Kat Kennedy Part II

Kat Kennedy is back with the second half of her post and an inside look at her work.

 

Flamingo Funeral & Tales from the Land of Tea Cakes and Whiskey is not a book depicting the genteel South of mint juleps on the front porch and Southern Belles. This is a book of stories about the hard drinking, hard living South. It is filled with characters like the worn and weary Jolene who discovers “being crazy is the easiest job {she} ever had,” and Ree Lambert whose wish to be left alone leads her to do the unthinkable.

 

Excerpt from Mean Woman Blues

Lidge poured Vernon a decent shot of Jack Daniels and filled the rest of his glass with Coke.

Jolene, not one to be left out, emptied her glass and clinked the ice cubes before setting it down in front of Lidge.

“Me, too,” she smiled.

Damned if she aint downright pretty when she smiles.

Jolene had had a hard life. She was forty-three years old and looked every day of it plus some. She was what people meant when they said, It aint the years, it’s the miles. Jolene had been a lot of miles. Hard living and drinking had done its duty on her face, but anyone could see the ghost of her beauty haunting her high cheek bones and long neck. She had not gotten fat like many of the women she had gone to school with, and had retained her slim frame, though there was not one ounce of muscle to be found on it. Still, she looked good in jeans. Jeans and a tank top were her usual attire because the heat in southern Alabama was unmerciful most of the year. In cool weather, she wore the same uniform with a sweater thrown over it for the cold, adding a jacket when the weather reached its coldest.

Jolene had not worked in years. She once had a job at Clayville’s sewing factory, which she hated. One day she couldn’t take it any longer and walked out. She got the idea from one of her cousins who had been to Vietnam. She could get help from the government if they thought she was crazy. When her cousin had come back from the war, he really was crazy. The government paid for his housing, food and nearly everything else he needed. Jolene called him up and asked where he went to get his “crazy check.” He gave her all the details.

Jolene worked out a plan.

Buy Flamingo Funeral & Tales from the Land of Tea Cakes and Whiskey

http://tiny.cc/fkl9ow

Contact Links:

Tea Cakes and Whiskey
www.teacakesandwhiskey.com

 

Give Kat some feedback on her down-home style of writing and what you think Jolene might be up to.  Thanks for sharing with our readers, Kat.     Mahala

Kat Kennedy - Author

 

Kat Kennedy

Today, we welcome Kat Kennedy, local author of short stories, poetry, and novellas for the first of two guest blogs. Kat was born in Dothan, Alabama and is a true Southern writer. She has won awards for her poetry through the Alabama State Poetry Society Association and the Gulf Coast Writers Organization. With a history of teaching English in middle and high school as well as college level, Kat's hobbies include research into old bluegrass and blues music as well as the history of the Chattahoochee Trace, a good deal of which she incorporates into her writing. She lives in Mobile, AL with her husband, Randy and her offbeat, crazy, sense of humor.

Flamingo Funeral began as an eight-page short story. I had just begun attending a local writing group and decided to bring it for critique. I enjoyed writing the story and felt it had good bones. I had always thought of it as a short story, but after the critique, the group seemed to reach the same conclusion: there is more to the story. So what was a short story became a novella.

As far as character development, I draw upon people I grew up with, people I notice at grocery stores, people in doctor’s offices, people at restaurants. It is amazing what you can learn about human nature by starting a conversation in a waiting room. I have never met a Southerner who didn’t have a story to share. It’s a regional past time.

I have also found music to be a great way of putting myself into a particular setting. It helps to remind me of childhood stories I had forgotten. I don’t write family stories verbatim, but use old family stories as a springboard.

Flamingo Funeral was one of the most fun pieces I have ever written. The Uncle Gus character gave me the freedom to get into the theme of family loyalty – what Faulkner called the “pull of blood.” People will do the craziest things in the name of family because that is what’s expected of them. Couple that with the mystique of the South, its history, music, and food and you’ve got the perfect blend for a unique story. There is also a bond between all Southerners that perhaps we don’t even understand. I have never met a Southerner in any other part of the country when it didn’t feel like a family reunion.

Flamingo Funeral and Tales from the Land of Tea Cakes and Whiskey includes the novella and six short stories.

Flamingo Funeral information to whet your appetite for Kat's next post:          What drives family loyalty past the point of common sense? When Uncle Gus dies suddenly under dubious circumstances, his family is left with more than just a funeral to arrange. Gus has left a secret will and a family legacy so dysfunctional that the thought of refusing his wishes, even from the grave, is not once considered.

Stay tuned......Mahala