Blackberries and biscuits are always a good combination, especially when you're in the South. They remind you of two things. The first is home, and the second is growing up in these Appalachian mountains. That savory-sweet taste of blackberries fresh off a vine is one that conjures up memories of my grandmother, her home cooking, and the great things we did outdoors when my brother and I were children.
Our Writer of the Week, bundles all of these emotions up into her memoir/biography titled Blackberries and Biscuits. One reviewer summed up the story this way, "Blackberries and Biscuits provide a glimpse into the family story of a strong and independent woman, Pam Dillard Coates—a dedicated mother, a loving wife, and a creative homemaker and community activist. It’s written from the perspective of a daughter who cherishes her past and attributes her own successful journey into adulthood largely to the mother (and father) who raised her, and the influence of the extended family that surrounded her."
Meet local indie author, Carole Coates.
Carole Coates has lived in Watauga County, NC ten miles out and 1,000 feet up in Boone since 1979 in a home, her husband and she hand-built from scratch--with no outside help. She was born in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1946 and told the blog that Watauga is best known for being the home of Appalachian State University, tourism, colorful falls, and the cool summers.
Even more fascinating this author shared that Oak Ridge, Tennessee was, “secretly built as the first and largest component of the Manhattan Project in World War II; thus known as the Secret City. It is here that processed and separated uranium was used to build the first atomic bomb.”
At 75 years old this indie author writes creative nonfiction and on occasion, "a smattering of poetry." Reading, as for most authors, pulled Carole into the world of writing, “And then knowing there were stories that needed telling and if I didn’t tell them, no one would."
Writers all have a different method of writing, or sometimes a certain place seems to work best for us when we sit down to put thought to paper. Carole shared her own personal writing process with the blog saying, “The first place I write is usually in my head on outdoor walks or maybe driving alone in the car. For the actual, physical act of writing, I’m usually on the sofa with a lap desk and my feet on an ottoman. Probably unconventional but extremely comfortable!”
Readers of her works may even wonder what inspires Carole to come up with her stories as Blackberries and Biscuits, or the topics for her personal blog Living on the Diagonal. She shared with us that “Much of what I write are backstories in my family’s history. For that, I am inspired by history itself and the need to keep family stories alive. My personal essays, which are often featured on my blog, are often the product of observations and musings.”
We inquired what the easiest and the hardest parts of self-publishing were for Carole. She told us, the hardest part was, “We (primarily my husband) do all the formatting and design, including preparing and inserting photos—and my books have lots of photos). Getting all those details just right is agonizingly slow and frustrating. Something is always going wrong. The easiest is being in complete control—working on my own timeline, editing to my own goals and standards; being able to say what I want to say; making my own decision about covers and title.”
I met Carole through Alleghany Writers, our local writing group that meets once a month, but had heard of her and her books way before then, even browsing her blog from time to time. She belongs to many book groups and we asked her if she felt they had helped her in her writing.
“I belong to three, the High Country Writers in Boone, Alleghany Writers in Sparta, and a small, informal prompt-based writing group.” She added that they had helped in the following ways such as, “learning about some of the technical aspects of writing, including the self-publishing process as well as how to tighten my writing, use vivid descriptions with an eye towards active rather than passive voice; The opportunity to (and challenge of) reading short pieces in front of a group: it forces me out of my comfort zone, lets me hear my own voice, and challenges me to do my best, all in front of a supportive audience; Being forced to respond to prompts on the spot and with only a few minutes of writing time encourages me to think and write more spontaneously and creatively.”
Her favorite genre to read is high-quality fiction, “For the most part, I read for pleasure these days. I always learn something in the process, but since reading is my relaxation, I don’t want anything too heavy most of the time.”
In her spare time, Carole admitted she enjoys a number of activities, but not before having some fun with us, “My what? I write all the time (ha-ha). No, seriously, I enjoy photography, traveling on back roads, obviously reading, and if I really have free time—food preservation.”
The good news is if you read and enjoyed Blackberries and Biscuits you will no doubt enjoy her latest book, out now, and is another family-based book titled David Rae Smith: A Life in Opera and tells the story of my dad’s first cousin who sang with the New York City Opera for 30 years. In the process, the book also tells a lot about the world of opera in general.”
When we caught up with Carole she was reading The Last Camel Died at Noon by Elizabeth Peters. Like many of us, she too has a favorite author's quote that sticks with her from Mary Steward in The Stormy Petrel, “Every time your work is read, you die several deaths for every word, and poetry is like being flayed alive.”
Carole offered the following advice for writers who are looking to self-publish in the future, “I think for either the traditional or self-publishing route, the first thing is to learn the writing craft as well as the technical aspects of writing like grammar and punctuation. If you plan to self-publish, this is even more true. Agents and publishers have a role in weeding out poor quality; when you self-publish, you lack that filter, so you need to be especially diligent about not putting something out there that will embarrass you. This leads to the importance of having beta readers, too.
Interested in reading Blackberries & Biscuits? Have a look at this official excerpt below and be sure to check out Carole's books on Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats today.
Chapter 1: Proud Mountain Woman
“Not again!” she snapped.
Until this moment, it had been a perfect morning. But when she turned on the tap to fill the coffee pot, nothing. Dadgum it! Preparing a hearty breakfast before seeing Braxton off to work was one of the many ways she strove to be the best wife she could possibly be. This thing with the water was getting to be a nuisance. All she asked of the Harwell boy was that he wait a measly half hour to divert the water supply from the house to the cattle trough so Brack could get a pre-workday shower and she could fix his breakfast.
Today was one time too many. In a flash of huff, she trounced across the kitchen, slammed the screen door behind her, stomped across the sandy back yard in her pink and blue flowered pajamas, climbed over the barbed wire fence into the neighbors’ pasture, and turned of the cattle trough faucet with a sharp wrist twist.
She marched triumphantly back to the kitchen, still mad but smug. Today there would be coffee.
Who was this woman?
Her name was Pansy (Pam) Dillard Coates. I know this true-life episode because the four-year-old version of me was in the kitchen when it happened. Surely, the only reason this long-ago moment stands so clearly in my memory is that such a display of temper was so unlike the quiet, gentle woman I knew as my mother.
That woman would never snap, never slam, and never, ever leave the house in her pajamas.
Author Bio
Carole Coates is an author of non-fiction books and personal essays, photographer, poet, family archivist, and modern homesteader. With her spouse, she returned to her roots 42 years ago to hand-build their forever home on the side of a mountain, a quiet place that inspires her creative spirit. She has written two non-fiction books, Boyhood Daze, and Other Stories: Growing Up Happy During the Great Depression and Blackberries and Biscuits: Life and Times of a Smoky Mountain Girl. Against a backdrop of the Great Depression and World War II, these part biography, part memoir, part history volumes tell the life stories of her father and mother, respectively. She is currently nearing completion of the third book about an opera-singing cousin and the world of opera in general.
Her blog, Living on the Diagonal, is an exploration of her relationship to the world around her: a potpourri of musings, reminiscences, modern homesteading experiences, recipes, photography, and personal reflections in both prose and poetry. She also blogs for Mother Earth News Magazine at https://www.motherearthnews.com/search?tags=%22Carole%20Coates%22.
Coates and her partner of fifty-four years make their home in northwestern North Carolina where they enjoy soft (and not-so-soft) mountain breezes, bird songs, deer and raccoon frolics, and the sights and scents of wildflowers.
Living on the Diagonal personal blog: https://livingonthediagonal.com/
Mother Earth News: https://www.motherearthnews.com/search?tags=%22Carole%20Coates%22
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