WATERHOLE BRANCH PRODUCTIONS

Y’all know how much I love Pulpwood Queen and Timber Guy Suzanne Hudson and Joe Formichella - two very talented and multi award-winning authors - but that’s only part of the reason they’re two of my favorites. Suzanne edited my first two collections and y’all - I can’t sing her praises enough. I still can’t believe how lucky I was to get her. If you haven’t read IN THE DARK OF THE MOON by Suzanne do it asap! And put Waffle House Rules (and everything he’s written) by Joe on your reading list.

Joe and Suzanne are both so supportive and giving to everyone in the creative community, but they’re hard to find on social media. Imagine my surprise when I found this! Of course I had to share…

WATERHOLE BRANCH PRODUCTIONS

No fancy airs, judgmental attitudes, or sharp edges here: Waterhole Branch Productions is simply a river-rat spirit laced in the Southern soul of Spanish moss.

We are a collaborative collective of a shapeshifting, organic group of artists, writers, and musicians, whose goal it is to foster creativity, produce art, and put it out into the world. The profit motive is not our engine, although we hope to break even in our collaborative endeavors.

We offer literary works and editorial services, produce audio books and music CDs, partner with musicians and visual artists to present engaging experiences to the larger public, and contribute time to community projects for the greater good.

We believe that the most pure art comes directly from an independent individual, free of the strings of middle men or management, or from an autonomous, democratic group of planners whose synergies mesh easily into a positive and carefree offering.

Joe Formichella and Suzanne Hudson

Please take a few minutes and check out everything they offer, and while you’re there read through some of the notes. They’re more than “notes” they are well written stories that give you a little glimpse behind the Spanish moss curtain that surrounds their little piece of heaven at Waterhole Branch.

I picked out one of my personal favorites to share ;).

Do You Believe in Magic? Waterhole Branch Feb 1, 2020

“Why do you have that mule shoe upside down on the piano?”

That’s what Mandy Haynes asked me one morning during her recent visit at Waterhole Branch. She stayed a few days for a couple of book events we lined up to celebrate her debut short story collection, Walking the Wrong Way Home.

“Upside down?”

“Yeah--horse shoes and mule shoes bring good luck, but the open part has to face up, to let the good energy in, let the luck in.”

Well, no wonder my new novel was not a best seller by now . . . dad gum bassackwards mule shoe . . .

But methinks Mandy’s spirit-print on the Branch will only set more good things in motion; she’s just that kind of gal. Free-wheeling, animal loving (right down to the insects), throat-punching (when deserved), writer of mud tales, she’s a Tarot devotee, a seer and a seeker, a healer, a dog whisperer--a big ol’ wad of East Tennessee honeyed drawl wrapped up in a snake charmer’s sensibility along with the heart of an unapologetic tomboy.

And she came bearing charmed gifts, the gift of a charm, a talisman she made (yes, she makes all manner of things, along with well spun tales). She knows that I’m a burner of sage, done burnt a few bushels of it behind the bad juju that rained down upon the Branch once upon a time. So her “host/hostess gift,” having been brung up right and southern, was full of thought and care, custom made for Joe and me. And she relished the sharing of it, the telling of the meanings and symbols . . .

That’s a shark’s tooth, that brown-to-silver pointy thing dangling at the bottom, a symbol of protection. She picked it up on one of her walks on Fernandina Beach, Amelia Island. She’s one of those people who gather moss and feathers and rocks and “clues” and “treasures”--treasures the rest of us don’t notice at our feet. For future creations, like our talisman.

Framed by pieces of driftwood, the flower jasper is a stone worn by shamans to help them with their magical practices, and the rounds of coral above and below it absorb negativity and support friendships and groups. Perfect for the collaborative soul of Waterhole Branch. The green garnet there above the shark’s tooth is another protective and grounding stone that helps to align and strengthen the physical and emotional self. Why pay a therapist when you have your green garnet?

Finally there are the strands of copper that bind it all together, copper that came from the old wiring in the home she bought--and gutted--and renovated--after she quit her job in Nashville, sold her house, drove to the Atlantic Coast, and set about writing, landing a job in a book store. Lots of folks talk about doing such; this badass, throat-punching hill child did it up right. I was honored to help her with the editing process, and I am grateful to call her a friend. She adds her own kind of knack and style to the writing community--nothing affected or phony about it. The Real Deal.

And she believes in magic.

Maybe I do, too. I did a little poking around on my own and discovered that flower jasper is also a conduit to joy, and to the ability to balance safety with adventure, the relishing of new experiences. Copper is also a conduit, malleable, symbolic of our ability to change for the better. And green garnet is the mother lode, as in a stand in for Mother Earth, steeped in empathy, prosperity of the soul, nurturing, understanding.

Let’s do believe it. Stay back, you dark, malevolent forces-- you negative, talent crushing feeders of self doubt. Plant not foot the first on the Branch of the Waterhole. Take up with another tribe, one that feeds on ego and control. We hereby give you a wide way to go . . . or else . . . or else we’ll sic Mandy’s magic on you, her beaded copper and tooth of shark, her openness, her honesty. The ability to be real and genuine.

The Truth.

You don’t stand a chance.

Suzanne Hudson