Overwhelmed? There's Help

By Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

Do you ever get overwhelmed? I think most of us do from time to time. Right now, I’m working on all those things that must be done to market a book. Yes, I know. It hasn’t even been published yet. But here’s what I didn’t realize and maybe you don’t know either. The marketing begins the minute you have the idea for the book.

So, let’s consider that I’m about thirty years behind. That’s how long ago I began thinking about writing this story. I had no clue what marketing was back then. I had no clue I was a writer.

A Crow, a Divot, and a Lesson

By Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

The crow on the left, lifting the divot.

By now you know that we live on a golf course. No, it isn’t because we’re avid golfers. I’m more of a hack than I ever was a golfer. My husband isn’t too bad, though he tells me he isn’t very good, either. Believe me, he can get the ball into the air which is a lot more than I can say about my abilities. And, he's a decent golfer. He’s a born athlete. Baseball and basketball were his games. The first time I saw him in any sport was in an intramural basketball game at Samford University in Birmingham, way back when we first met. He was good, y’all! And I hate basketball. Sorry. Just being honest here.

Through many of the twists and turns of our lives, especially in the past ten years, we found ourselves the owners of a villa here on a fairway in Western North Carolina. The draw for us is that the HOA takes care of all the exterior needs, from new roofs, to new siding, paint, and even lawn and yard care. Hubby has never been much of one for yard care. And I can’t do it anymore on all these hillsides. Yes, age has caught up with both of us.

Grave Consequences Has an Expected Date of Birth

By Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

I’m so excited to finally have a tentative date for publication of my first novel. The thing is, it isn’t carved in stone so I can’t share it with you yet. If you’d like to be one of the first to hear the date and if you’d like to be on my launch team, sign up for my newsletter and you’ll be among the first to know.

Don’t know what a launch team is? Some authors call it their street team or their dream team. These are people who agree to help you get out word about an upcoming book or event, such as a book signing. For the most part, I’ll be doing all the work, you agree to share memes I’ll be making with everyone you reach, spread word any way you can. Plus, I would greatly appreciate it if you’d pray for me and for this book. If you can do nothing but pray, believe me, that is huge. This book isn’t going anywhere without God there to guide it.

My Life in a Nutshell

By Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

Even though it is an entire year before my forthcoming book, Grave Consequences, A Charlotte Graves Southern Mystery, will be available, I realize that most of you don’t know me well, if at all. I thought I’d tell you a bit about me.

I began and lived most of my life in South Alabama. It’s no wonder that I grew up to write Southern fiction. As a genealogist, albeit an amateur, the South and all her glories are in my blood—indeed, my DNA. There is no way to remove myself from my roots and my heritage.

Headstone Rubbings or Cleanings Could Lead to Grave Consequences

By Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

Most of you know that I have a novel under contract with Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. I am thrilled to the marrow, to say the least. This week, I finished all the major editing. At least for this round. I have no clue how LPC will change it once they see it. Suffice it to say, I have many more rounds of edits to go before this book comes out.

While working this week, I had to do some Google searches for one of the scenes in the book—Grave Consequences: A Charlotte Graves “Digging Up Dirt” Southern Mystery. Charlotte spends a lot of time in cemeteries. In one scene, she is preparing to do headstone rubbings.