The
Paragraph Ranch
By Kay Ellington & Barbara Brannon
By Kay Ellington & Barbara Brannon
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Contact,
social media, and sales links
Website: www.ParagraphRanch.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheParagraphRanch
www.facebook.com/ParagraphRanch
refers to the writers’ retreat
Twitter: @ParagraphRanch www.twitter.com/ParagraphRanch
Description
Every writer knows you can’t go home again.
But that’s just what is required of West Texas expatriate Dee Bennett-Kaufmann
when her mother is badly injured in a mysterious car accident.
Single-again “Dr. Dee” has never been on the
"A-team" in her trendy East Coast MFA program. When a prestigious
summer fellowship gives her the chance to finally finish her book, salvage her
career, and spend some quality time with her college-age daughter, Dee’s
certain her luck is about to change. Returning to care for her irascible,
widowed mother threatens all of that.
With so much at stake, Dee engineers a series of
unorthodox strategies and creative tradeoffs to keep her options in play—and
despite herself finds friendship, love, and the power of words in the
unlikeliest of places.
Author Bios
Kay Ellington, a native West Texan, has worked in
newspapers from New York to California to the Carolinas—and back again to
Texas.
Barbara Brannon formerly led the Publishing
Laboratory at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, but got to Texas as
soon as she could.
Author Interview:
Tell us a bit about yourself.
Kay: I have
spent the greater part of three decades crisscrossing the country with the
newspaper industry, but since returning to Texas I’ve been working on a variety
of writing projects.
Barbara:
Like Kay, I’ve also spent most of my career in publishing—but with me it’s been
editing and publishing books. And like our Paragraph
Ranch character Dr. Dee,
I taught for
some years in a creative writing program.
When did you begin writing?
Barbara: For
as long as I could hold a pencil. But until my collaboration with Kay on this
novel, it’s been everything but fiction. I’ve published poetry, history, travel
essays, reviews, even music.
Kay: In
2000, having passed forty, I wanted to do something in my life that I could
leave as a legacy. Too often, our jobs have a way of disappearing in the seas
of change—sort of like a beautiful sand castle that simply can’t last.
Have you ever been discouraged in regard to
your writing ability and if so, how did you get past it and move forward?
Kay:
Definitely! For every person who tears you down, eventually, someone will come
along and build you up. Ultimately, you have to believe that you have something
special worth pursuing.
Barbara:
When I read authors I truly admire—Louise Erdrich, Larry McMurtry, Barbara
Kingsolver come to mind—at first I feel I don’t even belong in the same profession
with them. But then I get over it, and they inspire and motivate me.
What's your favorite thing about writing?
Barbara: I
love capturing the world through the combination of language and imagination.
Kay:
Characters in fiction get to do the kinds of outrageous acts that most of us
only daydream about.
What is your writing style? Do you like to
outline or just write as you go?
Kay and
Barbara: Both. Barbara’s a plotter, and Kay is definitely a pantser (I know how
to follow an outline—I’m just not crazy about spending precious creative time
on process).
Do you have a favorite spot where you like
to write?
Kay: My desk
in my den, beside the window looking into the backyard.
Barbara: I
write in my car (no, I’m not texting or typing!)—on long stretches of Texas
highways alone, I think through scenes and characters.
What is something you've written that will
never see the light of day?
Barbara:
Some early confessional poems. I cringe.
Kay: Four or
five novels.
What is your writer food?
Kay: Coffee,
Diet Coke, and fruit.
Barbara:
Chocolate! Oh, and a good Texas wine.
What's the hardest thing about writing for
you?
Barbara:
Finding time . . .
Kay:
Punctuation and grammar.
What inspires you to write?
Kay: Well
written books. Childhood memories. Ambition.
Barbara: An
unscripted day. But I agree with Kay—great writing inspires my best efforts.
How many books have you written, and which
is your favorite?
Both: To
date we have one published novel, The
Paragraph Ranch. But we’re working on the first sequel, and who knows—we
might end up showing a preference for the new baby!
What are some of your favorite books?
Barbara:
I’ve always been a fan of Tolkein, but these days I’m reading a lot of Texas
classics: Elmer Kelton’s The Time It
Never Rained; Goodbye to a River
by John Graves. If I had to name one novel that’s been a lifelong influence,
hands down it’s Gone with the Wind
(hey, I grew up ten miles from Tara).
Kay: A Moveable Feast; Watership Down; The
Jungle; Animal Farm; A Prayer for Owen Meany; Bel Canto.
What authors do you like to read?
Both: Ann
Patchett. Barbara Kingsolver. Anne Lamott. Larry McMurtry. Gillian Flynn. Wendy
Wax. Meg Wolitzer. Fannie Flagg. Katherine Center. Elizabeth Gilbert. Leila
Meacham.
What inspired you to write The Paragraph Ranch?
Kay: After
ten years of struggling to become a published author, I decided to write what I
knew—the life of a struggling writer, the ridiculously long odds that we all
face, and the absolute serenity that we experience as writers and readers when
it all goes right.
Barbara: I
joined the project as a beta reader—but stuck around to write the scenes about
guns, liquor, and dogs.
If you could choose a dream cast for The Paragraph Ranch, who would you pick?
Here’s our
all-star lineup, with as many Texas connections as we can muster.
Dee Bennett:
Carolyn McCormick
Mama: Meryl
Streep
Penny
Bennett Monroe: Sandra Bullock
Buddy
Bennett: Kyle Chandler (star of TV’s Friday
Night Lights)
Abby:
Mackenzie Lintz
Max Miller:
Dennis Quaid
Teresa
Rivera: Selena Gomez
Buck
Turlock: Powers Boothe (who hails from Kay’s Texas hometown)
Ruby Lee
Bennett Bargeron: Reba McEntire
Wendell
Grover: Tommy Lee Jones
Margaret
Strickland: Sissy Spacek
J. D.
Sandifer: Lee Horsley
Frances
Echols: Mary Kay Place
Summer
Jones: Summer Glau
JoAnn
Rinehart: JoBeth Williams
Bo Bohannon:
Randy Quaid
Trent
McFarland: Matthew McConaughey
Can you say you relate to any of your
characters? If so, which one and why?
Kay: I
relate to Dee, the protagonist, who is sort of the Charlie Brown of writers
everywhere (when the publishing establishment, like Lucy, continues to jerk the
football away).
Barbara: We
both relate to Dee, then, but for me it’s because she holds a high regard for
rules and order. She’s a true believer.
This or that. THAT
Sweet or Salty? SWEET
Naughty or nice? NAUGHTY
Cats or dogs? CATS
Vanilla or chocolate? CHOCOLATE
If you were deserted on an island, which
author would you want to be stranded with?
Kay: John
Irving. As a former wrestler, he could do all the heavy lifting.
Barbara:
Harper Lee. I’d ask her all the details about how she wrote that masterpiece.
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