Brenda Sutton Rose's Blog, page 8
April 19, 2016
Sleeping on Paul’s Mattress
Sleeping on Paul’s Mattress
is a work of fiction by Brenda Sutton Rose
originally published in Mobius: A Journal of Social Change
From my crouching position under the house, I watch a hearse back into the yard and stop right short of the front porch. It’s late in the day, and the sun is bleeding red across the sky as far as I can see. Four men with fleshy faces climb out of the limousine of death. They stand tall, stretch, straighten their ties, and flip dandruff from their dark sui...
April 4, 2016
A Thief, A Writer
People ask me for details. They want to know who and what lurks behind my stories. They want to know the story behind the characters in Dogwood Blues. Who did you base so-and-so on? Well, I’m a thief. All authors of fiction are thieves. I pull from strangers. Friends. I pull from criminals. Moonshiners. Teachers. Lawyers. Artists. I pull from housewives. Actors. I pull from lunatics, from politicians. I eavesdrop and snatch ideas from the man talking on his cell phone in the grocery s...
February 12, 2016
Let’s Talk about Rhythm in Prose Writing
I’ve sat through some painful and boring writing sessions. At one particular fiction writing workshop I attended several years ago, Hemingway’s short sentences were preached to heaven and back. During the hour-long session, the pastor failed to mention the beauty of Papa’s lengthy sentences. From his pulpit, front and center of the room, the instructor presented an index of writing rules, referring to his list as the Ten Commandments, and told his flock that to write a long sentence is...
December 17, 2015
December 4, 2015
In My Father’s Pockets
When I was a child I often slipped into my parents’ bedroom in the early morning hours, where my father was sleeping after working late into the night. In search of lunch money, I would pick up the pants that he had dropped on the floor beside the bed the previous night, and, inhaling the scent of motor oil and soil, I would ease my hand into the pocket on the right side. Among the quarters, nickels, dimes, and pennies, his pocket—the one he reached for with his right hand— held the key...
December 2, 2015
A Blackberry Childhood
In June, my younger sister drove down from Illinois for a visit. One day we took a trip to the countryside. You might think every place in southern Georgia is “the country” but that’s not so. I live in a quiet neighborhood in the heart of the city. Yes, I can spot a field of crops a couple of miles from my house, but we wanted to go deep, deep enough to uncover the roots of our lives. So my sister and I loaded up the SUV and went in search of dirt roads that would lead to other dirt ro...
November 23, 2015
An Eccentric Life
I’ve been called eccentric. When I first heard the word bloodsucking the marrow from my name, I came close to crying. Me? Eccentric? I thought of Howard Hughes. Surely I wasn’t like the obsessive compulsive, germophobe recluse. For days, I walked around the house examining the things that surrounded me: paintings, pottery, blown glass, books, rocks, copper, bronze, wood carvings, painted leaves. Numerous times, I asked, “Am I really eccentric?”
My son agonized over my question. I recogn...
September 5, 2015
“Dogwood Blues” on Tour
Brenda Sutton Rose signing copies of Dogwood Blues at Barnes & Noble in Macon, GA
Book Discussion at Barnes & Noble
Signing a book for a chef known throughout Georgia.
Book Signing. Brenda Sutton Rose.
From the Kitchen of Ana Raquel, Southern Screws, a recipe made famous in Dogwood Blues by Brenda Sutton Rose.
Georgia Author Brenda Sutton Rose
Brenda Sutton Rose speaking at a book club in Jackson.
Author Brenda Sutton Rose with the lovely book reviewer and blogger, Idgie.
Author Brenda...
August 30, 2015
Between the Pages
Between the pages of books I collect, I often discover secrets, remnants from the past.
Once, I opened a book of short stories and unveiled a dried violet tucked between pages 232 and 233. Fearful the flower might crumble I left it in place.
Writing about the violet evokes a treasured, aged memory of my daughter. Her long strawberry-blonde hair falling around her face, she rushes to the porch where I am reading. Her flushed face damp with sweat, her blue eyes sparkling with delight, she...
August 17, 2015
Alapaha River in Dogwood Blues
At a recent book club meeting, a member asked me to explain why some readers thought of the Alapaha River as a character in Dogwood Blues. I can’t answer for my readers, but I can explain my own thoughts about the Alapaha River.
I wrote about the river as I sensed it and embraced the emotions it awakes in me. Although 
I never lived along the river, I often visited it alone and with my brother. We hunted for arrowheads; actually we hunted for anything of interest, and the water’s spirit...
