Grave Consequences Has a Cover

By Debra DuPree Williams

I want to thank all of you for faithfully reading my posts. I can’t tell you how much that means to me. In the publishing world, it’s all about the numbers. Sad, but true. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s just the way it is.

If you’ve read my posts for a while, you know that I’ve shared with you many things about my writing journey. One of those things was about the birth of a book and how long a process it is. I feel fortunate. I haven’t had to wait that long. Believe me when I tell you that was by the grace of God alone. 

Are You Listening?

By Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams 

You know those moments when something seems so wonderful that we can hardly believe it’s happening to us? But at the same time, you get this feeling in the pit of your stomach, a voice in your spirit that’s telling you this isn’t for you?

Listen to that voice.

That’s God.

I’ve recently had two such moments. One thing was inconsequential in the scope of my life, still, had I listened to those gut feelings, the red flags waving in the distance, I would have saved myself and another person a slight headache.

The second thing is big. I mean it could be very big. It could change my life, and it could potentially change the lives of many others. But, right now, I don’t feel comfortable with it. At this point, I’m still in a wait and see mode while I wait on God to bring me clarity.

Have you had those moments? I’ve had more than my share.

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.

Better Than Cussin' - The Colorful Language of the South -

By Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

Did the title grab your attention? I’m sure it did as you likely never thought you’d see such from me. Let me be clear, I’m not speaking of those words, the ones we simply do not use in polite society. I’m talking about Southern slang. Those phrases we use in place of the words which may, or may not have, come to mind.

Having been reared in south Alabama, I heard my share of both categories. Of course, that was back in the day when, if children used those words, out came the bar of soap. In our household, that meant the big, brown, scary bar of Octagon soap. 

My Granny - A Lasting Legacy

By Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

One of the things I loved most about my childhood was having our grandmother, Mama’s mother, Ludie Smith Bass, live with us. She was such a sweetheart and I wish I’d been old enough to truly appreciate just who she was in my life. Of course, I was aware that she was Mama’s mother, but I had no clue about the people she knew and from whom she descended.

It took me many years to finally begin the search for my roots, on all sides. But Granny’s are some I rarely write about. Mainly because I didn’t know much about that side of our family.

Granny’s mother and father, I do know—Turner Thomas Smith and Elizabeth Gilbert, and sisters and brothers, but off the top of my head, I can’t tell you all their names. That is so sad to me. These are the people who influenced Granny’s early years, thus, the remainder of her life.

Let Your Voice be Heard

By Debra DuPree Williams @DDuPreeWilliams

Greetings to all my friends. I want to thank you for so faithfully reading my blog posts. Words cannot express how deeply I appreciate each one of you.

I didn’t enter this writing world lightly. I began writing when I was a child. I poured over Childcraft books and tried my hand at poetry from the time I could write. When I was in the seventh grade, I wrote my first novel. But then, life took over. I went away to college, got married, had kids and didn’t really write during those later years until those kids went to school.

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.