Pleased as punch to share the gorgeous cover for my dear friend @pattichenry’s Spring ‘23 book. You know what to do. #preorderherbookdammit.
Repost from @friendsandfiction
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🎉#CoverReveal!🎉Behold #TheSecretBookofFloraLea by #nytimes #bestseller @pattichenry. The bestselling author of #SurvivingSavannah and #BecomingMrsLewis delivers an enchanting story that that @bakerkline calls “transporting, heartfelt, and atmospheric” and that @jamieford describes as “a fantastical tale of myth, wartime history, and true heartache.” Mark your calendars and start planning your Spring 2023 reading early. THE SECRET BOOK OF FLORA LEA will be in stores everywhere on May 2, 2023 from @atriabooks. #preorder NOW! #TheSecretBookofFloraLea #coverreveal #historicalfiction #patticallahanhenry #pch #atriabooks
Last week’s first day of school pix of Molly & Griffin. 8th & 6th grades.
Doing my Sunday homework for this Wednesday’s EPIC episode of @friendsandfiction . Not one but two amazing thriller writers—@Karin Slaughter and @Christopher Swann are our guests, and I get to host. Of course, this kind of homework is way better than trying to cram a month’s work of “research” into a single, frantic Sunday night writing a term paper on the evils of dangling participles as I once recall doing back in my junior high days. This homework involves diving headfirst into two wildly propulsive page-turners. As a plus, I had an excuse to binge-watch Karin’s highly addictive Netflix series Pieces of You, because her new book, Girl Forgotten, is the sequel. Also, tonight, I won’t have those throwback ”Sunday Scaries” I used to experience upon hearing the Ed Sullivan Show theme music. #thrillerbooks #authorsofinstagram #sundayscaries
And we have a teenager! Mols celebrated her golden birthday at a pool party last night with her bffs. Such joy to see these amazing girls celebrating our girl. #mollywood #13goingon30
Flashback Friday, when five years ago these two picked big bouquets to take their teachers on the first day of school. Molly was in third grade, and Griffin was in first. #flashbackfriday #schooldays
Yesterday marked six months since we lost our daughter Katie, to complications from Covid. One thing that’s helped during our grieving process is remembering her passion for helping others. @free99fridge was one of her favorite causes, and we’ve carried on her work. Mr. MKA took over her bagged lunch project when Katie got to sick to continue, and he hasn’t missed a week of making bagged lunches in all this time. So many friends have pitched in too, and we’re deeply grateful to have her legacy carried forward with the Free Fridges and @helpingmamas. Stay tuned for some wonderful news about an upcoming project with Helping Mamas, but in the meantime, you can visit the websites of both these organizations to donate. #teamkatie #beniceorstayhome
Flowers make even Mondays okay. Ish. The zinnias, sunflowers & salvia in our garden are still going strong. #mondayvibes #squirrelhollow #southernsummer #flowerpower
After 3 hours of writing I was desperate to do something else. Decided to tackle my closet, starting with shoes & purses. A huge trash bag of shoes is headed to the thrift store. Some purses were so gnarly I had to throw them away. While cleaning out the non-gnarly(ish) purses I scraped out at least $30 in change, a 20-Euro note, a dollar bill, a Planned Parenthood button, Stacy Abrams button, credit card case full of expired cards, lots of hand sanitizer, 9 pens, four chapsticks, and some gnarly face masks I tossed. Also a blade for a hacksaw. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever dug out of a purse?
Here’s another Friday Flashback from my long-ago newspaper days, when I covered two of the infamous Jim Williams murder trials, which were the (very loosely) based inspiration for Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil for @ajcnews. Here’s baby MKA in the late ‘80s, interviewing Williams in his mansion, Mercer House, at his antique pipe organ. (Please, no smutty jokes about me playing his organ.) Here’s what I remember about Williams. He had a loaded vintage Luger handgun on the coffee table of his parlor, along with various other pieces of antique Nazi memorabilia. (His victim, Danny Hansford, was shot with a Luger.) Sorry y’all, but Williams, although fascinating was not a nice man. Racist, anti-Semitic…How appropriate that Kevin Spacey played him in the movie? Later, after he was finally acquitted of murder in his fourth trial, I came up with a proposal to write a true crime book about the case. Unfortunately for me, John Berendt, who’d done a piece about the trials for a national magazine, already had a book contract for the story. I left the paper in 1991, and in my second novel, used bits of the Williams story for my second mystery novel, To Live and Die in Dixie. Williams died of pneumonia in 1990, and his sister inherited the mansion, and for a while operated it as a museum. You can still visit the gift shop in the home’s carriage house. #flashbackfriday #crimewriting #newsie #backintheday #crimejunkie
Seven years ago she loved playing dress-up. And dressing me up too. Where did the time go?
There's a pivotal scene in my latest novel THE HOMEWRECKERS that takes place at my favorite restaurant on Tybee Island, @sundaecafe. If you've read the book, you know that fateful dinner is where things start to get a little complicated for Hattie. Now I have partnered up with my pals at Sundae Cafe to give you the chance to win a $50 gift card and a t-shirt from Sundae Cafe plus an autographed copy of THE HOMEWRECKERS. Enter to win by Friday August 12th using the entry form linked in my bio. Bonus points for also following Sundae Cafe on FB & Insta! A winner will be chosen and announced on Mon 8/15!
➡️ENTER TO WIN! at the 🔗in my bio!
🍀Good luck!🍀
Waking up to find a text from a pal vacationing at a beach house rental where the books on offer feature a couple of mine in a delightful book sandwich gives me that Sunday kinda feels. #sundaykindoflove #beachbooks #beachreads #beachhousebonanza #summer everendswithMKA
Remember that $2.99 vintage canister I bought at @secondlifeatl thrift the other day? She’s looking might fine with a fresh-cut bouquet of zinnias and salvia from the garden at Squirrel Hollow. Just the inspiration I need to grind out some fiction. #thriftstorefinds #zinniasforever #gardengoodness #flowerchild #squirrelhollow #summerneverendswithmka #countrygardens
On this flashback Friday, here’s a golden oldie from my days as a reporter for the @ajcnews. In November of 1985 Prince Charles & Princess Diana came to the Washington to help open the Treasure Houses of Great Britain exhibit at the National Gallery. I pitched a story to my editors & they actually bit. (Those we’re the days my friends! Expense accounts! Whee!) My colleagues in the Cox Washington bureau got me press credentials and I got to stand on the White House lawn as they stepped out of their helicopter to be greeted by President Reagan and the First Lady. My lasting impressions? Diana was even lovelier in person, with gorgeous legs. Also, for their first photo op, Nancy Reagan reached out to hold Di’s hand, and Di flinched & edged away. Later as I wandered around DC I encountered this life-sized cardboard cutout of the royals, and shelled out a few bucks to have my photo made with them. The color photo was very obviously fake, but a photographer pal at the paper—maybe @louie_favorite, made me a pretty convincing copy in black and white. I sent it to my parents, who, until I gently confessed my trick, showed it far and wide as evidence that their kid was up close and personal with Chuck and Di. Good times! #flashbackfriday #reallyroyalty #newsies #mybrushwithfame #eightieshairdontcare
An all NEW EPISODE of the @friendsandfiction Writers' Block podcast has dropped today! I was so pleased to join our podcast host @rsblockmtm for this fascinating conversation with @thereseannefowler (my pub house sister from @stmartinspress), about her newest book, #itallcomesdowntothis. In our super fun chat we explore the origins of the book, Therese's writing process, and pivoting during the pandemic to create a heartfelt, character-driven and fascinating exploration of families, secrets, and long-held desires. Tune in wherever you listen to podcasts. We're on all the major platforms. Or click the link in my bio to listen online.
🎧🔊🎙✍🏻📚
#friendsandfiction #friendsandfictionwritersblockpodcast #newyorkcity #FamilySaga #communityofreadersandwriters
Had lovely birthday dinner out last night with dear old friends. Then I snagged 2 boxes of matches—which are free—right? But I was so pleased with myself, felt like I’d pulled off the great Brinks truck heist. #weirdo #catholicguilt #freebies
Why yes, I did make a birthday trip to a thrift store, where I scored this .99 oil painting (for one of the bedrooms at Ebbtide) the melamine scallop plates for .99, (I have the same ones at Coquina Cottage) and the vintage canister for $2.99. Cuz that’s how I roll. Who knows what other wildly luxurious stuff I’ll get up to? #hoarderissues #thriftstorefinds #beachhousefinds #cheapthrills
I’ve got a hard and fast deadline looming for this Christmas book, which means I’ve gotta up my word count. After 30 books, I know lots of ways to trick myself into being productive. Unlike most writers I know, I’m not a coffee drinker. But some days, a cup of tea (or three) gets the creative juices going. Plotting longhand in a composition book helps too. As does drinking from a swell mug like this Queen Elizabeth Platinum Jubilee mug, gifted me by @kkpwantiques. Whatever works, right? #amwriting #christmasbooks #christmasinjuly #summerneverendswithmka
Drying some of the hydrangeas from the garden at Squirrel Hollow—and enjoying the view while I write my next Christmas book. #amwriting #hydrangeaheaven
Please meet my second cousins twice removed on my momma’s side of the family; Earl and KarolAnne Breitweiss. You might know Earl as the founder and CEO of The Breitweiss School of Mortuary Science. But KaroleAnne is just as prominent in their hometown of Nuttbuckle, Tenn. Renowned as a prizewinning cook, she also won many awards as Amway Sales Leader, District 3 over the years. But their empire came crashing down after it was discovered that the secret to KaroleAnne’s State Fair prize-winning coconut cakes was that they were baked in Earl’s crematorium. After their stunning fall from grace, the couple fled Nuttbuckle. According to Momma, they lived out their lives under assumed names, in a double-wide down in Two Egg, Florida. #fakeancestors #buriedsecrets #fametoshame