If you want to get rich in Beaufort, SC, go into yard care, contracting, or appliance repair.

I haven’t had a vacation since I don’t know when, but my yard guy goes to Florida or Vegas every few months, during which time my grass grows knee deep. The guy who works on my appliances is a member of the Yacht Club and sends his kids to private school. You can’t afford a handy man unless you make seven figures. Last year, I tried to hire a guy to make an emergency repair in my house, and he told me he only did emergencies for clients who kept him on retainer. Don’t even try to hire somebody to clean your house around here. They set up an appointment, go room by room, and give you an estimate of what it’s going to cost. For a minimum of $25 per hour, tax free, they’ll agree to do light cleaning. It takes me an hour to straighten my house before they show up, IF they show up. I have to make all the beds, take out the trash and items to be recycled. I am given a list of cleaning items they prefer using. I don’t dare ask them to clean my windows or they’ll walk out and tell all the other cleaning people how unreasonable I am, and my name will be mud in this town.

Oh, and these people don’t have to wait two months for a book contract to go through; then, another two months for payment. You’d better have your checkbook in hand before they come through the door.

I’m definitely in the wrong business!

I am so thrilled to have Peggy Webb as my first guest blogger. Not that she really needs an introduction; she has many devoted fans who flock to the stores the minute her books land on the shelves. I’m one of them!

On a personal note, I’ve known Peggy for, well, more years than I can remember. We’ve truly shared the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to publishing. The thing that ANNOYS me about Peggy is the fact she is able to come up with awesome titles. Unfortunately, when I need a good title, she draws a blank. Some friend, huh?

Anyway, I’ve asked Peggy to tell everyone about her new book and what she does when she’s not writing. See, unlike me, Peggy has a life.

So, if you’re looking for a warm, funny, cuddle-up-in-your-favorite-chair kind of read, be sure to check out ELVIS AND THE DEARLY DEPARTED. Once you get a taste of this very talented and prolific author’s books, you’ll come back for more. I know I do!

By Peggy Webb (Guest blog- Mississipian Peggy Webb is the author of 64 novels, including Driving Me Crazy which was submitted for a Pulitzer. Beloved for her comedy and lyrical writing, she has turned her talents from romance to mystery with her debut Southern Cousins Mystery Series ).

I have four lush and lovely English gardens at my house, and I created every one of them from scratch. When I moved into the little cottage where I write with three dogs at my feet, I had eight shrubs lined along the front porch. They looked like meatballs. Looking out the window at that pitiful display inspired nothing in me except the urge to pull the shrubs out by the screaming roots and start all over.

You see, great gardens are like great books; both require vision, planning, hard work and the talent to make them grow.

I started my gardens with a barren patch of earth underneath a giant pecan tree and a venerable cedar. It took almost a year to haul camellias and daisy gardenias up from Fairhope, Alabama and Pensacola, Florida then plant Columbine, bearded iris and every variety of daffodil known to man. Next I collected old brick from my farm and laid a winding pathway through the newly named Enchanted Garden. The finishing touch was a pergola complete with climbing roses and Carolina jasmine. I dug every hole, planted every flower, hauled every brick and even built the pergola (with help from my daughter-in-law).We played the Tom Sawyer trick of making the building project look like such fun, the neighbors joined in.

Additionally, I now have the Angel Garden, Sugar’s Garden and the Secret Garden. In the way of every great garden and every great book, they provide year-round magic.

Where do you find your magic? What parallels do you see between gardens and books? What’s growing in your garden and sitting in your bookshelves? I’d love to hear from you!
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ELVIS AND THE DEARLY DEPARTED by Peggy Webb is in bookstores NOW!   It’s the first book of her new comedic SOUTHERN COUSINS MYSTERY SERIES, starring the zany Valentine cousins and a sleuthing Basset hound who thinks he’s the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Think “Stepahnie Plum meet Fried Green Tomatoes.”   When the body of a prominent  psysician goes missing from Uncle Charlie’s Eternal Rest Funeral home, the Valentine cousins (and Elvis, too, of course) set out in hot pursuit of the recently imbalmed, last bound for Las Vegas by way of downtown Tupelo.  Her website is at PeggyWeb.com 

Mississippian Peggy Webb is the author of 64 novels, including  DRIVING ME CRAZY, which was submitted for a Pulitzer. Beloved for her comedy and lyrical writing, she has turned her talents from romance to mystery with her debut Southern Cousins Mystery Series. She will be our first guest blogger next Tuesday.

Okay you guys, I know you’ve done at least ONE crazy thing in your life. Or maybe you have a crazy friend or family member. I certainly do! Some are so kooky they make me look normal. Scary, huh?

I plan to post the anecdotes on my website under Group Therapy. If you’d like to remain anonymous, that’s fine; otherwise, I will assume you want me to tell the world.

I am going to be doing a few new things with my blogs. First, I am networking with other blogs. I will also do a blog tour of seven or eight sites. I’ll inform readers in time for the release of my second book in the CRAZY series, book #2 titled NUTCASE.

Since I know many fine writers, I plan to offer guest blogs so be sure to keep an eye out.

The other night I watched an author on Cspan discuss his book on Abraham Lincoln. The author said that most creative people like Lincoln have “issues” which the author referred to as melancholy.  I’m like, Duh! As a whole, I think authors are neurotic and out of touch with reality since the people in their minds take up housekeeping in our heads. During that time I can describe to a T the names of the streets in my book, even though I forget how to get to my local Wal-mart.  Scary but true!

My pig-sty office.

If the Health Department saw my office they would close me down. It’s so bad I shudder every time I step inside.

With each new book, I promise myself that I won’t let things get “out of hand” in my office, but before long, I’m tripping over research books and trying to find important papers beneath a tall stack of correspondence that I plan to answer as soon as I have time. Oh, and did I mention all the papers lining my floor?

Sadly, as time goes on, I start looking as bad as my office. I’m real perky and energetic when I start my new book, but as the weeks and months pass and my deadline approaches my appearance goes to hell. No time for make up OR and the curling iron. At that point it’s all I can do to brush my teeth and take a bath on a daily basis.

Once the book gets into the hands of my editor, and AFTER I crash for 24-48 hours I come up for air, and it takes a week to get my life on track, during which time I run errands, go to doctor and dentist appointments, visit my hairdresser and so on.

If I’ve painted a pretty scary picture, it shows what most authors go through to get the book OUT.

Whew! The things writers have to go through.