Shellie’s big fat nostalgic thank you giveaway

*DISCLAIMER: I had a nostalgic day. It slayed me out of no-where, so this post is long, detail heavy, and probably interesting only to me, and maybe Mama. (I love you, Mama.) Consider yourselves warned.

That said, I took lunch to the field earlier today and fell into a wrinkle in time. I found myself thinking back to the early days of All Things Southern. I’ve since done some heavy reminiscing about those long-ago days when I didn’t have a clue what I was doing and where I was headed. (Right. The more things change the more they stay the same on that point, but don’t be ugly. God doesn’t like ugly.)

I launched my website in 2001, and as previously alluded, without a marketing plan in sight. All I knew was the Internet had come to my home on the banks of Lake Providence, Louisiana and with this new form of communication and exchange of ideas came an opportunity to talk to the world. Why did I want to talk to the whole world? Now, that’s an open-ended discussion. Even those closest to me have never really understood that motivation.

Nevertheless, talk to the world is exactly what I wanted to do and my attempts at trying to get my words published were meeting with nothing but rejection from the publishing powers-that-be. Internet, you say? All righty then. All Things Southern was born. It would be another seven years before my self-published books would garner me an agent and my first traditional publishing contract. But, oh, the memories…

My first newsletter had eight “features” that I wrote weekly while holding down a full-time job as an interior decorator and a part-time job that was really another full-time job as a girls’ basketball coach. Two teams, and my daughter was on one of them, all while my son played for one of the two teams my husband was coaching. (You can spell that c-r-a-z-y).

Oh, and I also a “Southern Exchange” feature where I responded to email. I would barely finish one newsletter (we called it an e-mag back in the day!) before it was time to begin the next one. My brain was compartmentalized between my clients, my ball-players, and my work at ATS. Week in, week out. Now that I think about it, this may explain a lot of what happens between my ears.

By year number two, I was taking my All Things Southern segments to the radio and trying to figure out how to make that work financially.

In those early days I would document the various stages of our crops. Does anyone remember that besides me? Somehow, I was convinced that people beyond our region were interested in seeing bean plants grow to maturity—literally, like almost in real time. Pic after pic, was carefully taken alongside a size perspective object and painstakingly uploaded to my website, via a dial-up modem that was slower than molasses in the dead of winter. Analytics?  You’re joking, right? For all I knew, some guy in India may have been the sole person enjoying the season with me, but I was nothing if not committed.

And here’s some transparency. I also thought I could sell the cat-tails that grew along our ditch banks—until Papa reminded me that they would explode when they dried out and people would not be happy with me, even if I did find a sad sucker soul to buy then. I’m not laughing. You’re laughing.

Today I climbed to the tippy toppy of the ladder over at the grain bins because I had taken a similar shot of our farm all those years ago and wanted to do it again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

All Things Southern has had a lot of working parts over the years. Some have had staying power. Some have come and gone, like my short-videotaped chat that once aired on KNOE TV8. I do believe I sent those segments in for a good five years.  I talked about everything, and nothing, and y’all let me, encouraged me, no less.

Always, y’all were there.

Just recently, in the chronicles of change, came the move from live radio to podcasting from my home here on the lake bank of #thetowncalledbyhisname #lakeprovidencela.

And y’all have made the move. It hasn’t been easy for some of my more mature readers to find me on iTunes, (what’s that, Shellie?) but there y’all are, slowly finding your way to my words.

There are many other examples of what has changed and what has stayed the same around here, but on the offside chance that anyone is still reading, I do believe I’ll get to my reason for writing.

I can’t count the number of times, down through the years, when I’ve used the words “let’s chat” while opening a TV segment, a print column, or a radio show. Sometimes, I really did feel like chatting. But there were other times when I was a wreck of emotions, because of life (it’s hard when it’s good, amen?) pulling it together just long enough to get to a place where I could fall apart again. “They” say “never let ‘em see you sweat”, but I was never so good at pulling that off, was I?

And still y’all were there.

I’ve released books, spoken around the country, and met with a few successes and failures aplenty.

And still y’all are there.

Are you seeing a theme?

I hope so. Y’all have been the constant, the ones I’ve stayed up late and gotten up early to pen words for, urging us all to laugh, cry, and worship together while we speed through the one life we have here.

So, I realize it sounds like I’m building to a farewell, but SURPRISE! I’m not. I’m just feeling sappy. Silly sappy. This walk down memory lane has been all about expressing my appreciation to you, my readers, who have let me learn and grow, and make mistakes in the great wide open. You know who you are, and I thank you.

And to prove it– and reward the folks who are still reading, I’m in a giveaway mood! My publisher just released a boxed set of my Hungry is a Mighty Fine Sauce Storytelling Cookbook and it’s sequel, my Devotions for the Hungry Heart. Here’s a pic!

 

 

Neat, huh? It retails for $24.99 but I’m going to give away THREE copies. Here are the entry rules.

1. Find someone to join our All Things Southern party by subscribing to this website and connecting with me on both Instagram and Facebook. They must leave a comment saying you sent them. 
2. Review the boxed set on Amazon, Goodreads, or any of your other favorite review sites. (Yes, if you’ve read these works, you can review without having the boxed set in hand.
3. Post about the Boxed Set on your own social media, tagging me, and telling me why you want to win the set!

You have until Monday to get ‘er done. 1,2,3 GO! 🙂 Here’s to many more years of helping hungry hearts feast on Jesus through humor and storytelling.

Hugs,
Shellie