A Sparkling Debut: Author Susan McCorkindale celebrates her new memoir (photo by Tiffany Wollin)
A witty collection of tales about her move from city living to life on a 500-acre cattle farm in Virginia, Susan’s literary debut struck a chord with me -- I had considered penning a book on my own transition to small town America (tentative title: “Big Fish, Little Pond”) a few years back, when I spent a year in Southern Illinois as a local TV news reporter.
Celia served up a beautiful spread of drinks and hot and cold hors d’oeuvres as I mingled with some of the fabulous women in attendance.
Celia’s friend Sandy filled me in on their upcoming Parisian getaway with six other galpals for Celia’s 50th birthday. I bonded with twenty-something ladies Shannon and Katie about the perils of online dating and navigating singlehood in NYC. And I learned of my good friend Tiffany’s new adventures in partner dancing.
Before doing a fantastically energetic reading, Susan shared the story of how her city-turned-country girl evolution became a book. It’s the kind of tale that aspiring authors everywhere (myself included) dream about.
Captive Audience: All of us were engrossed by Susan's tales of 'life on the funny farm' (photo by Tiffany Wollin)
After moving to Virginia, Susan began emailing her friends about small town life. Her hilarious weekly accounts were soon being forwarded to 200 people, eventually becoming the basis for a blog (http://www.confessionsofacounterfeitfarmgirl.blogspot.com/). Impressed by Susan’s writing and the blog’s following, the agent who represents bestselling author Nicholas Sparks contacted her and so, a book deal was born.
While Susan was signing my book, I confided my literary aspirations to her. I smiled upon reading what she wrote --
“Keep writing and soon I’ll be at your book signing!”
I’m looking forward to making that prediction come true.
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