John Willoughby: Greene Publishing, Inc.
Getting ready to debut her seventh novel, and her second book dedicated to Madison County, author Sue Chamblin Frederick is excited to announce her return to Madison County this Saturday, Feb. 23, for a book signing, with an additional date on Saturday, March 2.
"I want to make coming home to Pinetta the most vivid part of my memories," said Frederick, whose love for Madison County is very evident in her latest novel. "Perhaps the memories in this novel will linger in your mind on nights when you can't sleep – words that will cause you to envision the 1950s and a life lived in a time when the rest of the world seemed far away."
"A Good Year for Roses," a five-star read according to Readers Favorites, an online review site, will debut at Grumpy's Diner, located at 244 SW Range Ave., in Madison, on Saturday, Feb. 23, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Frederick will also host a book signing at the Pinetta Market, on Saturday, March 2, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Everyone is invited to come and meet Sue Chamblin Frederick, who will be delighted to share with everyone her wonderful book. "I'm on my granddaddy's front porch waiting for you," she says. "The coffee is hot and the grass in the fields across the road smells like strawberries. I'm hoping you'll come along with me while I go back in time to one of the sweetest places on earth – Madison County."
Frederick was born in Live Oak, but was mainly raised in Jacksonville, Fla., where she currently lives. Her memories of Madison County came during the summer time when she visited her grandfather, Lon Terry, who, she states, lived his entire life on the former clay roads of Bellville Rd., in Pinetta.
Upon retiring in 2010, her writing career came with an unexpected twist. Frederick met her sister in North Carolina in 2011 to fly to Los Angeles, Calif. to take care of their aunt. However, due to an illness her sister contracted, the next six months were spent in a hospital. "I thought, 'what am I going to do?,'" said Frederick. "I wrote a book;" which was titled "The Unwilling Spy," published in May of 2012, as the first book of the Juan Castillo Spy Series.
Frederick states her gift of writing what she sees in the television of her mind is innate. "I never read one thing about writing a book," said Frederick, who falls in love with the characters she creates. "It was the easiest thing for me to do."
Since publishing her first novel, Frederick's collection of writings has been published in three distinct series: the Juan Castillo Spy Series, consisting of "The Unwilling Spy" and "Madame Delafoté, Impeccable Spy; The Ivy Log Series, which includes "Grandma Takes A Lover," "The Boardinghouse – Return to Ivy Log" and "EverSweet;" and The Madison County Series, which consists of her two most recent novels: "The Front Porch Sisters" and, the newest addition, "A Good Year for Roses."
According to Frederick, "A Good Year for Roses," which is a sequel to "The Front Porch Sisters," can be read as an independent book and brims with intrigue and passion in a magnolia-scented south when Essie Donnelly, a feisty farm girl from Madison County, begins a journey to find her dead sister's child. The novel, set in the deep south in the late 1950s, finds Essie leaving the love of her life, the 300-acre farm and her beloved home in Madison County, to find the child of her sister, Jewell.
"Do your own thing; forget about these rules. Of course you have to have rules in editing and formatting and stuff like that, but write your heart and your mind. Don't be boxed in by 'do it this way' and 'do it that way,'" said Frederick, giving advice to the aspiring author. "It makes you stale. You're not free to create and get your voice but don't be dictated by these people out here. You be you and create your own voice. Make your own story your way."
"It's brought me a lot of joy because writing, if it's a heart thing, it is so joyful. I don't care how tired you are, you get at that computer and it takes you away," said Frederick. "It gives you a great sense of accomplishment. It's been a joyful ride for me, it really has. It's just the reason I get up in the morning."
Frederick looks forward to sharing the famous Donnelly Sisters Buttered Rum Pound Cake with her guests at Grumpy's Diner on Main and at Pinetta Market during her book debut. The cake, a recipe found only in The Front Porch Sisters, will be accompanied at Grumpy's Diner on Main with coffee and tea.
More information about Frederick can be found at www.suechamblinfrederick.com.