Keep Austin Weird continues.......

Dear Readers,
We like to never found a parking spot at Book People. The only available spots were marked SMALL CARS ONLY. I don't think they were prepared for our Texas Cadillac, our humongous Silver Suburban emblazoned with my Hot Pink Book Cover. I parked out at the back ninety and we began our book trail drive in pulling out leopard suitcase full of Raquel Welch HairUWear products for the BIG HAIR MAKEOVERS I have been giving to a drawing winner at each shop. I am telling you, book people love to watch big hair makeovers, weird. Move over IRON CHEF, watch the Kat do a five minute BIG HAIR MAKEOVER!
As we finally arrived at the front door, there was my name up in lights on the marquee. Okay, I had to get a photo of that for sure. As we entered a BIG SIGN of my book cover, a front section of the front corner filled with my books. I had arrived home to the motherlode of Texas bookstores, BOOK PEOPLE!
Now this is a store to see and experience but give yourself a full day. Four stories of books with the most incredible sidelines I have ever seen. I quickly snapped upa Bookopoly game for my daughters birthday and a HOLY TOAST stamp for bread with the image of Jesus. Great for starting your day in prayer. Now don't tell me that is weird, okay.
We were escorted upstairs and the chairs for the event were almost filled and I spied friends, good friends. Author, Sarah Bird whose writing I adore to pieces. She even gave me a galley of her next book, WOO HOO! Author, Marci Henna was in the audience and brothers, Stayton and Walter Bonner who I adore. Stayton wrote the wonderful feature on me in The Austin Statesman that is helping send my book to superstardom. Both young men I helped their mother and them select books when they were children. This is the best thing that could have ever happened for me. To have those boys come and support my booksigning is God telling me, girl, you are doing your life's work and purpose. God Bless the Bonner boys. My best friends daughter who is a senior at U.T., Veronika was there to give me hugs and I introduced her to the Bonner boys and told them. "You are the next generation of Pulpwood Queens and Timber guys my friends. So I empowering you to make sure that my book club is not all baby boomer women. They laughed but the seed is planted, I have the feeling that it will grow big time.
Author Elizabeth Crooks too came up for a hug and to catch up. Good friends, my friends but boy, did I make a ton more. The place ended up packed and I had them in stitches. Surprise! I signed a ton of books and started TWO MORE CHAPTERS of the Pulpwood Queens! One in Austin and one in McDade. I also met a wonderful superindent of schools, Guylene, who invited to come speak to her teachers and students down in south Texas.
Susan was the BIG HAIR MAKEOVER winner. As I backcombed her hair and told the audience, "The higher the hair, the closer to God and we're jacking it up to Jesus", with the audience laughing, she replied as the straight man, "Well, that's great but I'm a Buddhist." I told her then I was taking her hair higher plane. Right on cue she retorted, "Just remember, I have a heart condition." I asked the laughing audience, "Is there was a doctor in the house", without skipping a beat continued, "cause she's going need one."
I think the event went over well. One man told me I needed to do stand up comedy. I told him, 'You mean do the same thing I did tonight but get paid?" We both had a good laugh on that one.
We spent a good hour after the event just checking out the store. Luckily, the store did not close until eleven. Carrying extra bags now The Pulpwood Queen entourage and I exited the store now to an empty parking lot. A girl sitting outside smoking a cigarette laughed outloud as the leopard parade passed her by. Yes, the Pulpwood Queens are weird and we felt right at home in Austin. Man, there are some really cool "BOOK PEOPLE" in out state's capital. I hope they invite me back, anytime, anytime...
Tiara wearing and weird book tour sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
www.beautyandthebook.com

Kathy Continues in Keeping Austin WEIRD!

Dear Readers,
Weird you say? What is so weird about Kathy or Austin? Okay, on our way to Austin we stopped at our prerequisite STARBUCKS! I firmly believe that Starbucks fits any traveling occasion. We met the wonderful store manager named Mike who we asked if there was a map of Starbucks across the country to help us with our travels. Mike then proceeded to show us on our cell phones, how to find a Starbucks anywhere at anytime. He was so helpful I signed one of my books and gave it to him. He then told me and The Pulpwood Queen Posse' that Starbucks holds booksignings of which we jumped up and down with glee. I blurted, "You mean I could travel the country to Starbucks, drink my latte's and sign books?" He told me in fact he was opening a new store in Houston at this huge mall and maybe I could come to Grand Opening. So I'm thinking what in the world? How weird would that be? We frantically exchanged contact information and we continued on our book blazing trail. Weird huh?
Then we arrived at a late hour to the Doubletree where we would be staying. We got in our jammies, wired from all the coffee, chatting like magpies, and I began flipping through a People magazine. You see, I had all these people emailing me I had an ad for my book in People. Yes, indeed I was and weirdly enough the one with the death of Heath Ledger on the cover. The Pulpwood Queens Posse' and I had been talking a lot of the untimely death of such a fine actor. The girls were flipping on the t.v. and the film "Brokeback Mountain" was beginning. Since it was late, the girls asked me to give them the synopsis of the movie then the next thing I knew we were all piled on the weird couch, (stay here, you'll see). The next thing I knew we were watching the whole thing. It was like 3:00 a.m. and we were all wide awake. We forced ourselves to go to bed as we had a Fox television show thing bright and early.
I awoke way before it was time to get up. Now you may think this is weird but it is not. I'm an early riser no matter what. We headed on over to the station downtown Austin and I spotted a Starbucks. Latte's in hand we hoofed it up the hill to be let in to the side door of studio.
Great time on the show! They asked all the right questions but I was kind of fascinated with the Sephora makeup artist who went on just before me. He had done Jewels makeup. I weirdly was thinking but I have done Art Garfunkel, top that buddy. But I digress.
After the show we went on the University of Texas campus to do a Kut radio NPR segment which was great! The reporter had read my book, loved it and we had a great time talking about my book. As we left the campus which looked like it was as diverse as could be. We kind of stuck out in out black beglittered and sequined cowboy hats but nobody blinked an eye. Weird huh!
Next we headed on to South Congress as I wanted to show all the girls what great shops and businesses that they had on the street. Pink, a hair salon, Blackmail, a shop where everything for sale is all black, the Turquiose Door with their Day of the Dead skeletons. As we traversed back and forth down the shops on the street I bought this darling skelton bride and groom ornament where they were dancing, a coffin ornament that when you pulled a string, a white haired skeleton popped out. Kay ended up buying some sour cream flavored crickets at The Big Top circus and candy shop for her grandsons. The highlight of the day for me was stopping at the CUPCAKE airstream trailer and buying these dee-lish 24 carrot cupcakes, see photos. Typical day shopping, right! Okay, you're thinking weird. In fact, when we act lunch at a local eatery that has like this shrine to Frida Kalha, the waiter keep telling us we smelled so good. I told him to smell all he wanted but not to touch us okay. He laughed his head off.
Our weird day to continue at Book People, the motherlode for Texas booklovers!
Tiara wearing and weird book tour sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
P.S. Photos to be added later as having trouble at this location.

Blown Away at Murder by the Book!

Dear Readers,
I have been joking this whole book tour, "Has anybody ever died on a book tour?" Now I don't mean having nary a soul show up at the bookstore but literally, die! Bit the dust, met their maker, met St. Peter at the pearly gates kind of died! Think of the book sales!
As I have been running the roads through state by state on this worldwide book tour with my Pulpwood Queen Posse', we have decided if we are going down, we're going out sliding full blown with a margarita in one hand and a chocolate bar in another. I mean 51 is tough you all as it is and I have a new appreciation for authors on book tour. I have always bowed to their feet but honey, now I'm kissing their feet too. WOO WEE, do they still make GERITOL!
So when we arrived at Murder and the Book following our incredible dinner, (see above) at The Raven it was dark and so were we.
We did the event as usual to a very nice crowd but at the very end after I did my Big Hair Makeover Grand Finale on the winner, Anita K. Thompson, I whipped out my Magnum gun blow dryer and pretended to shoot myself. Down I went as the girls searched for chalk to outline my body.
We all had a good laugh you see as The Pulpwood Queens make reading fun. Murder by the Book was a blast! We had Head Queen of the Pulpwood Queens of Northwest Houston, LeTricia Wilbanks in attendance along with a couple of her members, Alicia Day and Julie Galfour. I met Marie Christopher of the Texas Ramblers (Rambling Roses), Official Chapter of the Red Hat Society. Kim Call introduced herself and it ends up she actually attended part of her 5th grade at Mulberry School in my hometown and birthplace, Eureka, Kansas. She even had purchased the Ward McGinnis home there in Eureka! She stayed later and we talked of Eureka. Lots of interesting folks and ones very much wanting to join the Pulpwood Queens! We hope that we can do just that and continued after hugs and goodbyes to the marvelous bookstore hosts, David and McKenna! We certainly hope that we will be invited back to this incredible bookstore that truly is one of the most passionate stores I have ever visited! They not only talk the talk, they walk the walk. I left with a whole book bag of mysteries!
Check it out when in Houston and you will not be disappointed. View the wonderful ravens and murder mystery decorations throughout the shops shelves. It is no mystery that their store is one of the best bookstores in the south!
Tiara wearing and Book tour sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
www.beautyandthebook.com

Natchitoches, Louisiana to Houston, Texas, the Book Tour Continues!

Dear Readers,
Has anybody ever driven from Natchitoches, Louisiana to Houston, Texas? The Pulpwood Queen Posse' and I just did. You can see us checking to make sure we left anything in our room. Ha, ha, ha, just kidding but what in the world is that little door for, I ask you. It was just precious!
We then headed on to Houston and drove across Toledo Bend Reservoir and was that eery. Water on both sides of road and as far as you could see. Caught sight of a great salon, the Curl Up and Dye then a stop at the Jack in the Box for cokes. What in the world?
When we arrived at Murder by the Book we were WAY early so David, the store manager after perusing the fine mystery bookstore suggested we go have a bite at The RAVEN, magnifique. You'll see a photo with our wonderful host during our meal, Nevil and Simone' our waiter, and our wonderul bartender Bill's photos did not come out!
The perfect companion cafe for a night doing a booksigning at a mystery bookstore. As Edgar Allen Poe might have said regarding our situation, "Quote The Raven, EVERmore!"
To be continued.....
Tiara wearing and Book tour sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
www.beautyandthebook.com
www.pulpwoodqueen.com

Carolyn Haines writes for A Good Blog is Hard to Find!

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

The Magic of a Good Book

Long ago, before I realized that Carolyn Keene (my God! We shared the same first name—it had to be an omen!) was a pseudonym for a number of writers and before the idea that I might ever try to tell a story on paper with squiggles of ink called words, I fell in love with reading. I read everything I could put my hands on. Some of it, most naturally, got me into trouble with my mom, but reading was a key that opened doors which could be accessed no other way.
This past weekend, I was in Jefferson, Texas for Kathy Patrick’s Girlfriend Weekend. This is an annual event held to honor Kathy’s reading groups, the Pulpwood Queens, “tiara wearing, book-sharing” women with a mission. They want to get more people to read, and even more interesting, they want to influence the publishing world in an effort to bring back (or see more of) the kinds of books they love to read.
It’s a noble mission, and one that’s interesting from the point of view of the writer and the reader—that addict looking for that fictional fix, that drug of words that pulls me under the surface of real life and holds me there for several hours in a place of intense pleasure.
To speak of reading and books as having the power of a drug is so natural to me. What’s unnatural is a person who doesn’t enjoy reading. Not unnatural as “bad” or “wrong”—I only mean different from me.
And I wonder how my love affair with reading started. Why me and why not my brothers? My older brother, Andy, was a terrific athlete. He was educated, but his world was friends and action and what is more traditionally considered male behavior. My younger brother, David, studied to become an accountant and displayed a talent for complex electronics. While he can read instructions (but he doesn’t have to!) he doesn’t read for pleasure.
We all three grew up in a family of story-tellers. Both of our parents and my grandmother, who lived with us, put us to bed with stories, either read or made up. Even today, I remember the incredible joy of hearing my father’s voice telling of Leo the Friendly Lion, or my mother leaning forward, her mobile face dramatizing the story of the ghost that haunted our home.
My grandmother told quite a few ghost stories herself, but she also told us the stories of her childhood, a six-year-old girl who came across the Atlantic on a boat from Sweden. In her lifetime, she saw the world change from horse and wagon to space travel. While her stories were often fact-filled, they also contained a bit of moral tutoring.
So the three of us children grew up with the same oral tradition of stories. We were read the same fairy tales from Golden Books and later from the Collier’s Children Encyclopedia of tales and fables, along with horse stories and adventure tales and an occasional—if we begged hard enough—story of murder from an Alfred Hitchcock magazine. (My mother was a big fan of Hitchcock’s directorial skills.)
Why, I wonder, did I become such a reader while my brothers followed a different path? And how did I take the step from reader to writer?
I do believe that books were a safety zone for me, a place where I could identify with the fearless protagonist. I could be the cool chick with the convertible and the boyfriend who never interfered. Real life was not that easily managed. In my imagination, I could try out the different roles that seemed beyond my reach in a hot, isolated Mississippi town of 2,500 souls.
When I read Mark Twain and Eudora Welty and Flannery O’Connor, I was breathless at the use of language, as well as the deft manipulation of story. That O’Connor could make me laugh at a story where a grandmother was killed—where I actively wanted the old bag to die! Or a story where a one-legged woman is duped by a man who collects prostheses—I could not get enough of it. As I explored these characters, I also began to investigate my own boundaries. My vision changed, and I saw the places and people around me in a different way.
I began to look at my world through the eyes of a writer. And I started to entertain the first thoughts that maybe, just maybe, one day I might try to write a short story.
I got a BS in journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi and went out into the world to write facts—“the truth will set us free.” My parents were journalists, and I was brought up to believe that newspapers are the watchdogs of the community. That is not a popular belief among elected officials, whether it is small town Lucedale or Washington D.C.
And I learned a valuable lesson. Writing is not about being popular or about being liked. Writing is about the truth. Even if told in the fabric of fiction, the writing that matters for me is so bare bones honest that the author feels striped naked and standing on public display when the work is finished.
This is the kind of writing that speaks to me. And I wonder if this is the kind of story that Kathy Patrick and her reading queens want publishers to put on the shelves more often. Certainly those books are currently being published, but they sometimes don’t get the print runs or the attention of “name-brand” authors.
But the wonderful thing about our society and the publishing industry is that an individual can make a tremendous difference. That is the most inspiring thing about Kathy Patrick, who has worked as a bookseller, publishing sales rep, critic, and now published author herself (all while maintaining her own hair salon/bookstore). She is determined to be heard—and she’s going to have fun in the process. She will also impact the lives of many authors and readers along the way, because her love of books is contagious.
While Kathy’s bookshop/beauty salon is in one sleepy little Texas town beside the Big Cypress River, she is impacting folks all over the nation with her message about reading and books. She has been bitten by the magic of words. For some of us, that compelling link is reignited each time we read a paragraph and feel ourselves begin to yield to the story.
This is magic, and each time it happens I am thankful.
For some fun photos of the latest Pulpwood Queens Girlfriend’s Weekend, check out www.pulpwoodqueen.com I managed to avoid the camera, but a good time was had by all. My website is www.carolynhaines.com and for those of you in the frozen north, I’ll be in the Chicago area Thursday-Sunday for the Love is Murder conference (www.loveismurder.net) There will be some fine writers there, and once again I hope to fall in love with a new story or character. What better way to spend a winter weekend in the Windy City.

www.carolynhaines.com
FEVER MOON--Book Sense Notable Pick
PENUMBRA--One of Top 5 Mysteries of 2006--Library Journal
REVENANT (RT--4 1/2 stars and Top Pick in mystery, suspense and thrillers)--Carson Lynch is unforgettable, and her first-person, Chandleresque narration is a treat. Add a
brain-teasing mystery, a lot of angst and a generous amount of black humor, and you have a genuine page-turner.

Posted by A Good Blog Is Hard to Find at 7:42 PM 0 comments

Our visit to The Book Merchant in Natchitoches, Louisiana!

Dear readers,
J. Michael Kenney is Natchitoches, Louisiana has a wonderful bookstore. It's a true reflection of the community sitting right on the main street, Front, that's view is that of the Cane River. The films "Steel Magnolia" and "Man in the Moon" were filmed and our Pulpwood Queen Book Club Selection "Cane River" by Lalita Tademy was set right here.
We got in a little early and after J. Michael showing us some of the art on display in his bookstore, he suggested we go grab a cup of gumbo up at the corner eatery. Mr. Johnny's served up a fine cup of gumbo and then we all shared this chocolate lava cake, sublime!
Back at the bookstore we were almost late and a crowd had gathered. I met alot of new folks and some old friends too Alice and Bill Bryant. Bill has an upcoming exhibit of his art at the Michelson Museum of Art in Marshall, Texas starting the end of January. We had a new Queen come forth, Rosemary who also won the Big Hair Makeover. (see photos). Rosemary
Great to be amongst friends and such wonderful books at The Book Merchant. Hope you enjoy the photos!
Tiara wearing and Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
www.beautyandthebook.com
www.southernauthors.blogspot.com

The Book Report!

THE BOOK REPORT - 1.30.8

Interviews:

Pamela Duncan, The Big Beautiful (Dial, 9780385338387)
Lynn York, The Sweet Life (Plume, 9780452288225)

Elisabeth Grant-Gibson
Windows a bookshop
609 Park Avenue
Monroe LA 71201-4029
(318) 361-9004
www.windowsabookshop.com
Reporting Store: NYTimes & BookSense

LISTEN TO THE BOOK REPORT WEDNESDAY MORNINGS AT 8:00 CST www.thebookreport.net

January 2 - Thomas Cochran, RUNNING THE DOGS; Nancy Pearl, BOOK CRUSH
January 9 - Susan Hanf, MY LEMON ORCHARD; Julia Scheeres, JESUS LAND
January 16 - Kathy Patrick, THE PULPWOOD QUEENS' TIARA-WEARING, BOOK SHARING GUIDE TO LIFE
January 23 - Diane Diekman, LIVE FAST, LOVE HARD: THE FARON YOUNG STORY; Joey Kent, ELVIS: THE LOUISIANA HAYRIDE YEARS, 1954-56
January 30 - Pamela Duncan, THE BIG BEAUTIFUL; Lynn York, THE SWEET LIFE

www.thebookreport.net

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Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Tiara-Wearing and Book-Sharing

By Theresa Shadrix
Consolidated Publishing, Co.
01-28-08

It is not everyday that you come upon a Southern gal wearing a tiara in Jacksonville. Unless you are Lauren Moon, the newly crowned Miss JSU or perhaps Teresa Cheatham Stricklin, who surely must dust off her Miss Alabama crown every now and then just for fun.

Recently, Kathy L. Patrick, author of The Pulpwood Queens Tiara-Wearing, Book-Sharing Guide to Life, made a stop in Jacksonville during her first national book tour and I was able to meet her tiara-to-tiara. Yes, I greeted her in my tiara and of course, she was wearing a nicely polished tiara.

And, we turned a few heads.

Kathy is difficult to explain and even she admits it. “I am a beautician, turned book publishing representative who was fired so I opened the only beauty shop-book store in the country.” As she takes a deep breath, she adds, “Oh, and I started The Pulpwood Queens book club and it is the largest in the world.”

The Kansas native who now calls Texas her home talks passionately about her love of big hair, beauty, reading and books. Her salon in Texas, Beauty and the Book, is decorated with mementos of her book royalness and is a frequent stop of both authors and book lovers. You just have to read her book to soak it all in. Part memoir, part motivation and part book recommendations, it is one whole book of fun and inspiration.

Each chapter details her journey from a shy girl with an aspiring actress mother who often neglected her needs to a book publishing rep who was downsized to the owner of the only bookstore/beauty salon to a book club organizer. Then at the end, she gives book recommendations related to that chapter.

As you read this, you are probably trying to connect the dots from tiaras to reading, but Kathy is the Queen of making reading fun. You see, the Pulpwood Queens book club motto is “Where tiaras are mandatory and reading good books is the rule!” This is not your grandmother’s book club because everyone wears a tiara, dresses up in hot pink and leopard print and reads a book selected by Kathy each month. This month, her own book and Robin Roberts’ From the heart: Seven Rules to Live By are the book selections.

Kathy Patrick is one of those people who never meets a stranger and oozes Southern charm. And, she does it holding a book in one hand and a shiny tiara on her big, Texas hair. But don’t take my word for it, check her blog out at www.pulpwoodqueen.com

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The Pulpwood Queens meet THE BEIGE INVASION!

As the Pulpwood Queen Posse' arrived in Natchitoches, Louisana we met two young men from the U.K. driving the most unique American vehicle, dubbed THE BEIGE INVASTION! Robin Howell of Cheltenham, U.K, and Jonny West, London, U.K. were headed to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. We shared our stories and took time to take photos along with The Book Merchant owner, J. Michael Kenney. They left promising to think about starting a Timber Guy chapter in the U.K. and we bade them farewell. We also made them promise to have a back up plan if the two got separated during Mardi Gras. Yes, the southern mamas in us wanted to take care of these fine boys. The car was a scream and purchased for $1,200 in Los Angeles and they were heading across the United States. We made them also promise if they came back to Texas to please come visit us and Jonny even brought out of the car his recently purchased leather cowboy hat he had worn at a rodeo in Amarillo!
Oh, the places books do take you!
Tiara wearing and Book sharing,
Kathy L. Patrick
Founder of the Pulpwood Queens Book Clubs
www.beautyandthebook.com