I am a big Hope Clark fan. Always have been. Both Hope and I have been committed to serving writers for years, and when you give as much service as we both have to the same group, you come to recognize each other as kindred spirits.
I don’t think Hope gives so much to writers because she has to or even because she wants to. I think she gives so much to writers because it’s in her nature. She’s a writer herself, and like me, she has the natural inclination to want to pass on what she’s learned to others in hopes of making the road a little less bumpy for someone else.
Now that Hope has a new novel out, you can bet that she was one of the first writer mama/writer grandmas I thought to invite to come on over and share the fruits of her hard work with us. Please help me welcome Hope!
About Hope Clark
C. Hope Clark was born and reared in the South, from Mississippi to South Carolina with a few stints in Alabama and Georgia. The granddaughter of a Mississippi cotton farmer, Hope holds a B.S. in Agriculture with honors from Clemson University and 25 years’ experience with the U. S. Department of Agriculture to include awards for her management, all of which enable her to talk the talk of Carolina Slade, the protagonist in most of her novels. Her love of writing, however, carried her up the ranks to the ability to retire young, and she left USDA to pen her stories and freelance.
About Lowcountry Bribe
Lowcountry Bribe by C. Hope Clark is the first in the Carolina Slade Mystery Series. Set in South Carolina, particularly along the coast in Charleston County, Lowcountry Bribe introduces readers to Carolina Slade, a smart, focused, sometimes over-thinking woman who feels safe in the bureaucratic world of the U.S. Department of Agriculture . . . until she’s offered a bribe . . . from a hog farmer, no less.
Slade follows proper protocol and reports Jessie Rawlings to her superiors. The next thing she knows, Slade is besieged by Senior Special Agent Wayne Largo from the Office of Inspector General in Atlanta. He and his partner have come to investigate Slade’s accusations, and if possible catch Jessie in the act of handing over money. While the situation disrupts her life, Slade reminds herself that following the book in reporting the incident was the right move.
However, events do not go smoothly. The IG isn’t telling Slade everything. The agents are also investigating the disappearance of Slade’s manager the year before in connection to possible land fraud. And when the stin on Jessie goes bad, the case is put on hold and Wayne is recalled to Atlanta, leaving Slade exposed and vulnerable, fearing not only for her life and job, but for her children’s safety.
The Very Short Interview
When did you know for sure that you were a writer and that writing would be a major energy focus in your life?
I knew I loved to write from day one. However, it wasn’t until I worked years as a government bureaucrat and writing seemed to be the catalyst to my advancement, did I think about writing for a living. Why give the government credit for my work? So it wasn’t until I was in my 40s with teenage boys did I decide writing was my future . . . and my focus. It beckoned me hard, and I latched ahold of it and haven’t looked back since.
Who has always been behind your writing career and who helped pull you up the ladder of success?
While my English teacher in 10th grade convinced me I had talent, my husband is the person who keeps me afloat. I count my blessings he’s so supportive. He comes to every one of my conferences, acting as baggage boy, photographer, and assistant handing out cards and handouts – anything needed. He’s even entertained attendees, talking about being a federal agent. He reminds me of deadlines, cooks dinner while I write, records a mystery for me when I’m chasing a deadline. He’s an angel and a marvel. For an early Mother’s Day, he bought a new notebook for me to handle emails, Facebook, Twitter and blog replies while traveling from workshops to conferences to readings. When I’m editing novels, he asks me if I have chapters to review, and offers to listen as I read aloud – on the back porch overlooking the lake. Of course he grabs a cigar and a bourbon while I read. He’s listened to an entire novel in three days before. He calls himself my Uncompensated Executive Personal Assistant, but I call him Sweetie.
What is the most frequent comment you hear about your book (or books) from readers? Tell us a little story about the response to your work.
OMG, my readers are remarkably in love with my new novel series. I have over 50 reviews on Amazon to date, and the publisher hasn’t even done its promo effort on it yet. Readers love the fast pace, first and foremost. The cliche “I could not put it down” rings true in review after review. I quit counting the number of times people said they read it straight through. Secondly, they love the spunk of Carolina Slade . . .just adore her! That does my heart good, because while she was tough from the outset, I had trouble showing her tender at the same time. She’s a mother – not common in a mystery series – and the ups and downs she had to endure in the danger she lived in was escalated when it impacted her children. That Mama Tiger attitude gave her a depth and strength that resonates with readers over and over. One lady met me at a signing and told me that Slade empowered her. She actually put down the book, went outside, and told people to get off her land where they’d been trespassing and hunting. I was stunned that my fictional character made her stand up and bark! Another said she found herself emulating the same emotions as Slade. If she was reading a chapter where Slade was angry, she was angry that day, and so on. I’m in awe how these wonderful readers are connecting with Carolina Slade and Lowcountry Bribe.
And Now, Your Turn
Now it’s your turn. You remember how this works right?
I ask you a question. You answer in the comments for your chance to win a book each day.
Please just respond once, even if you make a typo. 
Answer in the comments in 50-200 words (no less and no more to qualify to win one of today’s books). Please read the complete rules at least once!
Thanks for participating in the Writer Mama Every-Day-In-May Book Giveaway! I hope to see you here every day this month. Bring your friends!
Carolina Slade has spunk, and she’s not afraid to use it. How will you have spunk in upholding and protecting your desire to write?
Ready, set, comment!
Comments on this entry are closed.
Spunk helps keep me out of a writerly funk. They didn’t like my piece? They were so wrong…but maybe also parts of my story were wrong, too, so I rework and then recycle.
A rejection letter? An anthology that will NOT include my essay? An email that says, “No thanks” means at least I am submitting.
You gotta have heart…but you also gotta have spunk.
I’m not sure. This question is spot on for me this week. I don’t hesitate to write, my story is who I am, based on a lifetime of searching to understand my father. Writing has been cathartic and while I don’t understand many of my father’s actions, I have found things to like about him.
My sticking point is how to manage the current five years of email correspondence, some of which legitimize my experiences and the level of deceit people will go to in order to maintain their secrets. But the down side of using those- changing the names and editing them down is- am I putting my whole project at risk? The copyright laws are squishy on this topic- or at least I have not found one to put my mind at ease or give me a clear direction. This is my test I don’t want to fail. How can I use emails I have received without jeopardizing my book?
I don’t think I need to protect my desire to write as much as I need to protect my right to write…the time, the space, the attention it takes. With a family, I sometimes need a little spunk to set aside and protect the time I need to get a job done. As I progress, I find I also need spunk to protect the need to market my writing–and everything that entails. How will I have the spunk? I get that from writers that have forged ahead, like you Christina. I read blogs and newsletters and take classes. All that helps me.
I think that “spunk” can help you through those low spots in writing – like when you are sure you have crafted a perfect query and the editor declines it anyway; or when you have a story to share, but can’t find the right home for it. It’s at those moments when the spunk you have in your pen can help you pick yourself up, turn to a fresh page in your notebook, and start telling your story all over again…
Spunk keeps me at my desk writing to prove that it’s a better option than taking a part-time office job to bank our kids’ college tuition. I know I can make it as a writer and every piece I write holds a little bit of that spunk saying, “See! I did it again!”
I have always loved spunky characters, Anne of Green Gables
being a heroine who has never left me. This post has me wanting to read about
Carolina Slade and contemplating spunk as a writer. How to keep it going? I
think I will post a photo of Anne for my bulletin board and look at her when I
feel my resolve and confidence waning.
Writing is part of my daily life.
I decided that 5 years ago, when with great trepidation, I walked into a
writing group with nothing but the desire to write, and a blank spiral
notebook. Like anything worthwhile in life, it takes time, determination, a
strong sense of commitment, and excellent time management skills to balance writing
with my other obligations. These include my family, volunteer commitments, a
part-time job, and of course the everyday chores and responsibilities in life.
I have to plan carefully to carve out the time to write (including index cards
and a pen stuffed in my back pocket whenever I take the dog for a walk), but
nobody is going to take my writing time away from me. Grrr!
Oooh, this book looks great. Hope I win (no pun intended!). For me, protecting my time to write does take quite a bit of pluck. I have to constantly remind others (and myself) that my work is no less important or valid because it happens to be done at home while my kids are asleep. If I don’t defend my time to write, no one else will!
In the face of rejection and criticism, I’ve stood my ground and am spearheading my path in spite of them saying I’ll not succeed as a writer. It’s what I love, but it doesn’t mean I do it perfectly or do it the same way the other guy does. This is me. This is my voice. I welcome readers that like it and those that don’t, I bid you adieu. That being said, I’ll also not give up my conviction to better myself and my writing through education and experience.
PS As a fellow South Cackalackin, I was compelled to enter this contest to try to win Hope’s book, but I hope to continue for the month of May – I sooo forgot how much fun this was! Thanks, Christina, for your hard work!
How many times in my life have I set my writing aside in order to live. Well if you can call that really living, then quite a few times. I once set a book I writing down for five years straight. Then one day I picked that manuscript up and thought “NO MORE!” No more will I be the martyr in my own life! No more will my time as a writer come last! No more will I say, I can do it tomorrow, next week, next year. Because you know the inspiration and stories disappear if you don’t write them down. I now write for no less than two hours every day and take Sundays off. I do not share that time with the dishes, laundry or my family. I do not think of it as selfish, I believe being myself, being a writer is what makes me, me. Being myself makes me better at all of the other aspects of my life.
I credit spunk for getting me where I am today as a writer
and a woman. Spunk allows me to balance writing fiction, editing a magazine,
conducting difficult and sometimes heart-wrenching interviews and still put a
healthy dinner on the table (most nights!). I think that I have non-fiction
writing pretty well nailed, and I know that spunk will guide me through the
process of attending graduate school in order to obtain my long sought after
MFA and publish my first novel. I have long admired Hope’s work and can’t wait
to read “Lowcountry Bribe” this summer.
I really want this book! I’m going to have limited time for “fun” reading of fiction this summer, and this book is at the top of my very select list.
I will continue to have the same spunk I have had for some years and that I urge all writers to have: Do not write for No Pay. “Exposure” is not adequate payment.
My spunk takes a beating once in while. However, even when it’s been covered with ash it’s still smoldering, and one small wisp of air is all it takes for the flames to erupt. Then the heat is nearly unbearable.
In other words, I let negative comments, rejections, and a few non-supporters get to me, but I’m too stubborn to give up. That’s okay, because even though it seems like they are getting the best of me, those little embers are still glowing and the negative comments are what fuels my flame.
I either get mad at myself because the comments are, or seem to be, true and I want to prove to myself I can do better, or I get mad and want to prove the naysayers wrong.
Most of the time, my spark acts just like a typical fire: keeps burning steady, but needs a little stoking once in a while. And a little stoke can come from something as simple as a comment I overhear, or a book I’m reading.
Loving the spunk!!! Slade would be proud! LOL
Many authors and WriterMamas mention how supportive their husband is. I love my hubby dearly, but since I’m the primary breadwinner, he questions any activity that doesn’t bring in income. He’s never been a reader and doesn’t understand why I want to spend time writing fiction when it’s unprofitable for all but a few writers. I need spunk to stand up for my creative side. One way to do that is to make more money in less time so I can retire like Hope did. Another is to write when hubbie’s asleep. But I guess that’s more “sneak” than spunk.
I consider it fortuitous that Hope’s book is set in South Carolina. My son, a creative writing major at University of Arizona, is spending the summer away from home in Charleston selling security systems door-to-door. Today was his first day on the job and he called to tell me how hard it is to keep knocking on doors after being rejected time after time. I could hear the disappointment in his voice. But he’s got spunk. He’s not giving up. So I won’t either. And I’m going to send him a copy of Hope’s book.
Okay – had to reply, Mar. You knew I would!
Yes, I retired from federal service early with a monstrous cut, and we moved cross country so my spouse could make more to take up the slack. But it can be done. Stand up for your creative side. It’s important to who you are. My family has many times told me I’m such a better person since I embraced my creative side, the writer in me. And I wrote when hubby was asleep. Took him years to realize I was not coming to bed when he did. Today . . . he goes to bed when I do a lot of the time. He’s realized this is who I am.
Tell your son to hang in there. First, he’s in a beautiful part of the world in Charleston. That’s where I grew up. Tell him to enjoy those surroundings. They are dripping with history, romance, and charm. He’ll remember them fondly once he thinks past all the rejections. Just tell him to enjoy the view a little bit now . . . while he can, before he’s gone. And tell him I hope he enjoys the book. I’m honored you want to send it to him.
Spunk, sister. Hang in there.
Stick with it. Just stick with it. I’ve had many lonely nights, even with tears, wondering what I was doing. I threw this very novel on the shelf for a long while, telling myself I wasn’t a novelist. All the kicking around, rejection, and self-admonishment over the years only made me stronger . . . because each day I sat back down at a keyboard. Each day. That little feat is what makes your dreams happen. They may not happen as you foresee them, but one day you realize something great happened, and it was because you stuck to it. Good luck.
Tell it, sister!!! (God, I love your recipes.)
Spunk is “keeping on keeping on,” actually. It’s not lying down and calling it quits. I so envy you in graduate school. I adored school, and would love going back, but I’m so entrenched in my writing now, my time has passed. But that’s okay! I’ve found my way, and I’m enjoying being busy day and night writing. The MFA in my earlier years would have been nice, though.
Preach it!!! You said it beautifully. Told my family when I first started that when my door was shut and I was writing, they could not interrupt unless: 1) they were throwing up, 2) they were bleeding profusely; or 3) the house was on fire. They got the point. And they learned quickly that if I respected writing so much, they sure as heck better respect it too.
Yes, Christina’s May Giveaway is so cool. And yes, SC is quite a haven for beautiful souls, don’t you think? Love the region. When I leave, I miss it, and it makes for some marvelous stories. Just ask Pat Conroy.
You have to demand your writing time, and show respect for it by remaining loyal to the habit. Then people start respecting you for writing. Putting you on a higher level. You’re absolutely right.
You go, Cara! And if that means letting the chores go, so be it. (You ought to see the dust in my house! Well, no, don’t. Just take my word for it.)
You know what I have above my computer?
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go and do that because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
Love this! My little pieces of writing paid for my two sons’ college education, one feature, one essay, one story at a time.
Excellent definition of spunk. It’s like shaking a fist in the face of whatever adversity happens that day.
Carol, I’ve watched you from afar. You are a good definition of spunk. Stick-to-it-ive-ness. You seem so soft spoken, to me, but I think there’s a tough gal underneath that soft pastel avatar.
Thought about letting time soften the edges and then writing it as fiction? Just a thought. I was offered a bribe, and the result was Lowcountry Bribe, only in fiction form. Only the bribe is reality – the other altered – but in my head, I’ve exorcised my demons.
You can’t get rejected if you’re doing nothing. Rejection is a good thing! It’s a sign of action!
It takes spunk to protect your writing time from all the little thieves that rob you daily–family, friends–all well-intentioned as they invite you to join them in their activities.
Spunk is the small flame that grows larger when I write. As a pilot light, it awaits the moment that I decide to write. Once the first word hits the page, the flame ignites and it begins as a simmer. After a few pages have found their way, does it turn to the “medium” that you turn up on the top of the stove to get things going. It isn’t until the story finds its drive that spunk takes control. This is the energy that will not release you until you have exhausted yourself. It is also that high flame that causes things to burn if you do not continue to toss, stir or move to the other edge of the skillet. It keeps you up past your bedtime because you have “just one more word” or “let me finish this sentence” and then you can collapse because you are exhausted but proud of what you have accomplished.
It is the need to feel “spunk” that will uphold and protect your desire to write.
I think I had more spunk when I had less experience. The wrong teachers, mentors, who told me I was a good writer when I wasn’t. Oh, the bad memories! But the writing bug continued, I found a better tribe, and occasionally find that spunk – I just queried an editor who loved my pitch and is anxiously waiting for the completed story. We just have to find the spunk to keep writing.
Don’t you know it, Kathleen. Blogs, FB, Twitter rob me. Often sunshine, garden and chickens beckon me, especially when it’s a balmy, beautiful day.
Gosh, how many nights have I done just this…finished one more sentence, a paragraph, the end of a chapter. Suddenly it’s 3 AM.
Yep, we have to have that spunk to stay strong. Some tell us we’re good when we’re not – others do the opposite, stepping on our spark. We just have to stay true to ourselves and keep on keeping on.
Congrats! You won!!!