 623-7757 theartisansvillage.org

Smith Communications 100 N Jefferson Ave. Eatonton, GA 31024 (706) 485-3501 Southern Indie Booksellers Alliance 51 Pleasant Ridge Drive Asheville, NC 28805 (803) 994-9530 sibaweb.com Sylvia's Coffee 111 S Jefferson Ave. Eatonton, GA 31024 Uncle Remus Museum 214 Oak St. Eatonton, GA 31024 (706) 485-6856 uncleremusmuseum.org Visit Eatonton 108 W. Marion Street Eatonton, GA 31024 (706) 485-7701 visiteatonton.com

SUMMER 2024 | ISSUE 3

Brave and Kind Bookshop 722 W. College Ave. Decatur, GA 30030 (470) 440-5714 braveandkindbooks.com

Print & Sign Solutions 1023 Lake Oconee Pkwy, Suite B Eatonton GA 31024 (762) 220-1110 printsignsolutions.com

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