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I’m writing from Oxford, Mississippi.
Eli Cranor, S.A. Cosby, Megan Abbott, Ace Atkins |
I’m here for an event called the “Oxford Conference of the Book.” It’s a three-day-long festival where writers from all across the country come to talk books. This year, I was asked to be on a panel with three of my literary heroes: Ace Atkins, S.A. Cosby, and Megan Abbott.
With Ace playing the role of moderator, the panel went off without a hitch, but it was what happened before and after the event that really made this trip special.
Oxford is a writer’s dream.
Faulkner lived here. His ghost still haunts the city square. Grisham’s huge in these parts too (and everywhere else). Then there’s Larry Brown. Larry was a firefighter-turned novelist. He wrote gritty Southern stories. His work greatly impacted my work, and yes, he was also from Oxford.
When I look back at my writing journey, I realize how important Oxford is to me. In 2010, right after my senior football season at Ouachita Baptist University, I attended the Yoknapatawpha Writer’s Workshop (named for Faulkner’s fictional Mississippi county). I met Ace Atkins at that workshop. I was hooked. I kept coming back to town, and every time I did, I was greeted with open arms.
Ace isn’t the only author in Oxford. There’s a whole crew of writers who have made Oxford their home, and they’re all so kind, so welcoming.
One of the country’s best bookstores is also located in Oxford. If you’ve never been to Square Books, I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Owner and operator Richard Howorth (also the former mayor of Oxford) knows books. Despite his status (the New Yorker ran a beautiful feature on him last year), Richard can still be spotted lugging boxes of books around before signings. Richard has stories to spare, tales about Grisham’s early, epic book tours, yarns that weave together so many of my all-time favorite writers.
And it was those sorts of stories that made this trip so special. Don't get me wrong, the panel was great. Signing books was fun. But the conversations I had with some of my literary heroes at City Grocery Bar and Ajax Diner were priceless.
Being a novelist is a tricky business. There’s no rulebook. No code of conduct. It’s kind of like being a batter in the batter’s box — you get to pick your stance. Which is why I’m lucky to have friends like Ace, Shawn, and Megan to help with the curveballs.
Don't Know Tough
In Denton, Arkansas, the fate of the high school football team rests on the shoulders of Billy Lowe, a volatile but talented running back. Billy comes from an extremely troubled home: a trailer park where he is terrorized by his mother’s abusive boyfriend. Billy takes out his anger on the field, but when his savagery crosses a line, he faces suspension.
Without Billy Lowe, the Denton Pirates can kiss their playoff bid goodbye. But the head coach, Trent Powers, who just moved from California with his wife and two children for this job, has more than just his paycheck riding on Billy’s bad behavior. As a born-again Christian, Trent feels a divine calling to save Billy—save him from his circumstances, and save his soul.
Then Billy’s abuser is found murdered in the Lowe family trailer, and all evidence points toward Billy. Now nothing can stop an explosive chain of violence that could tear the whole town apart on the eve of the playoffs. |
Ozark Dogs
In this Southern thriller, two families grapple with the aftermath of a murder in their small Arkansas town.
After his son is convicted of capital murder, Vietnam War veteran Jeremiah Fitzjurls takes over the care of his granddaughter, Joanna, raising her with as much warmth as can be found in an Ozark junkyard outfitted to be an armory. He teaches her how to shoot and fight, but there is not enough training in the world to protect her when the dreaded Ledfords, notorious meth dealers and fanatical white supremacists, come to collect on Joanna as payment for a long-overdue blood debt.
Headed by rancorous patriarch Bunn and smooth-talking, erudite Evail, the Ledfords have never forgotten what the Fitzjurls family did to them, and they will not be satisfied until they have taken an eye for an eye. As they seek revenge, and as Jeremiah desperately searches for his granddaughter, their narratives collide in this immersive story about family and how far some will go to honor, defend—or in some cases, destroy it. |
| Previous columns: |
• A New Marriage Milestone
• An Invitation to the Party
• Writing from a Thunderstorm
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• Writing from “Jazz Beach"
• Writing from the Sabbath
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• Writing from the drop-off line at my daughter’s elementary school |
• Writing with Thanksgiving on my mind
• Writing from the crowd before the start of a Shovels & Rope show
• Writing from the depths of a post-book-festival hangover
• Writing from the Ron Robinson Theatre
• Writing to you on Halloween Eve
• Writing from my bed on a Saturday morning
• Writing from my office with two darts clenched in my left hand
• Writing from the shade of my favorite tree
• Writing from my desk on a Tuesday morning
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• I'm writing from the water
• Writing from my wife's Honda Pilot
• Writing from my office |
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