Jacquelyn Cook
click here for Ms. Cook's message about writing to conference attendees
Historical/Christian author Jacquelyn Cook will be the keynote speaker at GCTE’s annual conference at Callaway Gardens on Saturday,
Feb. 13, 2010. Writers from
Margaret Mitchell to Eugenia Price and John Jakes have shown that the market is
enormous, dependable and insatiable for authentically researched historical
novels of the antebellum, Civil War and Reconstruction period of the American
South. For the past twenty years and more, Jacquelyn Cook has been publishing
successfully into this lucrative and appreciative market. To date, her
historical novels have sold close to 500,000 copies and counting.
The River Between, first published in 1985 as the first volume of
Cook's five-volume, multi-generational saga known as The River Series,
has sold nearly 165,000 copies, is still in print and selling more than 20
years after it's first release. The second in the series, The Wind Along the
River, published the following year, has sold nearly 100,000 copies and
counting. As recently as 2003, the entire River Series was collected
into a single volume called Magnolias, and has sold some 64,000 copies
to date. In addition, Wal-Mart ordered a special printing of 14,000 copies of Magnolias,
and sold 8,000 copies in the first month.
Cook's credentials to write about this period could not be better. While she
is known and celebrated for the deep and accurate research that she does for
each of her books, another part of the appeal she brings to her readers is that
the story of the American South runs in her blood. Born into a family that is
Georgia bred for generations, she was raised on stories handed down from her
great grandmother, who experienced Sherman's march, and so many other first
hand experiences that were passed down to Cook as part of her own family
heritage.
Cook sold her first story to Home Life Magazine in 1963. While she
and her husband raised their two children, she free lanced for a wide
assortment of newspapers and magazines. Coincidentally, she wrote some articles
for the same editors at The Atlanta Journal Sunday Magazine who had
published some of Margaret Mitchell's early freelance work. Cook is past
president of the Georgia Branch of the National League of American Pen Women,
and past president of the local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
She won the Writer of the Year Award, 1970 from the Atlanta Writers Club. In
1987 she took second place in national competition from the National League of
American Pen Women in the adult book category for her novel, Image In the
Looking Glass. In 1995 she won First Place from the Georgia National League
of American Pen Women for her historical novel The Gates Of Trevalyan. Over the years she has won many awards from
the Georgia Writers Association, the Southeastern Writers Association, and the
Dixie Council of Authors and Journalists, for her articles on history,
religion, humor and fiction. Cook lives in Sumter County, Georgia on her own
working farm that, like Greenwood, produces cotton and cattle.
Dear Teachers and Fellow Writers,
I was devastated that a sheet of ice instead of a country road made me have to
turn back only twenty-eight miles short of the interstate that would have
reached the conference. Living on an isolated farm is perfect for a writer, but
you savor the times when you can be with people who are interested in books.
I feel cheated, and I do not want you to feel that way; consequently, I am
sending you a few tips from my speech.
First is building reputation in the smallest things you write. Get your facts
straight. Write nice things about people. Whenever possible, let them proofread.
They are happier than first seeing it in the shock of print. I planned to tell a
funny story about the National Enquirer trying to buy a story I had written
about President Carter's family living in a haunted house.I could envision the
twist by the scandal sheet.
I was especially glad I kept it from them when I had the opportunity to meet
George Felton, whose great-grandparents built the seven-story, Italianate
mansion in Macon, now know as the Hay House.He entrusted me with the honeymoon
journal his great-grandmother kept and a packet of letters. He had read my
previous work and knew he could depend on me to write a book that would make the
family proud. We took private tours of the house, and he told stories of growing
up there. As the TV commercial goes, "Priceless."
The result was Sunrise. Jackie K. Cooper of Georgia Public Radio calls it, "An
enchanting love story." But don't worry, it is suitable for your students. My
dear friend Olive Ann Burns said when she wrote Cold Sassy Tree that if you are
going to close the bedroom door, you must give the reader a little something
extra. My something extra is carefully researched details of history and culture
that make the reader feel he is there.My something extra for Sunrise is Sidney
Lanier's life and love story and the unique way Macon was saved during the Civil
War.This is a true story.
My personal favorite of my books is The Gates of Trevalyan because my whole
family was involved in research as we toured Madison, Athens, and Crawfordville,
where the house museum makes Confederate Vice-President Alexander Stephens come
alive.I found love letters to him from Elizabeth Craig in the Library of
Congress, and I had planned to show them to you.This book weaves historic
personages with fictional characters on Trevalyan Plantation as it explores the
causes and effects of the Civil War. But it is fast-paced and exciting with
three love stories. Young people like the teenaged spies.
The Greenwood Legacy tells the true story of Thomas and Lavinia Jones who began
the plantation culture that still exists from Thomasville to Tallahassee.They
built a breathtaking Greek Revival home, Greenwood, in 1840. More recent guests
there were President Eisenhower and Jacqueline Kennedy.Thomas and Lavinia are
unforgettable characters. I hope they will help me accomplish my goal of writing
timeless stories of lasting values that will live long on library shelves.
A few words on craft: Find subject and theme. Outline the whole book, especially
first and last pages. I write the last sentence, and the whole book moves toward
it. Write a bio of all main characters to refer to when you are writing quickly
and forget a detail. And write as fast as you can get down thoughts. Don't try
to get it perfect. Get the first draft in print.
I think it was Hemmingway who said to stop while the writing is hot, even
mid-sentence.I put notes on the margin about where I am going next. Tomorrow,
read what you have just written and edit quickly. When you get to where you
stopped, you can sail on. I have never had writers' block with this method.
Students don't like to outline. You may tell them for me that professionals
don't either, and we moan and groan about synopsis. But it is important.Finish
the book and let it cool. Edit. Polish. Do it again. Good writing is not in the
writing. It is in the polishing.
Young people ask why they should read history. Of course, we gain wisdom from
the past and build upon it, but more than that we strengthen our characters when
we read of someone like Lavinia Jones who was a frightened 16-year-old when The
Greenwood Legacy began and a crotchety old women when it ended. Our problems are
slight compared with what she endured; yet she proved that nothing in life can
conquer you if you have faith, and love, and courage.
Sincerely,
Jacquelyn Cook
Sunrise BelleBooks Feb 2008
The Gates of Trevalyan BelleBooks Sept 2008
The Greenwood Legacy BelleBooks Sept 2009
The River Between BelleBooks March 2010
Sagas sweeping you into the lives of
unforgettable families of the American South
www.jacquelyncook.com .
