Idabel Allen's Blog: A Lowbrow Literary Life, page 2

Fascinating Insight #2: Celebrities Who Have Seen Better Days

As part of my ongoing series on FASCINATING INSIGHTS into the life of an author, namely me, I present to you this insight:

For three nights in a row, I have dreamed of celebrities who have seen better days. 

Night 1, : 'Tis been a long and valiant career, but gone are the days of Benny and Joon, What's Eating Gilbert Grape and Ed Wood. And yet, Mr. Depp found a starring role in my dream, revealing to me a check for over $200,000 dollars he received for acting in some film (another in...

Hear Ye, Hear Ye. Vote For My Next Book Cover. Like NOW.

Okay, I'm gearing up to publish the most ridiculous story ever written for 12 to 14 year-old-girls (primarily), Cursed! My Devastatingly Brilliant Campaign To Save The Chigg. I have a terrible time landing on book covers and thought you might want to help me out. In fact, I'M COUNTING ON IT.

Take a gander at the following VERY ROUGH MOCKUP options and leave me a comment letting me know what cover you prefer. And remember, you are judging this based on the cover most likely to cause a 12 to 14-...

Redeeming Characters And All That: A Rooted Review

Got this little gem of an email, thought I'd pass it on in case you are living under a rock and are not aware just how dang awesome Rooted is:

"Just finished finally getting down into your book in my queue of books to review. Idabel, I was going to write to you to say this isn’t my kind of book and after reading the first chapter or so was ready to put it down. So glad I didn’t (I really don’t like movies or books that use so much foul language).  I read on and found the reading very engaging....

In Which Idabel Was Invited To An Author Visit At Southern Writers Magazine

That's right, Southern Writers Magazine emailed me up and asked that I answer some very telling questions about writing: how I do it, why I do it, and all that.

Iffen you have a moment, take a gander. I'm the featured author @Southern Writers Magazine.  https://authorsvisits.com/.

 

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Idabel Allen Covington Leader Interview

Get it while it's hot -  your very own copy of the Covington Leader's Idabel Allen interview, online, pdf or in the actual, physical, in your hand newspaper like the good old days.

Thanks be to newslady extraordinaire, Lisa DeLancey, for doing a great job of a) putting me at ease, b) enduring my rambling and c) writing possibly the most important news article of the past century.

Okay, maybe not the most important of the century, but important to a hometown girl trying to make good.

 

 

 

 

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Bought Me An Outboard Evinrude: A Literary Playlist

There's no way around it: music permeates everything. So its no surprise that my novel, Rooted, is In many ways about music. Not just the music of the punk rock character, Slade Mortimer, but music of a time and region: 1970’s West Tennessee. A time of outlaw country: Willie, Waylon, and Hank – Sr. and Jr. A time when the women of country held their own: Tanya Tucker, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, and Dolly, of course.

And while this music certainly filled the airwaves of the fictional town, Mo...

Talking Location with author Idabel Allen – Tennessee Delta

My post from TripFiction.com

#TalkingLocationWith…. author Idabel Allen – Tennessee Delta

Rooted is set in Northwest Tennessee’s Delta cotton-country: the remote land of my father’s childhood, with its muddy, turtle-filled waterways, fried catfish, and down-home people who look after their own. As a child, it seemed the outside world had little influence on this pocket of land, where folks live as their folks had: working the land, trusting the Lord, oblivious of what was to come as we all are....

Brevity: Need I Say More, Writers?

Apparently, I love the sound of my voice. Same goes for my writing: I love reading my words. What can I say? There are times I think I’m the greatest thing since sliced bread.

And when I get on a roll, Faulkner ain’t got nothing on me. I can easily make one thought; one sentence fills three pages… front and back.

For readers, it is pure agony. You might as well ask them to sit in a chair and read all that piled up nonsense with a metal tray of hot coals in their laps. It’s that enjoyable.

I’ve b...

Make Like a Nun and Get Your Writing Habit On

What habit might that be, you ask?  Is it:

The habit of sitting down to write at the same time in the same location each and every day even though Spring is here and your hands would rather be digging in the dirt than pounding on the keys?

The habit of editing a draft over and over again until reading another sentence of your precious baby threatens to make red ink bleed from your eyes?

The habit of telling yourself to keep going even when all your friends are down at Wormy Pete's Mexican Dump s...

Sharing Is Caring, Ya'll

I've always been there for you.

Like the time you needed someone to finish off that last donut or four; it was me who stepped up to the plate. Then there was the concert you couldn't attend at the last minute, remember how I took the tickets off your hands, free of charge? And let's not forget all the birthdays and holidays I thought about getting you a gift.

You see how I've bent over backward to be there for you. And now, the time has come for you to be there for me. I'm speaking to those of...