Celeste Fletcher McHale's Blog

I've never felt the need to personally comment on a bad review before. We don't all like the same things and I understand that. But this one....wow....

First of all, Erin from South Carolina, let me apologize to you for the few hours of your life you will never get back while you were reading The Secret to Hummingbird Cake. I am monumentally sorry. After all, you could've spent that time, I don't know....killing puppies or something.

Secondly, this book is based on a true story. It was written as a love letter from me to my very real, lifelong, best friend who you knew as "Laine." I only told the story the way it happened. Again, I apologize for the "lack of depth." But I assure you, it was pretty deep around here. Oh, I did leave out the part where she had a stroke during her illness and struggled to talk. Perhaps you can "entertain" your husband with that little nugget, as well. I didn't include that in the book because I was wanted desperately to give her a little happier ending that she received on earth.

Again, I apologize for the agony you experienced from the constant eye rolling. It must have been terrible.

I have a new puppy, Viloula. That's Vi-lou-la. She's part Catahoula cur and part Australian shepherd. And she has the bladder of an ant. I've never seen anything like it. I can take her outside, walk around the field with her for 30 minutes, come back in....and she pees in the living room. I've tried showing it to her and telling her "No!" Doesn't seem to help. I've put pads down. She pees beside them. I've taken the water bowl away around 7 every night. She drinks from the puddles outside when I let her go out. I literally walk around with a roll of paper towels under my arm and a container of "Urine Be Gone."

My other dog, Sprout, is 15 years old. I guess she would actually rather explode than go potty in the house. She looks at Viloula in disgust every time she gets near her. If Viloula gets close to her, she snaps at her. If Viloula gets anywhere NEAR her food bowl, Sprout goes OFF on her. Then looks at me like "What were you thinking???" And waddles off back under the bed where she growls lowly while daring Viloula to get near the bedroom door.

The cat lives on top of the kitchen cabinets now because the puppy drives her insane. She's old, too. She hates us all. I'm convinced she would kill us in our sleep if she could open her own cans of food.

But right now, at this moment, Viloula is asleep at my feet, the cat is asleep on the kitchen island and Sprout is asleep under my bed. I may actually get to write for 15 minutes before I have to break up a fight.

Suggestions for potty training will be welcomed and appreciated.

I have a new puppy, Viloula. That's Vi-lou-la. She's part Catahoula cur and part Australian shepherd. And she has the bladder of an ant. I've never seen anything like it. I can take her outside, walk around the field with her for 30 minutes, come back in....and she pees in the living room. I've tried showing it to her and telling her "No!" Doesn't seem to help. I've put pads down. She pees beside them. I've taken the water bowl away around 7 every night. She drinks from the puddles outside when I let her go out. I literally walk around with a roll of paper towels under my arm and a container of "Urine Be Gone."

My other dog, Sprout, is 15 years old. I guess she would actually rather explode than go potty in the house. She looks at Viloula in disgust every time she gets near her. If Viloula gets close to her, she snaps at her. If Viloula gets anywhere NEAR her food bowl, Sprout goes OFF on her. Then looks at me like "What were you thinking???" And waddles off back under the bed where she growls lowly while daring Viloula to get near the bedroom door.

The cat lives on top of the kitchen cabinets now because the puppy drives her insane. She's old, too. She hates us all. I'm convinced she would kill us in our sleep if she could open her own cans.

But right now, at this moment, Viloula is asleep at my feet, the cat is asleep on the kitchen island and Sprout is asleep under my bed. I may actually get to write for 15 minutes before I have to break up a fight.

Suggestions for potty training will be welcomed and appreciated.

If you haven't liked my FB page, now may be a good time to get in on the action! We are one month before the release of The Sweet Smell of Magnolias & Memories and we are celebrating with lots of swag!

Yesterday we gave away a pretty pink Michael Kors purse, plus some magnolia soap & lotion. We have lots more stuff to go! T-Shirts, stadium cups, magnolia keychains, a 100$ Amazon gift card and of course, some signed books. Check it out!

www.facebook.com/fletchermchale

It's about six weeks until the release of The Sweet Smell of Magnolias & Memories! Woohoo! I'm excited and grateful for another book to be on the shelf.
But first I want to talk a little bit about The Secret to Hummingbird Cake.

Now, I don't read reviews anymore, but my friends do. And when they see something they don't like or agree with, they crack me up. I think they all try to beat each other to the telephone. Today, it was a review that said something about the characters in Hummingbird were unbelievable and "cartoonish." Since Hummingbird was based on a true story and real people...some of those people get really offended when you question the way they live their lives. Hahahaha. So...I'm going to educate those of ya'll who think small town folk described in southern books are "cartoonish" or "over the top."

For instance...if you visit my small, southern town...you may see somebody ride up to the drive thru window at the bank on a John Deere lawnmower. That may seem unusual to you...however, the driver doesn't have a car. But he DOES have a riding mower. You call it over the top...we call it ingenuity. And you may cruise down to the local bait shop/eatery and stumble upon three or four young women with their diapered only babies on their hips having a conversation in the parking lot about who's turn it is to boil crawfish or fry catfish while their men are offshore or working on a turnaround at an oil refinery. Again...there ain't nothing strange about that. And you may find 3/4 of the town at a t-ball game just across the highway and their MawMaw & PawPaw and Nanna & Poppa & Aunt Tootsie & Uncle Lefty & a host of other nicknames screaming at the top of their lungs at their favorite player to run his chubby little 3 year old legs to first base while he takes off for center field. Or you could stop by the local high school where everybody knows the entire lineage of every kid in the senior class....all 28 of them. So...it ain't that we are so very different..we go to school and some of us go to college, we have jobs, go to church, some of us are writers and bankers and trash collectors and pulp wood haulers and teachers....it's that you just don't know any folks like us. Doesn't make us "cartoonish" but it does make us pretty clannish. In other words, when you insult one of us...you kinda get us all.

Thank you, Publishers Weekly!!!


The Sweet Smell of Magnolias and Memories

Celeste Fletcher McHale. Thomas Nelson, $15.99 trade paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-7180-3984-4


The Sweet Smell of Magnolias and Memories

Tracking down a story in southern Louisiana, Jacey gets more than she bargained for when she, along with a young family and an attractive mystery man named Colin, is held captive on a roof by a massive flood for three days. Falling in love during their harrowing time on the roof, Colin scribbles out his phone number and shoves it in Jacey’s pocket before she and the family board the rescue boat, leaving Colin behind. However, a terrible accident on the boat steals Jacey’s memories, as well as the scrap of paper holding Colin’s number. Struggling to keep afloat mentally for the next year, Jacey pushes away the memories of that night, knowing in her heart that the accident took much more than she wants to remember. When Colin unexpectedly reappears in Jacey’s life, they pick up right where they left off, with several bumps along the way. McHale (The Secret to Hummingbird Cake) has a way of creating characters who are believably flawed and human. Her wit and hilarity are perfect matches for the heartfelt romance in this winsome book. Agent: Liza Fleissig, Liza Royce Literary Agency (May)



















The Sweet Smell of Magnolias and Memories

The Sweet Smell of Magnolias & Memories will be out in May of this year. Edits are done, cover is finished, just waiting on printing.

I will have ARCs out soon, and if you go to my FB page www.facebook.com/CelesteFletcherMcHale you can enter to win a signed copy. (For some reason this link isn't working, but I'm trying to fix it.)

Also, it would be great if you went to the goodreads page for The Sweet Smell of Magnolias & Memories and voted for it on the list "Most anticipated Christian Fiction 2017."

Thank you so much! I'm looking forward to seeing how you all like it.

Whew! It's been a while since I've checked in at Goodreads. Pecan Harvest season is upon us and that keeps us hopping around here.

I've put the finishing touches on The Sweet Smell of Magnolias & Memories and it is off to the printer! May 2017 seems FAR away, though. Ya'll can do me a big favor and vote for it on the "Most Anticipated Christian Fiction" List on Listopia. I'd sure appreciate it. Even though some folks say my books don't belong in Christian Fiction. LOL.

Hope all is well with my readers and the Election Fatigue doesn't have ya'll wanting to play in traffic. I'll sure be glad when this mess is over with.

Celeste

Manuscript DONE! WOOHOO!!!

When I finish a book, the angels sing, heaven opens up, light shines down....because for the last few months, I have sat at this laptop several hours a day annoyed at the intrusions of the outside world and often eating anything that isn't nailed down. Yep. Uh-oh. I just got on the scales and then just to really torture myself, I put on last year's bathing suit. AND looked in the mirror. There ain't enough two sided tape in the world to fix this. So, now I must watch what I eat unless I intend to wear a burlap sack (aka tote sack for us southern girls) the rest of the summer. AAAGGGHHHH!!!! And guess what my mama just called and said they had at their house just down the road? HOMEMADE ICE CREAM. I guess I'll just go to the backyard and pull a 'mater off the vine.

Today someone asked me...in the grocery store of all places....how I felt about bad reviews. And the truth is, I don't read anything that's under a "3" LOL. Not because I don't value the opinion of the reader, I do...especially when it's constructive criticism. Some of my favorite reviews have been three stars. Especially the ones that have loved the book but had issues with the writing, like character development or something else. I am brand new to this writing stuff, so I will take all that kinda criticism I can get. Those reviews made me work harder in the second book. I appreciate that.

Although I don't read 2 stars or 1 star reviews, my BFF (who you know as Ella Rae) will inevitably tell me about them because they make her boiling mad. LOL. The reason they don't bother me is because they are nearly always about the content, not the writing. As I have stated, The Secret to Hummingbird Cake is based on a true story. People make mistakes. People make bad choices all the time. And sometimes other folks have very strong opinions about your mistakes. I'm cool with that. I put it out there, so it's theirs to feast upon.

So...to answer the chick from the grocery store and to anyone else that wonders...How do I deal with bad reviews? I don't. :)