The Garden Angel



It's GCC time again, and today's focus book is The Garden Angel by Mindy Friddle .

Let's start by asking Mindy some questions...

Tell us about your hobbies.

I love gardening. Putting my hands in the dirt is good for my soul. (Though looking at my backyard right now, you wouldn't think gardening was a hobby. I'm behind. Writing and touring have taken their toll on my garden).

If you had to "bring a dessert" to a potluck what would it be and how do you make it?

Something chocolate, like my grandmother's "million dollar chocolate cake." The recipe calls for a whole box of confectioner's sugar in the frosting. Also, I'd be tempted to bring banana pudding-- one of the best comfort foods ever.

What's your fondest recollection from your early days as a writer?

Drinking a mimosa at midnight, hammering out a first draft.

What's the hardest thing about being a writer?

See above. Just kidding! Well, it's the incremental pace of getting things--your final pages-- finished to your satisfaction, before you send out the draft for the world to see. Writing is such a private, isolating process and then the publishing, publicity and review part is so very public.

What's the biggest writerly mistake you made?

Not writing fiction sooner...like in college. I just didn't have the confidence until I hit 30 or so.

Tell us why you love your favorite movie.

Hmmm. Well my tastes are so very eclectic. I love "Pulp Fiction" and, also, "It's a Wonderful Life." I like war movies and also art films (like "Being John Malkovitch").

What/who is your passion?

Besides my husband of eight years, who is extremely supportive of my writing career, that would have to be Otto, my dog. He's a Husky/Shepherd mix, and very gentle and devoted. I adopted him from the animal shelter, and he's the best company for those long isolated writing stretches..and the long walks afterward.

Now that we know about Mindy, here's a bit about her book...

In Sans Souci, South Carolina, talk is cheap, real estate even more so. No one knows this better than Cutter Johanson, a gruff tomboy who waits tables, writes obits, and makes every effort, however comical and in the face of her mercenary relatives, to avert the sale of the dilapidated ancestral home. And despite her plucky resolve, all appears to be lost—until she strikes up an unlikely friendship with Elizabeth, a shy and fragile academic who puts both their fates on the mend.

Thanks, Mindy, and good luck with the book!

Posted: Wed - June 15, 2005 at 07:23 PM         |

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