Stories Make Us More of Who We Can Be by Judy Christie

Published by Brother Mockingbird and edited by Pulpwood Queen Author, Susan Cushman, this collection of essays by authors, book club members, and supporters of the Pulpwood Queens is a love letter to the founder and CEO, Kathy L. Murphy. An ode to the written word and the place that literature and reading play in all of our lives.

Thank you Brother Mockingbird Publishing for letting us share some stories!

Stories Make Us More of Who We Can Be by Judy Christie

Stepping into the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium is a sort of mystical experience. The flamboyant 1920s art deco building reels you in, your eyes riveted to the stage where the ghosts of famous musicians surely keep watch, performers such as Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, and a fellow you may have heard of, Elvis Presley.

In this very room, Elvis got his start. And in this very room, I met Kathy L. Murphy.

I regret that I don’t recall what Kathy was wearing, because she does not merely dress, she gets into costume, but I remember what she said as she spoke from the spot that has hosted so many creative heroes in decades past: Stories are powerful. They enrich our lives. They make us more. More than we were before. More of who we are.

More of who we can be.

As readers thronged around Kathy on this summer day in 2009, I drew a deep breath and watched from across that famous floor. I wasn’t stalking her. Really. I was trying to talk myself into approaching her about my debut novel. But, gulp. In these parts, her Beauty and the Book shop and her tribe of Pulpwood Queens had mythical power. As for me, I was a woman who had just written her first novel at age fifty and had never worn a tiara in my life.

Kathy was on her way out of the building by the time I summoned the nerve to introduce myself. I practically ran over to intercept her. Talking at 78 rpm, I told her about my first novel, Gone to Green, a southern story, similar to some she had talked about that day. Might she … possibly… maybe… take a peek at an advance reader copy? She graciously took it, not hinting that she received scores of books every year from authors eager to see what she thought. Because Kathy has a superpower—spotting great books.

Nothing against Elvis, but Kathy became one of my creative heroes that day. While I didn’t realize it, by accepting that ARC, she was taking me by the hand on a journey of friendship and stories that would last well into the future, that would bring me into a family of readers and writers at the annual Pulpwood Queens Girlfriend Weekend, see me dressing up as a fried green tomato and posing with author Fannie Flagg, serving tables with the legendary Pat Conroy, signing books for Pulpwood Queens who drove sixty miles for one of my book launches, and sprawling in a Baton Rouge hotel room telling stories with Kathy and her feisty sidekick Tiajuana Neel, whose hairdos live on in one of my novels and whose spirit lives on in my heart….

Get yourself a copy of The Pulpwood Queens Celebrate 20 Years to find out the rest of Judy’s story.