Lynda Rutledge

The FRENCH translation (the French rights were sold to Actes Sud of Paris) of Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale is out and it seems, wonderfully, that the French like Texas-born Faith Bass Darling.

May I present: "Le dernier vide-grenier de Faith Bass Darling"

In fact, as you can see from this cover, they even have made 70 year old Faith QUITE sophisticated and attractive in what seems to be their vision of what she might have looked like in your rich young days. For those who have not read it (YET?), Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale has a rather essential French connection, if you will, opening and closing with a French relic from Louis XIV's court that happens to have found its way to the Darling mansion over the centuries--and as the story opens, out on the front lawn being sold at her "Last Garage Sale." So I truly love that the French have embraced it. In fact, here's a link to a nice Review in the French Marie-Claire magazine. If your French is as rusty as mine, here's a rough translation of their nice words (Google mangles it beyond redemption):

Hours before the last day of 1999, a divine revelation convinces Faith Bass Darling, she will not see the 21st century. So she decides to sell her rich inheritance: antiques, furniture, and precious jewels on her lawn for a few dollars. Is Faith losing her mind? This stunning first novel by Lynda Rutledge, Texas journalist, talks about the role of objects in our lives, separation in our family ties, and time slipping away.

Merci, ya'll.

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Column #6: JOT

So you want to be a writer?
•Jot.
•Jot, jot, jot.
•Jot a lot.
•Give yourself permission to be a writer who respects his/her ideas enough to jot.
•Got a good memory, you say? Famous last words.
•Jot on paper napkins, receipts, magazine page margins (then rip discreetly and pocket.)
•Interrupt conversations if you must. Be self-deprecating, apologetic, or lie like a dog, but jot before the idea flies away.
•Borrow/swipe pens if you must.
•Jot on your arm.
•Text yourself.
•Leave yourself a voicemail.
•Buy one of those tiny Swiss knifes with a pen.
•But jot that thought. Or curse yourself in the morning.
•The edges of forgotten ideas can haunt like ghosts.
•Your creative mind is a fickle thing. The spark may flicker and fade.
•It may not even be a good idea, but if you don't jot, it will become the Idea of the Century, the Bestselling, LifeChanger that got away.
•Who needs that grief?
•So learn the power of the scribble.
•Jot.


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"Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale" was an Atlanta Library Bestseller this summer.

THANK YOU, ATLANTA!

Column #5:WHINE

Want to be a writer?
•Learn the fine art of the whine:
•Feel paranoid; unappreciated; ahead-of-your-time.
•Take other writers' successes as a personal affront since they're not as good as you (They may not be).
•Spend lots of time at coffee houses expressing this feeling.
•Whine until you're sick of the sound of your own voice...
•Then go out and live.
• Out. Out there. Beyond your door. Away from the vapid glow of your computer screen and comforts of remote controls.
•Build a house with Habitat for Humanity, pick up cans along the highway, walk dogs for cancer, shelve books for the library, read to the blind: You get the picture.
•Offer your way with words to help the cause.
•Get good at it; good for the good.
•Feel on-the-nose appreciated.
•Feel less self-involved yet inspired.
•Take that feeling back to the vapid glow of your computer screen, then
•Cordone off a no-whine zone: Create.
•Realize most artists aren't appreciated until they die.
•Don't die. Live. Write. Right now. For the sake of it. For the art. For your soul.
•Then and only then, take a nanosecond when you feel the urge as a nice cleansing purge and...
•Whine.
•Feel better?
•Good.

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Part of the BIG FUN of being a 21st CENTURY novelist is you can actually "visit" Book Clubs anywhere, everywhere, anytime, if they invite you. Seriously.

You either pick up the phone ("Call-in") or click on over via your computer with "Skype" and voila! THIS I DID NOT KNOW. Now if the wine didn't have to be virtual, too, I'd be even happier.

I've been having great fun this 1st summer of "Faith Bass Darling's Last Garage Sale" doing both with a dozen or so book clubs across the country in New Jersey, Alabama, Ohio, Texas, and Tennessee who bought the hardback or the ebook, instead of waiting for the paperback, and asked me in on the discussion fun. A writer's gotta love that. And I have.

Thanks to all ya'll. Looking forward to more. Got a book club this fall? This sound like fun? I'd be honored. Check out the "For Book Clubs" webpage for contact info. (Here's what the St. Agnes Belles Lettres Book Club of Memphis sent me to show of the shindig they threw in honor of my little East Texas-set fable. )  Read More