Patti Callahan Henry Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Mon, 05 May 2014 22:06:00 +0000

PAUSING TO CELEBRATE

Ten Years/Ten Books

LOSING THE MOON's Tenth Birthday

Life moves so fast lately. I remember when, as a kid, a birthday or holiday seemed a million miles away. It was if time was made of different stuff when we were young; time was elongated or stretchy. Now it’s a runaway train and I’m on for the ride.

I don’t want to go through these days without pausing and taking notice. I don’t want to rush past the significant and ignore the milestones. I’ve done that, a thousand times I’ve done that, and I’ve regretted it later. Whey didn’t I enjoy it then? Why did I rush forward?

This week marks the ten-year anniversary of my first novel, LOSING THE MOON. I remember everything about that week, the launch party at the Margaret Mitchell House, my kids wondering why their mom was dressed up and the nervous jitters that my story was out there in the real world as a real thing.

I walked into my neighborhood Barnes and Noble and saw the book on the front table. There was a pile of these books, with my name on them. My son, Thomas was 9 years old and he said, “Look, there it is.” Instead of answering him, I did the weirdest thing, and I still don’t know why, but I circled the table. I didn’t touch the book or make a big deal of it. I didn’t buy it or sign it or even tell anyone at the store that I was there. It was almost like I couldn’t believe it. Sometimes I still can’t.

That night I was honored to be the first Emerging Author at the Margaret Mitchell House. I worked on my speech for hours; I went shopping for the perfect outfit, and ordered flowers, sent out invitations. It was a dreamy night; I wore a pink boucle suit and stood at a podium and spoke about writing. Me? It was incomprehensible; soon everyone would discover I was faking it. I now know all artists feel—at some point—as if they are faking it.

So here I am, working on my eleventh novel, feeling the urge to get back to work, but pausing to look back, to be in awe of the seen and the unseen, the wonder of this world where story and myth can change a life, and a heart.

I still have this pink suit hanging in the closet, although I haven’t worn it again (someday it will be vintage chic, I’m sure). That little girl is twenty-one years old. And I still have the original manuscript pages, and notebooks of research and ideas that led to this book. I don’t know why I keep these things, maybe to remind me of how it started or how far I’ve come or maybe because when I do finally pause to remember I like to have something tangible, a thing to touch or see. Ten years ago, my kids were eleven, nine and five years old, which of course they aren’t now because time moves on, and everything changes, but some things stay and a book is one of those things.

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:55:00 +0000

Welcome to my part of the Blog Hop Tour. Our giveaway is a signed copy of AND THEN I FOUND YOU, which was released today! You will also be ALSO be eligible for the GRAND PRIZE - a Kindle Fire or Nook (winner's choice) and a $25 gift card for the same.

Please leave comments and we will pick a winner on April 19th, 2013 (US and Canada only)

My new novel AND THEN I FOUND YOU was inspired by a family story. You use, three years ago, this week, in the middle of an ordinary day, the extraordinary happened, and my family will never be the same.

Some twenty-one years ago my little sister placed her baby for adoption. It was the most heart-rending, courageous and difficult decision she had ever made, and we all wept with her when she handed her baby girl to an anonymous, yet hand-chosen family. Then . . . two years ago, I received a Facebook friend request from a young girl with the same birthday as my adopted niece. It was too much to hope for, almost too miraculous to believe. But it was true: my sister’s daughter, my niece, found us on Facebook.

Our family had often talked about my niece, using the name my sister had given her. We remembered her whenever we saw a girl who would be her age at that time. Every time my parents moved into a new house, they planted a tree for her and we all prayed for her happiness and safety. We knew nothing about her – all those years we didn’t know where she lived or with whom. Although we knew that legally she could find us when she turned twenty-one, there was no way for us to find her. And then finally, all those years of unknowing and all those years of wondering culminated in a reunion that most dream about.

My sister’s story was the inspiration for this novel, AND THEN I FOUND YOU. It is my way of exploring the way we live with unknowing. We want certainty, We want solid ground under our feet. We want to be sure of our place in the world, and yet we rarely, if ever, have that certainty. So then, how do we live? And what happens when the lost become found?

Although the personal facts are left for my sister to tell, the fictional story in AND THEN I FOUND YOU explores the emotions and extraordinary change that reunions bring to a life and to a family.

I hope this story touches your heart.

For a gardening tip: I have a porch that looks bland and awful without flowering plants, I’ve discovered that planting mixed flowers, tall grasses and flowing ivy in the pots makes my porch a welcoming place!

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 19:51:00 +0000

When Birmingham Magazine approached me and asked me to write a column on "My Birmingham", I hesitated. Birmingham wasn't mine at all; I was new to the city. Brand new. But here is what I have to say about My Birmingham.

Enjoy...

http://www.al.com/bhammag/index.ssf/my_birmingham/defining_home_novelist_patti_c.html

Imagine...

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 02:19:00 +0000

The Little Girl in this picture had best friends -- books. She imagined a million worlds, but the one world she could not have imagined was a world where she couldn't read, a world where stories books and words were just letters. (Yes, that is the very young and very naive Patti)

Literacy Council: those are two words I wish we didn't need to put next to one another. But we do need a Literacy Council. Desperately we need a Literacy Council.

A few months ago I moved to Birmingham, Alabama. After eighteen years of raising my own children in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, my idea of a "Literacy Council" was me reading to my kids and teaching them to decipher the letters that turned into words, which turned into sentences, which in their best form, turned into stories. Literacy was expected. Literacy was a road map to all the stories in the world, to all the information they would ever need.

Last week, I went out to lunch with two brilliant women -- Beth Wilder and Missy Burchart -- who help run the Birmingham Literacy Council. I heard statistics that not only stunned me, but also broke my heart. I won't quote those statistics here - but you can read them at http://www.literacy-council.org/about.html

One of their fundraisers is a beautiful event called the SIGNATURE SERIES and I am humbled to have been asked to be their speaker for the December event.

So, although it sounds like this is all about me and a party (you do know I love a good party), it's really not about me at all -- it's about the 92,00 adults in Central Alabama who can't read.

Really, if you are anywhere near Birmingham on December 7th -- please join us for this gorgeous party. The Oberman Family on Southwood Drive in Mountain Brook have generously and wonderfully donated their home for this intimate party on a Wednesday night.

For more information, call Missy Buchart 205-326-1925, or email her at mburchart@literacy-council.org

Tickets go on sale November 25th, but you can call earlier to reserve those tickets. There are only 150 tickets and almost half of those go to season ticket holders, so jump on it!

So two sentences I am thrilled go together.

Literacy Council PLUS Intimate Party = Wonderful.

http://www.literacy-council.org/index.html

PCH

Rivers Are My Roads

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 20:12:00 +0000

Rivers are my roads. When others talk about their “road of life” or “the narrow road” or any other “road” metaphor, I see a river in my mind’s eye. Right now I live along the Chattahoochee River, but we’re moving. I’ve lived here for sixteen years and I walk along the red-mud pathways while I untangle plot lines and my own life story. When I am near this flowing water, near any river at all, something warm and happy opens inside me.

I am today mourning the loss of this river and how I will no longer walk its jagged edge, watching the seasons change and the water turn from muddy to clear after a storm. I am sad that I might lose the lessons it teaches me about impermanence and change and the beauty and necessity of silence in a noisy world. Then I have a brilliant plan: I will take part of this river with me when I leave. I’ll get a vial or even a large bottle and fill the container with this muddy water and place it on my new desk in my new home in Alabama.

Yes, what a fantastic plan. I’ll look at that river and remember and keep it with me. Thrilled with my brilliant plan, I stand too long watching a grey heron (if one can ever stand too long watching a grey heron) perched on a rock, still and silent as everything flows by and it is only now I realize this stunning fact: the water isn’t the river. Nope. The water flows through the river, going wherever it is that rivers go. But the water is not the river itself. Like energy or emotions passing through me, but going wherever it is that energy or emotions go when they pass.

And then that beloved river offers me another lesson – I do this possessing thing too much. I love thoroughly and then I try to take a piece of whatever or whoever I love and carry it with me, own it, make it completely mine because it or they make me completely happy. If I love something or someone, I want to keep it or them; who doesn’t?

So what is this thing about loving without having? Is it about taking the joy and the peace or whatever is offered and leaving the thing itself alone? Is it about walking away and allowing myself to love without keeping or having or owning? No! Everything in me screams “No”. I want to scoop up that river and put it in my new backyard and walk its shores and listen to its whispers.

Absurd, I know.

But seriously, I would if I could.

It’s not lost on me that this feeling of possession is also about the fact that my daughter is graduating and leaving for college at the same time that we are moving.

Standing on that riverbank, I learn again and again and again what I know but forget: Sometimes I have to love without having, possessing or owning.

I’ll still probably take a vial of that river water to my new home, but only as a reminder of joy, not as an owner of joy. I can take the memories and the love with me, but I can’t take the river.

We Have A Winner

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 13:03:00 +0000

We Have A Winner!

I have always been fascinated with the art of songwriting, which is part of the reason I wrote the Christmas novella -- THE PERFECT LOVE SONG. Oh, the magic of being able to say in a single stanza what I say in three hundred pages.
I see that so many of you share the same fascination, but you actually have the talent to write a song.
Thank you so much for taking the time to compose these lyrics and share your creativity. Dallas chose a song with the below lyrics.
Warmly,
Patti Callahan Henry

And the lyrics:
I cannot find or define the moment you entered my heart When you entered you turned a light on in the deepest part In my wildest dreams I could never have possibly understood The way your love gives me peace to feel so whole and so good Chorus So wild, so free like the wind by the sea I look up at the stars that are now within reach Never before did I know all that could be Till I opened my heart to all you have to teach I leave brokenness behind, step towards a path filled with light My life now holds purpose, possibility, so much is in sight The gift of your pure love has cracked open the ice of my heart You believed in me, encouraged me right from the start Chorus Now, I’m so wild, so free like the wind by the sea I look up to the stars that are now within reach Never before did I know all that could be Till I opened my heart to all you have to teach The song of our rich life rings out so true and so clear Together we’ll create magical memories our hearts will hold dear We’ll do everything we’ve ever dreamed and then we’ll dream some more The excitement like a holiday to celebrate all that the future has in store Chorus We’ll be so wild, so free like the wind by the sea We’ll look up at the stars that are now within reach Never before did we know all that could be Till we opened our hearts to all the world has to teach Repeat chorus

Ch Ch Ch Changes....

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 00:12:00 +0000

There was this song I hated, not because it was a bad song, but because it got stuck in my head in that awful “can’t get that out of my head” way. This was back in the day (whatever that day was). David Bowie sang it and it went like this “ch ch ch changes…” and in the way we do when we think we know the words to something, but we don’t, I’d sing along “time can change me, but I can’t change time.”

Well, years later I found out (in a most embarrassing way) that David was singing “Time can change me, but I can’t trace time.” Big difference.

Change. We can’t get away from it. Good. Bad. Lovely. Awful. Everything changes. Impermanence is a universal law. Sometimes this fact is a balm and yet other times it is a comfort. “Oh,” I’ve told my kids over something awful. “This too shall pass.” Yet, when times are good, we don’t want to know that the time will pass. It does.

Time can change me. Yep, Bowie, it can. I’m thinking more about this than usual because my new novel just received a gorgeous cover and when I was with friends last night I said, “Yes, this is my eighth book”. I was instantly stunned by time’s passage and how there were only broken moments I could trace backward to the moment I told myself “I am finally going to write a book.”

I made a vow to write that one book and then time did pass. And time did change me. Good passed; Bad passed; Lovely came and went; Sadness overwhelmed and departed.

But for this moment, I am glad of this sublime cover and the people who helped form and create this novel, the team that cares about the story. So I’m grabbing it – the gladness – because that is all I can do: jump into that joy because there will be ch ch ch changes…

Life's Twists and Turns

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 15:38:00 +0000

Life twists around in so many wonderful ways (and awful ones, I know), but I am again and again reminded that life is a story. One with dark moments and light moments. This article in The South Magazine causes me to remember that what I once thought were awful days (moving around as a child without many friends) made me into the writer I am today (for good or bad).

And I want to post on my bulletin board this truth "All is well. All will be well and all manner of things shall be well." from Julian of Norwich.

Enjoy the article...Annabelle Robertson is a perfectly wonderful writer!

http://ww2.thesouthmag.com/lifestyle/2011/story-of-the-south/

NEW EVENT!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 19:56:00 +0000

A party? Of course I love a party. And one with champagne? Well, all the more of course.

So my dear friend (and designer extraordinaire) is throwing me a little soiree at her shop, SIMPLY HOME, in Buckhead on Wednesday night, November 10th at 5:30PM. Please come by and say hello, see her fabulous store and have a glass of bubbly with us!

Unfortunately I'm addicted to her furniture and accessories; she has delectable taste!

Join us!

Click on the invitation to enlarge for information!

End Of Week

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 19:49:00 +0000

This was the perfect way to end a week on the road! Here we are (me; my brother in law Mike, hubby Pat, sister Jeannie) down on the field before the Auburn game that officially makes us 10-0.

Thanks so much to every single one of you who came out to see me; emailed me; bought the book or just sent me nice thoughts! It has been a blessed few weeks since the book came out and the fun continues this week....

More info arriving...including the scenario where I get to pretend to be a rock star. Yep. It's true!

Through Rain and Tornado

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 15:59:00 +0000

Through rain and tornado and thunder, our readers came out last night to Cat Blanco's store in Marietta (The Book Exchange) just to hear Mary Kay Andrews and me speak about our Christmas novellas, writing, synchronicity, family and well, the holiday dysfunction we all must endure.

Cat went way over the top -- a cake; corsages; Christmas decorations and of course her annual Children's Holiday book drive (which shows her loving and giving heart). There was such a fantastic energy and everyone had a great time (or at least I did).

My favorite thing about these events is the reminder of this: I am not the only book worm! Growing up I believed I was the only one; the only girl who wanted to read books almost more than she wanted to do anything else. And when eighty people show up in the pouring rain JUST to talk about books -- well, I know I'm not alone in this world!

THE BALANCE

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:12:00 +0000

I've heard that the ever elusive "they" say that all writing is biographical. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. I do know that I could never have done all the stuff the characters in my eight novels have done, but it could be more about the themes and emotions than the actions. So, if that is true, then my current novella (THE PERFECT LOVE SONG), which is about balancing career and love, is about my own life.

Balance? Sigh. I've never been able to find it, I'm like a gymnast who always falls off the balance beam during a clutch performance.

I'm consistent about this: I try to do too many things at the same time. All the time. But this week, I think I might have pulled it off. I had a radio interview with AuthorSpeak at noon, but here is the glitch: I was in a car with seven people (including kids) on the way to the "Do Not" miss Auburn vs. LSU game. It worked!I not only had the best time talking to my new bff Eric Mays (the radio host), but simultaneously passed through game day traffic, parked, switched cars and made it to the tailgate (no, I wasn't driving, which would have been even more impressive).

Eric Mays from AuthorSpeak is a witty and intelligent radio host who made this balancing act worth attempting!

Sometimes I fall, but with some help, this time I stayed on the balance beam.

Oh, and yes, Auburn is now #1 in the nation. War Eagle!

What Will Keep Me Writing

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:47:00 +0000

If I would even think about quitting (which of course I have -- all writers do); If I ever get frustrated or can't find my words or don't believe this angst-of-writing is worth the sometimes-anguish -- I will look at this picture of my friend's little girl with my book over her belly and I'll do this: keep writing.

Hearing Stories

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 14:47:00 +0000

I am home now -- for the briefest twenty-four hours. But home is home.

This has been an amazing week. And I am never sure how to express my gratitude to all the readers, friends, family, booksellers, and people who make the effort to come see me!

Here is the beautiful part of the week -- I went out there to tell my story, and to my beautiful and wonderful surprise, I heard the most awe-inspiring stories from those I met. From the precious woman who drove in her RV with her three bassett hounds to the woman I sat next to at lunch who raised her grandson and made the entire table cry. I didn't so much tell my story as absorb stories.

For fun: Here are a few pictures to give the smallest taste of joy.

The first is my family of Callahan Women. My mom, both my sisters and my daughter (the boys are my nephews and they might be the most adorable kissable faces known to earth). Then there is the picture of my dad and daughter. Then the most extraordinary publicists, Elena and Tanya from Wunderkind who came out to my NY party. Then my three children, forced to smile for the camera. My sister-from-another-mother Tara Mahoney getting my grateful kiss.

More pictures soon.

Now: recuperation.

Once again, my extreme gratitude. I am overwhelmed in a very good way!

First Week

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 21:00:00 +0000

I'm sitting in Charleston at a friend's house (and let me say this: Charleston in the fall is almost too beautiful to bear) having a bit (well, more than a bit) of champagne, celebrating this amazing week. We, as writers, spend most of our time (as we should) alone with our words and then we are thrown into the big, wide world and we get to see what people think about our words. And this week, I have been blessed greatly with the people, stories, love and kindness of both friends and strangers.

After the launch party in Atlanta, I then went to NY with my mom, dad, sisters, daughter, niece and family best friend for a NY launch. Amazing. Seriously amazing. Much thanks to Kensington Papers, my amazing publicists, Elena and Tanya, my webmaster, Erin, Womrath Books and of course mostly, the readers and friends who came to the party. OH, and my sister, Jeannie who organized the most PERFECT party!

Now I am in Charleston and just left the esteemed Litchfield Books luncheon. What an enriching group of women! They give so much more to me than my "talk" could ever give them. I left inspired and smiling.

Still smiling...

PCH

On-Sale Day!!

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 15:20:00 +0000

It's today. It's today. On-Sale Day. Okay, I used to think that meant the day-after-Thanksgiving herd of sales. But, what it means is this: the day a book goes onto the shelf and is For Sale. So I don't know why we don't call it For-Sale day....

Last night was an amazing night. Magical.

But here's the thing -- hundreds of people came out; hundreds of books were sold; hundreds of flutes of Pomegranate Bellinis were served and what is the only thing my daughter can talk about?? No, NOT me. Betty White and Jennifer Love Hewitt were there (okay, not for me, but just in the hotel bar with us). My daughter met and talked to Betty White, which trumps Mom signing books all day...

I am so grateful to everyone who came out for the celebration party, and my heart is full of gratitude from all the well-wishes and kind words and notes and posts and...sigh. It is all just so lovely.

The book received a STARRED LIbrary Journal review and this only makes the party and this on-sale day even better!

Next stop -- NYC. I'll post pictures and stories along the way.

Seen Before It's Time

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 21:13:00 +0000

Like daffodils that bloom before the first frost, my books seen here on the table at Barnes and Noble. Okay, so that is a little cheesy and the analogy doesn't work quite right, but...they are still beautiful! When I enter a BN and don't expect to see my books and I walk INTO them on the front table -- it is a surreal experience, as if I'm not Patti, as if I'm not the author and the books are completely separate of and from me. Which I guess in many ways, they are!

So, party in four days.

Hint of the GREAT prize to be given away: It has to do with Christmas Concerts and the Fox. With a duet and country music. Okay -- so there you go.

Party Time

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 14:41:00 +0000

The thing about being a novelist is that I think many of us have split personalities -- my friend and writer, Ad Hudler, once told me this. "We're all schizophrenic." When I vehemently disagreed, he might have proved me wrong. "You see," he said. "We are writers in private and then when we get in public we're authors."

It's true. The writer in me is private and alone in my office trying to find the just-right word and simultaneously battling the demons of laziness and email/facebook checking so I can fashion a story out of the confusion in my head. The author in me just wants a good party, just wants to hang out and talk about writing and stories and books and....well, anything really.

So after over a year of hiding in my writing-world, I'm going to party (Well, not like 1982, but party I will).

Next Monday, we'll celebrate the release of THE PERFECT LOVE SONG: A HOLIDAY STORY. See the invitation attached here! Please come and have a glass of champagne and just have fun!

Every day this week, I'll post one surprise about the party.

But today, get started on this: If you've ever wanted to be a songwriter -- go to my contest page and hear all about the songwriting contest with Dallas Davidson judging!!

Okra Pick

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 15:05:00 +0000

I am smiling in that silly-proud way because THE PERFECT LOVE SONG: A Holiday Story, has been chosen as an OKRA pick.

I love being picked and chosen!

Welcome to SIBA

2010 Fall Okra Picks

WRITTEN BY ADMINISTRATOR

FRIDAY, 10 SEPTEMBER 2010 20:23

A Recipe for Great Reading!
SIBA Announces the 2010 Fall Okra Picks

(Columbia, SC) Fall is for harvesting and here in the South the crop is Okra! Southern Indie Booksellers have a selected a seasoning of books for the Fall Okra Picks —great southern books, fresh off the vine. A baker’s dozen of titles representing a wide range of tastes, all the books selected have the following things in common: 1) They are Southern in nature. 2) They are 2010 Fall releases and 3) There is a SIBA member Bookstore who is really excited about the book. Southern booksellers love their Southern authors—we grow good books!

The Okra Picks, 2010 Fall Edition:

Fiction:

A Perfect Love Song by Patti Callahan Henry
9781593156169 Vanguard Press, October 2010 $15.95

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin
9780060594664 Morrow, October 2010 $24.99

I Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg
9781400065936 Random House November 2010 $26.00

Love, Charleston by Beth Webb Hart
9781595542014 Thomas Nelson, September 2010 $14.99

My Only Sunshine by Lou Dischler
9781891885723, Hub City, October 2010 $21.95

Virals by Kathy Reichs
9781595143426 Razorbill, November 2010 (Penguin) $17.99

Zora and Me by Victoria Bond and T.R. Simon
9780763643003 Candlewick Press October 2010 $16.99Z

The Typist by Michael Knight
9780802119506 Atlantic Monthly Press August 2010 $20.00

Nonfiction:

Carry the Rock by Jay Jennings
9781605296371 Rodale September 2010

Greek Revival by Patricia Moore-Pastides
9781570039393 USC Press October 2010 $34.95

My Reading Life by Pat Conroy
9780385533577 Nan A. Talese, November 2010 $25.00

Southern Plate by Christy Jordan
9780061991011 Morrow, October 2010 $27.50

They Came to Nashville by Marshall Chapman
9780826517357 Vanderbilt U Press, October 2010 $25.00

Watch for more Okra Picks promotions. Visit the Okra Picks Patch atwww.authorsroundthesouth.com. Lady Banks will introduce the Okra Picks to over 5000 consumer subscribers in the September issue. Okra Pick titles will be highlighted on theSouthern Indie Bestseller list. SIBA will post at www.sibaweb.com marketing and promotional materials as part of an “Okra Picks toolkit” for booksellers to help them talk up these titles.

For more information on the Okra Picks program, visit SIBA’s website atwww.sibaweb.com/okra.

Not The Easiest Questions

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 19:30:00 +0000

Not The Easiest Questions

My friend, Karen Zacharias, interviews authors for her website and when she asked me if she could interview me, I said, "Sure."

Now I thought -- being the friend she is and the fact that I've allowed her to crash at my house and eat at my table and meet my children (and edit my daughter's English paper) -- she would lob me some softballs.

Um, not so much.

But I did my best to answer the questions.

So here are Karen's questions about LOVE SONG and my answers (which are not as good as her questions)

Pat Conroy calls Patti Callahan Henry’s debut novella lyrical – “Patti takes you to those places in the heart you didn’t even know you wanted to go.”

In The Perfect Love Song, Callahan Henry tells the story of Jimmy Sullivan, who has been living on the road with his brother, Jack, and their band. The road is Jimmy’s only home and music his only savior until he falls in love with a beautiful girl, Charlotte Carrington. Spending time with Charlotte inspires Jimmy to write a love song for her, which becomes an overnight sensation.

As Jimmy finds himself caught up in the desire for fame and fortune, the genuine lyrics of the song are overshadowed by his career ambitions. Will Jimmy miss his brother’s wedding in Ireland for a chance to put on a biggest show of his career in New York City —or will he find his way back to his family, to Ireland…and to the love of his life, Charlotte?

Join in as Karen Spears Zacharias talks with Patti about her much-anticipated story:

Karen: This story – THE PERFECT LOVE SONG — is your first novella. What are some of the challenges of writing a novella versus a novel, and how did you deal with them?

Patti: I found this a thrilling way to tell a story because I focused on ONE situation. I brought the lens closer and closer to the main characters and allowed the outside world and its tangents to blur into the background. I concentrated on Jimmy and Charlotte’s journey together. I eliminated any subplots and used the symbol of the Claddagh ring to hold together the events of the story. I didn’t find this a challenge at all, but merely a new way to write, a fresh way to tell a story. Writing a novella wasn’t so much about page count or cutting the length as it was redesigning the focus of my storytelling ways. When I wanted to delve into a subplot or another character’s needs, I reminded myself what this novella was really about and steered my words back onto the main road.

Karen: Readers who are familiar with your previous work will be delighted to encounter familiar characters from WHEN LIGHT BREAKS. So did you know when you finished that book that you’d revisit those people again?

Patti:I had no idea I would revisit those characters, yet at the same time my characters always live on. They just do. In the past few years, I’ve received a lot of email asking, “So when will Charlotte and Jimmy get together?”, so the question must have worked its way into my writing soul and I finally decided to find out what happened to ole’ Jimmy Sullivan. I never write a book with the plan for it to continue past “the end”, yet this time it did. I think part of the allure for adding to this story was hidden within the character Maeve Mahoney. She still had something to say and something to teach. Her story and her legend continued.

Karen: This story is narrated. Is this the first-time you’ve used the first-person to “tell” a story? Why did you choose that?

Patti: I don’t premeditate the way I tell a story; I write the story in the way it comes to me. I’ve written seven books and have gone from third person male POV to first person female and almost everything in between. This story came to me as a narration – almost a fairy tale or legend. The narrator knows more than the characters and we are privy to her information: I found it a fascinating way to tell a story. In many ways, the narrator told me the story!

Karen: As a writer, are there characters you encounter that linger long after the book is finished?

Patti: Absolutely. All of my characters seem to linger not only in my mind, but in my readers’ minds also. They go on living. Even after their situation is told, their story goes on.

Karen: There are parts of The Perfect Love Song that read almost like wisdom literature — nuggets of truth. For instance, the line “The smallest actions lead to the biggest changes.” Can you think of a time in your life where that’s been the case?

Patti: Wow – nuggets of truth? I had hoped that was true about this story. Yes, I can think of one very particular time when “the smallest action led the biggest change” – when I quietly said to my five year old daughter (who is now almost eighteen years old), ‘I am going to be a writer of books’. This statement and gut-knowing decision changed my life slowly and deliberately. I think sometimes we don’t know the seeds of change have been planted, and yet other times we do know for certain, and this was one of those times!

Karen: You have been a huge fan of Amy Grant’s husband, Vince Gill, for several years now. Did you model Jimmy Sullivan after Gill in any fashion? Are you sending an autographed copy to Gill?

Patti: I have been a fan of Gill’s songwriting in a way that could be called more “envy” than admiration. This man can write a song, a song that changes the heart and soul of anyone who hears it. He can take one stanza and say what takes me 300 pages to convey. I don’t know how he does it, and I can’t help but follow his career and music with something akin to obsession. His vulnerability and ability to show us the hidden places of the heart is nothing short of miraculous, and his gift is something to strive for in my own storytelling.

Jimmy Sullivan isn’t based on Vince Gill at all. But I do believe that the character Rusk Corbin has a bit of Vince’s kind spirit (or what I deem to be his kind spirit by listening to his music). And if I knew where to send a signed copy to Vince and Amy, I most definitely would.

Karen: You’ve teamed up with one of Nashville’s top songwriter– Dallas Davidson — to find that perfect love song. Tell us more about that. Any chance Dallas can hook you up with Gill?

Patti: Dallas Davidson is one of today’s top new country songwriters, with eighty songs recorded in the past six years and five of them being number one hits. I am so excited that he’s agreed to judge our “Finish the Love Song” contest. I am enthralled with the art of songwriting, and yet I could only pen the first two lines of Jimmy Sullivan’s perfect song! Dallas, I am quite sure, will be able to help me find the rest of the song! As far as meeting Gill….hmmm…I haven’t asked, but maybe I should.

Karen: Tell us why Jimmy Sullivan’s love song “Undeserved” is considered the perfect Christmas song. How did the title of the song present itself to you.

Patti: Jimmy wrote this song when he was overwhelmed with Love (and as the narrator says,’ what is love if not overwhelming?’). He felt he didn’t deserve to be loved as he was and that he didn’t deserve to feel the way he did. When he wrote the song, it was from the purest place (the soul). When others heard the song, they dubbed it “The Perfect Christmas Song” because the lyrics were all about undeserved love changing a heart from the inside out. And isn’t that what Christmas is all about?

Karen: You grew up a preacher’s daughter. How does that upbringing and your own personal faith journey play out in your writing?

Patti: I think that our childhoods and our upbringing are underground rivers that we don’t always see or even feel, yet always inform and infuse our work. So, maybe I don’t wholly understand the impact my preachers-daughter influence has on my work, but I am sure it is there.

Karen: Ultimately, this story is about how our choices, career or otherwise, can impede our relationships. I couldn’t help but wonder if part of this story is your own. When you hit the New York Times bestseller list last year you were on the road. This year your first-born child is a senior in high school. As Jimmy Sullivan wrangles with the issues of where his fame has taken him, is Patti Callahan Henry also wrangling with some of those same issues about her own career?

Patti: Wow, Karen, you know how to get to the heart of things. You’re right, I have missed events and moments when I’ve been on the road – the one event that hurt my heart the most was when I missed my youngest son’s ninth birthday (years ago). I have always attempted to balance this tightrope-walking act between pursuing my passion of writing and family love/obligation. I think for the most part I stay on that rope, but I have fallen off and hurt myself many times.

I don’t regret for a single moment writing or touring. I also don’t regret the choice I made eighteen years ago to be a stay-at-home Mom. I can only hope that when I have erred, it has been on the side of family (the most precious thing in my life).

I also believe it’s incredibly important for children to see their mother pursue her gifts and passions, to understand her love while seeing her reach out into the world. I so hope I have done this very thing. In this novel, Jimmy struggles with this very same issue of love versus fame, yet his pendulum has swung all the way to the “fame” side of the scale, obliterating his view of all that is important. What can heal this kind of error? Love.

Karen: Recent polls indicate that a large part of today’s youth — I think it was like 46 percent — want to be actors. In other words, they are looking to be famous. You’ve got a household full of kids. What do you think this attraction to fame is with today’s youth?

Patti: The media makes fame look so….easy and beautiful. TV, magazines and movies make the young long for that kind of beauty and money, that kind of ease when of course it is all smoke and mirrors – nothing real at all.

Karen: Parts of the book take place in Ireland. Have you been to Ireland?

Patti: Yes! I’ve been to Ireland three times. Once just out of college and twice with my daughter when she was an Irish dancer. The land there is so rich with story that you can almost hear the earth whispering to you! I love that lush land and hope to return again soon.

Karen: Your writing has an undercurrent of the lyrical and the mystery of myth embedded in it. How does a writer go about crafting work that has those elements?

Patti: What a beautiful and wonderful compliment. Thank you! I don’t know if or how a writer can deliberately craft their work to hold the elements of myth and lyricism. I grew my writing wings in the land of mythology and legend, so I believe my writing must reflect that love. So many elements work their way into a writer’s voice: childhood, reading habits, geography, friends, education, etc… that I’m not sure you can force a certain kind of storytelling into an author’s “voice”. I write the way I ‘hear’ the story.

Karen: Do you believe there is interaction across the dimensions? Do you think those who’ve passed on before us are involved in our daily living still?

Patti: Interaction across the dimensions? Yes, I’d like to think so. I’ve never experienced anything like it, but I believe those who say they have. This story – THE PERFECT LOVE SONG – hints at such a thing, but still leaves the question unanswered

Karen: Do you think you’ll do another novella? What’s next?

Patti: Yes, I definitely believe I’ll write another novella. The form and the structure appealed to my storytelling soul. There was a certain thrill in writing this tighter narrative. This novella stretched my writing muscles in new ways and as soon as I find the right situation, I will write another novella! For now, what’s next? My next full length novel will be out some time in 2011. Details coming soon!

Songwriting and Novel Writing -- Storytelling?

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:44:00 +0000

Songwriting and Storytelling

So this weekend I'm speaking at Eddie’s Attic with author and friend, Jack Riggs (Saturday, 3PM). The subject: how songwriting and storytelling inform and enrich one another. In my new novella THE PERFECT LOVE SONG, I was only able to write the first two stanzas of this perfect song. So case in point: it is harder to write a song-story than a novel-story. A good songwriter (ie: my favorite Vince Gill) can say more in one stanza than I can say in three hundred pages.

Being on Eddie’s Attic stage (where greats like Sugarland started) will be a thrill even if I’m only there because the word SONG is in my title. I’ll take it however I can get it…

Jack IS a songwriter, and from what I hear, he’ll sing us a song that afternoon. I won’t sing. I promise.

Right now though, I’d love to hear what you think the differences and similarities are between songwriting and novel writing. Yes, both are forms of storytelling, but tell me….what do you think?

Tell me: pattichenry@gmail.com OR post below!

http://www.decaturbookfestival.com/2010/authors/detail.php?id=169

What One Weekend Can Hold

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 20:39:00 +0000

What One Weekend Can Hold

This weekend almost busted at the seams. Or I guess maybe it's just that I almost busted at the seams.

It began Friday night with "Senior Night" and NO, this is not for those over 60, it was the night that footballs and cheerleaders go out onto the field with their parents, and then the school announces our names and everyone claps. Sounds innocent enough, right? Until you -- the Mom -- are standing there with your only daughter, your oldest child, and you realize OH MY GOD, SHE'S A SENIOR. And then you hold in the hysteria. Hold it in until you almost burst. But don't burst because your very cool daughter would be mortified.

Then the next morning -- The Inaugural Suwanee Book Festival. What a blast! The committee did such an amazing job putting together this first event. My buddy, Ad Hudler and I spoke at the main stage and I don't know what the audience thought, but we sure did entertain each other. And as always, he used the word "poopy pants".

Then Ad, Lauretta Hannon (I love this girl) and I spoke at a workshop in the library. The subject was "The many ways to tell a story" and I gotta tell you -- I should've been in the audience because these two KNOW what they are talking about. Biggest reminder for me as a writer: To tell my truth!!! Yes, all good writing tells the truth... Thanks, Lauretta.

I saw my dear friends, Daren Wang, Don O'Briant, Jackie K Cooper, Linda Sands, Haywood Smith, and many others === all of them a constant reminder of the most major perk of writing: the kinship of other writers and readers. Oh, my heart floods.

Oh, and Linda Sands -- thanks for the lemon drops. That's all I have to say about that.

So, nothing (especially this teeny tiny Stop sign) could stop Lauretta and Ad....Nothing, I tell you.

Thoughts and News

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:16:00 +0000

THOUGHTS AND NEWS

August 25, 2010

So, I’ve decided to rename this page from “blog” to “Thoughts and News” because well….frankly, the blog name was intimidating me; I didn’t write here as often as I should have because I felt like everything I wrote needed to be so ‘bloggy”, so “important”, but with Thoughts and News – Ah, how freeing – we can talk about anything we want now: important or not-so-much.

So, today – NEWS. I am so smiley about this particular piece of news because I’ve been waiting so long to be able to say this. Ready?

All of my novels will be available on audio. The blessed Brilliance Audio is releasing them all.

Three books are ready now: DRIFTWOOD SUMMER, WHEN LIGHT BREAKS and the new October novella THE PERFECT LOVE SONG: A HOLIDAY STORY.

Here’s the link.

http://www.amazon.com/Perfect-Love-Song-Holiday-Story/dp/1441869921/ref=tmm_abk_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1282770701&sr=8-1

And if you want to come harass me, or ask me why my characters did or did not do something, I’ll be at the Suwanne Book Festival this weekend speaking with my friends, Ad Hudler and The Cracker Queen Lauretta Hannon (I have a feeling I’ll just be sittin’ there trying not to look silly as these two take the stage by storm).

http://suwaneefestivalofbooks.com/

And a photo for fun -- This is the galley for my October 12th release. When it arrived on my doorstep, I took a photo of it on my kitchen counter to prove: it's real, it's not just a mss inside my computer.

Not So Different

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Mon, 03 May 2010 14:39:00 +0000

Not So Different At All

I have this odd habit – well, not really habit, but addiction (is there a difference?): every morning I read Garrison Keller’s Writer’s Almanac poem-of-the-day and then I read the stories underneath each author’s birthday.

Some days I love the poem, other days not so much. But that’s not my addiction – my addiction is to the stories told about the author who is having a birthday on that day.

We often look at authors – the most famous of them – as someone different or ethereal, as someone separate and more-worthy, as if they were destined to be writers and were never anything or anyone else. But of course they were someone and something else before they were authors. They were children and lovers, they were teachers and carpenters, ship captains and lost souls. They failed and traveled and married and loved and lost. They lived their stories and then we read their stories.

This morning there was a small biography of a writer, a famous writer who grew up in a house with 365 rooms and 52 staircases (seriously). This writer was in love with another writer, and she wrote this love letter in the 1800s:“I composed a beautiful letter to you in the sleepless nightmare hours of the night, and it has all gone: I just miss you, in a quite simple desperate human way….I miss you even more than I could have believed; and I was prepared to miss you a good deal.”

And I am struck by this: no matter rich or poor, man or woman, writer or doctor; no matter the age or decade or social climate -- want is just want. Desire is desire.

It is the same throughout the ages, and yet when one feels that kind of relentless desire, the emotion feels so individual, so specific, as if no one else has ever felt that way. Ever.

But of course they have.

It is common to man.

Not so different or special at all really.

Or is it?

It must be or why would we write so many books, sonnets, novels, short stories, poems and songs about love and desire?

And that, I think, is what makes stories worth reading – because it is only inside the story that the desire becomes something special, something different. It is inside the story that love becomes particular and worthy. It is inside the story that desire becomes noble and extraordinary. Without the story, desire if just desire; want is just want -- common to man.

So maybe story is really magic – alchemy transforming the common into the uncommon, the ordinary into the extraordinary.

Maybe.

Some Things I Found that Day

noreply@blogger.com (Patti Callahan Henry) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:53:00 +0000

Patti Callahan Henry

Last month I went crazy cleaning out closets and drawers in a house we’ve lived in for fifteen years with three wild children. Stuff. Lots of stuff. Of course I’ve cleaned out along the way, the crib, the stroller, stuff like that. But these were things I had labeled “storage” and were still in “storage”.

Some things I found that day: My Brownie uniform; my breakup letter to college boyfriend; journals from middle school; letter from a boy I met on a cruise; daughter’s baptism dress, Precious Moments cross-stitched wedding present; wedding veil; a dress I smocked for my daughter (YES, I sewed and smocked a Christmas dress she never wore). There were many, many other things, which all made me pause and remember the different phases and seasons of my life.

Until today I haven’t given much thought as to ‘why’ I save these things (some of which I’d forgotten I’d even saved), why every time I find them I save them again and again. I’m not preserving them for when I die and my kids must go through my boxes and decide what to keep or throw away. No, I’ve kept them for myself, but why?

The Brownie uniform is proof of a part of my life of which I have absolutely no memory of being a part of. The college boyfriend’s letter is proof of my broken heart, and then there is the memory of going on a cruise after college graduation, and then the days I had only one child and then she was baptized.

The journals are the best. For some reason I thought it was important to write down what I did each day. Roller skating. I hate Billy. Church. Washed car. I wrote these things like I was stapling myself to life, making sure my days didn’t get away from me. I needed to put something in each blank space as if proof I’d lived that day.

The one thing all this ‘stuff’ in storage have in common: I barely remember that part of my life. I will bet that if I could be that seven year old in the brownie uniform I’d feel an emotion that seems so, so important. I’d bet that at that moment I’d believed that what I felt and saw were the most important things in the world, nothing would ever be different and my problems were the only problems that mattered.

When I wrote that letter to my college boyfriend, I thought I’d never love like that again; I thought my heart was permanently and utterly broken. When I was on that cruise, I believed that nothing could ever be that fun again. When Meagan was baptized I thought I’d never again love that deeply.

I don’t know why this is the way it is, why we forget what we know, but we do. Sometimes I’ll read a paragraph in a book I wrote and I’ll have no recollection of ever having written those words in that order. I have a friend who was cleaning out files and found an entire novel she forgot she’d written – I hate her for that. That’s a much better find than a break-up letter.

So why do I save some of this memorabilia? I think I save them for many reasons.

* To remind myself that everything does pass: the good, the bad, the sad, the glorious, the awful. It all passes and another day comes and then another day. We change and grow and life’s pages turn, sometimes these days go too slowly, and sometimes too quickly.

*Time is relevant. The days after that break up letter moved much slower than the days during the cruise.

*There are parts of my life that I don’t remember at all, but they still make me who I am now. I want to always be able to see all the pieces of me that make me. I don’t necessarily need to remember that part of my life for it to have influence over my thoughts and actions. I like this reminder because it makes me aware of the fact that there are hidden things at work in my life. When I wore that brownie uniform I was still Patti, still me, and yet a me I don’t know at all. This is a mystery and I like to be reminded of that mystery.

Who I am now, she too will change. These feelings will pass. This day will pass. The sad will pass. The joy will pass. People will leave my life; new ones will enter. My kids will grow; I will become older; I’ll grieve; I’ll rejoice; I’ll weep; I’ll laugh.

I do know this: I also save all these things because there is this storyteller inside me and she likes to see the narrative arc of a story. She wants to look at all that has already happened and then ask, “Wow, I wonder what will happen next?”

Maybe that is why we as novelists write stories because not only do we wonder what will happen next but also because stories are permanent. Someone can read the book ten years from now and it will be the same story we wrote today. There is something about writing a novel or a story that has an intransience that not many things in this transient life have.

Once our life is lived, the story is told. There are many parts of our story that we don’t get to write – the beginning for example, but there are other parts we do get to write. And those parts, the ones we choose to write, do tell a story that is in many ways everlasting.

Maybe we save ‘stuff’ because we need to – every once in a while – stop in the middle of our story and look back, see where we’ve been, who we’ve been. These things, like chapters in a book, remind us of the pages we forgot we lived and help us live better now.

Once upon a time there was a girl named Patti Lynn Callahan; when she was seven years old, she was in Brownie Troup #345….