AN: The holidays are upon us! What do you look forward to the most?
EW: Watching the "Beavis and Butthead Christmas Special," sippin' eggnog, seein' my daughter and son-in-law, and burning out my eyeballs on college football bowl games.
AN: Fudge or fruit cake?
EW: Always fudge! I love it, plus most fruit cake at the most might be usable as foundation material for houses. Oh God, those big, gooey chunks of fruit slapped into that less than scrumptious bread, I'd rather french kiss a porcupine's heiny than eat it!
AN: Do you make New Year's resolutions?
EW: Yes - I resolve to ride mega roller coasters, visit Vegas, listen to Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and to enjoy lookin' at good lookin' women. For some strange reason my New Year's resolutions seem to stay pretty static year-to-year...
AN: When did you realize you wanted to become an author?
EW: I never wanted to be an author. Back in 1995 I’d written about 200 pages worth of PG to R-rated stories about my upbringing in Juliette. I just did so as a nostalgic exercise, I never would have thought about a book coming from it, I wouldn’t have had that much nerve to believe in such a thing. What happened was soon after I finished I noticed an ad in our local paper which stated a writer’s group was being formed at my local Barnes and Noble, in fact, its first meeting was just half an hour from when I initially read the article. Seeing that and the fact that they were asking for any aspiring writers who attended to bring some of their writing with them, I went to my computer and printed out a story about my dad and I discovering the local choir leader at our church parked on a dirt road behind our house one evening with one of the ladies in the choir. I guess you could say he was giving her extremely private choiral lessons, just one of these little scandalous-type things that all small towns experience at one point or the other. Anyway, I took this story to the meeting, and out of 70 or so people in attendance I was picked at random to read. I was nervous as all hell, but I began reading, and damned if the people there didn’t seem to like my story. I then went on to meet the director of this writer’s group afterwards, who asked to see my stories. About a year afterwards a small publisher in Dallas, Texas put out my very first book, Sex, Dead Dogs, and Me: The Juliette Journals.
AN: Today, Ed is here to talk about a hot new release entitled ChristmaSin’ written in the mainstream fiction/humor genre! What's this holiday tale about?
EW: It’s my attempt to write a realistic rural Southern Christmas novel. I took real events that happened during the Christmas season in Juliette when I was growing up, combined them with a liberal dose of BS, and ended up with this book. Be forewarned that this is realistic, a bit bawdy language and content-wise, but it does end with a decent Christmas message, if I do say so myself.
AN: What was the inspiration behind the story?
EW: Mostly the fact that the Southern Christmas stories that I was seeing in print were more like June and Ward Cleaver-type Christmases, and I wanted to write something that was more in line with what I thought the reality was.
AN: Is writing in the mainstream fiction/humor genre your favorite?
EW: Depends on what I’m writing at the moment. I never stay in one place very long at anything.
AN: You’ve written 3 books. Can you tell me if there is a personal favorite and why?
EW: That’s easy - my second book, Rough As A Cob: More From the Juliette Journals. It has a chapter in it detailing how me and my two best friends got to meet Bachman-Turner Overdrive, one of our favorite bands from our high school years. We went on this big road trip in order to meet them all at a concert, and couldn’t have had a better, or wilder time. That one story alone will always make that particular book stand out to me.
AN: Any advice you would like to share with aspiring authors?
EW: Write about what you want to write about, and don’t worry much about genres or what’s hot at the moment. Write what you feel something about, because it will translate to your pages well. Create your own genre!
AN: Tell me one thing your readers would be surprised to know about you!
EW: That I have a painting of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket logo on one of my molars, my dentist is a huge Tech fan (as am I) and had an artist friend paint it on there!
AN: Wow! That is a surprise! Ed, thank you so much for stopping by Poetry, Prose and Print and Happy Holidays!
EW: Watching the "Beavis and Butthead Christmas Special," sippin' eggnog, seein' my daughter and son-in-law, and burning out my eyeballs on college football bowl games.
AN: Fudge or fruit cake?
EW: Always fudge! I love it, plus most fruit cake at the most might be usable as foundation material for houses. Oh God, those big, gooey chunks of fruit slapped into that less than scrumptious bread, I'd rather french kiss a porcupine's heiny than eat it!
AN: Do you make New Year's resolutions?
EW: Yes - I resolve to ride mega roller coasters, visit Vegas, listen to Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and to enjoy lookin' at good lookin' women. For some strange reason my New Year's resolutions seem to stay pretty static year-to-year...
AN: When did you realize you wanted to become an author?
EW: I never wanted to be an author. Back in 1995 I’d written about 200 pages worth of PG to R-rated stories about my upbringing in Juliette. I just did so as a nostalgic exercise, I never would have thought about a book coming from it, I wouldn’t have had that much nerve to believe in such a thing. What happened was soon after I finished I noticed an ad in our local paper which stated a writer’s group was being formed at my local Barnes and Noble, in fact, its first meeting was just half an hour from when I initially read the article. Seeing that and the fact that they were asking for any aspiring writers who attended to bring some of their writing with them, I went to my computer and printed out a story about my dad and I discovering the local choir leader at our church parked on a dirt road behind our house one evening with one of the ladies in the choir. I guess you could say he was giving her extremely private choiral lessons, just one of these little scandalous-type things that all small towns experience at one point or the other. Anyway, I took this story to the meeting, and out of 70 or so people in attendance I was picked at random to read. I was nervous as all hell, but I began reading, and damned if the people there didn’t seem to like my story. I then went on to meet the director of this writer’s group afterwards, who asked to see my stories. About a year afterwards a small publisher in Dallas, Texas put out my very first book, Sex, Dead Dogs, and Me: The Juliette Journals.
AN: Today, Ed is here to talk about a hot new release entitled ChristmaSin’ written in the mainstream fiction/humor genre! What's this holiday tale about?
EW: It’s my attempt to write a realistic rural Southern Christmas novel. I took real events that happened during the Christmas season in Juliette when I was growing up, combined them with a liberal dose of BS, and ended up with this book. Be forewarned that this is realistic, a bit bawdy language and content-wise, but it does end with a decent Christmas message, if I do say so myself.
AN: What was the inspiration behind the story?
EW: Mostly the fact that the Southern Christmas stories that I was seeing in print were more like June and Ward Cleaver-type Christmases, and I wanted to write something that was more in line with what I thought the reality was.
AN: Is writing in the mainstream fiction/humor genre your favorite?
EW: Depends on what I’m writing at the moment. I never stay in one place very long at anything.
AN: You’ve written 3 books. Can you tell me if there is a personal favorite and why?
EW: That’s easy - my second book, Rough As A Cob: More From the Juliette Journals. It has a chapter in it detailing how me and my two best friends got to meet Bachman-Turner Overdrive, one of our favorite bands from our high school years. We went on this big road trip in order to meet them all at a concert, and couldn’t have had a better, or wilder time. That one story alone will always make that particular book stand out to me.
AN: Any advice you would like to share with aspiring authors?
EW: Write about what you want to write about, and don’t worry much about genres or what’s hot at the moment. Write what you feel something about, because it will translate to your pages well. Create your own genre!
AN: Tell me one thing your readers would be surprised to know about you!
EW: That I have a painting of the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket logo on one of my molars, my dentist is a huge Tech fan (as am I) and had an artist friend paint it on there!
AN: Wow! That is a surprise! Ed, thank you so much for stopping by Poetry, Prose and Print and Happy Holidays!
ChristmaSin' is available now with Champagne Books! Get your copy just in time for the holidays here!
Find out more about Ed Williams here: www.ed-williams.com , www.ChristmasinTheBook.com
and elwiii.gather.com
Enjoy a sneak peek of ChristmaSin' below:
The walk back into the house is a lot longer on account of toting this heavy-ass wood, and by the time we both get inside, we are hassling pretty hard. Ed Jr. turns, looks at us, laughs, and then tells us that he is going to recite an old Christmas poem for us that he’d heard many years ago. We know that it is going to be good, when he tells us to sort of listen out for Mama, and that if she happens to come into the room, mum’s the word. Once we all understand the ground rules, my dad clears his throat and recites this tender rhyme for us:
“Santa’s outfit is red and white, it’s all that he has, but it fits just right, his boots are black, his balls are blue, being cold all night does that to you.
He has a doll for Cindy, a dog for Fred, and a New Orleans woman, sittin’ in his sled.
He laughs so jolly, never sad nor whiny, now he’s off in his sleigh, to hone some Louisiana heiny.”
6 comments:
Angela, you're a sweetie, thank you for letting me promote my book!
Yuletide smoochies,
E3
You're most welcome Ed!
Have a wonderful holiday sans fruit cake!
*g*
Funny interview. You're right. Writers do need to write what's in their hearts and not for trends. I always stress this to anyone who will listen. Good luck on the sales!
Great interview Ed. Good to get to know you better!
Sandra and Tami, thanks for stopping by today!
Keep it Merry!
;0)
Sandra, thanks much! Tami, you are such a sweet talker, don't make me blusheth!
Smoochies to all,
E3
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