Guest Blogger Melinda McGuire

I met Melinda on Shelfari.  Excerpts from her novel 'Josephine' were impressive.  I have never read a Southern Genre.  (I'm embarrassed to say this since I'm an avid reader of most anything except horror).  Melinda now has a short story 'When I met Crazy in the Morning:  Mae's Tale'.  Both are available from amazon: 
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Josephine+by+melinda+mcguire&x=0&y=0

So, my friends, here is Melinda:

1.     What genre is your writing?

 Southern - both Southern Gothic and Southern humor

2. What types of books do you read?

 I read Southern Gothic, such as William Faulkner, who is one of my favorites, Flannery O'Connor's works, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Eudora Welty. I also read Larry McMurtry and some Louis L'Amour. I also enjoy the classics - Hawthorne especially.

3. How do you feel about so many authors turning to e-publishing?

 I think it is great. As with everything else, eventually, the cream will rise to the top. And, this gives people the freedom to hold on to their artistic vision and not compromise or water down their ideas and talent.

4. Tell us a little about Josephine and how you came up with the idea?

 Josephine, well, she really is her own person with her own story to tell. I wish that I was one of those writers who was methodical in their planning process where everything was logical and orderly, but most of the time with my stories, they just come to me. Usually, the seed will be planted and then it will grow and morph and finally I can see the completed story line in my head. Then, I start writing. Josephine: Red Dirt and Whiskey is the story of Josephine, a young woman, who finds herself in unique circumstances during the Great Depression in northeast Texas. The story deals with hypocrisy and depravity and the struggles we have when we know the right things to do and know that we should do them, but doing the wrong things just feels so good some times that it is hard to turn away from it.

5. Do you plan to write more books?

 If so, are you working on any now? In addition to Josephine, I also have published several short stories and academic writing guides. I am currently working on several writing projects: a sequel to Josephine: Red Dirt and Whiskey - the story of Ethan and Julia. Another novel - Anne McGinnis. A book about the childhood of Belle Starr. A book about Diamond Bessie.

I have two cookbook/craft books coming out in September - Southern Sugar Baby's Guide to Halloween and Southern Sugar Baby's Guide to Christmas.

I am also working on a children's story.

If you don't mind, I thought I would include an excerpt from Mae's Tale: When I Met Crazy in the Morning. It's free on Smashwords - here's the link: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/73183

Mae stepped around the cow patties. Even though it was early in the morning, it was hot. Summer time meant that it never really cooled down. At seventeen, Mae had walked through this pasture hundreds of times. Going barefoot wasn’t much of a challenge since the grass was mostly dead, and the sun was already bright, so she could see clearly where she was going.

And where she was going was straight to Miss Josephine’s car.

Mae thought that sometimes when you see things that aren’t supposed to be there, it takes you a minute to realize that something is wrong and out of place.

Seeing Miss Josephine’s car parked in their cow pasture with the downed barb wire fence behind it was a bit of a shock, certainly. But, seeing Miss Josephine with her head hanging out the side window of the Model T, well, that was something else.

Miss Josephine was a widow, even though she was only two years older than Mae. Her husband, Samuel, had died suddenly, and that was the first dead person Mae had ever seen.

During the wake for Mr. Samuel, Miss Josephine had sat up with him all night in the sitting room of their house. She just sat there and never cried. Mae’s momma said that she must have been in shock. Mae was the one who was shocked, though. It had scared her to see someone she had just sat behind in church on Sunday laid out on the table in the sitting room of her neighbor’s house, dead.

After that, Mae had gotten a little jumpy, a little squirrely, as her daddy said when she would flinch at loud noises. She’d gone with her sister and brother to town to see Nosferatu at the movie house and that had sent her right over the edge, and she had to sleep on the floor next to her momma and daddy’s bed for a month.

Just thinking about it right then as she walked up slowly to Miss Josephine’s car gave her the shivers.

She tried to be quiet and gentle when she said Miss Josephine’s name. Mae said a little prayer for Miss Josephine not to be dead, just please don’t be dead. She just didn’t think she could handle seeing another dead person, and for it to be Mr. Samuel’s widow, no, that would be too much for her. She’d never get off the floor of her momma and daddy’s room again.

Melinda McGuire

Visit my author's page on Amazon: Melinda_McGuire

Smashwords author's page: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/melindamcguire

As you can see, Melinda is an author whose books you don't want to miss.  Southern Gothic Genre.  How fun!

Thank you, Melinda, for your guest post.

More guest bloggers are lined up and they are all great writers, like Melinda.