Hey Y’all,
I haven’t known Jana terribly long – graced by meeting her at a career fair at Athens State University where I was representing The University of North Alabama. Either way, I’m thrilled to pieces she asked me to be a guest writer for her blog. But maybe I’ve picked up in the middle of a conversation we haven’t even started. Allow me to introduce myself.
I am Russ Darracott – an Old Fashioned Southern Gentleman trapped in a 25 year old body in the wrong generation altogether. I’m a hopeless romantic who moves at two speeds (slow and stop) and a firm believer in Southern hospitality. If someone is uncomfortable around me – I’ve failed at my job as a Southerner. If I neglect to open a door for another person, smile at a passerby, or wear white after Labor Day, I’ve failed at my job as a Southerner. If guests leave a party I’m hosting after only two hours (and God forbid hungry), I’ve failed miserably at my job as a Southerner.
I come from a family of healthy eaters (I’ll let you draw your own conclusions) who know how to throw a party. Our party typically begins at noon and doesn’t end until midnight. No one leaves hungry (one typically leaves with a notch taken out of his or her belt) or without telling at least one good story. Cards begin around sevenish and conclude at midnight…or until your pockets, your wife’s purse, and your car is empty of all spare change (we aren’t hardcore gamblers….we have a quarter limit on all bets.) I’ve lived in the same small town in the same house and attended the same Baptist church my whole life. It is a town where the sweet tea and gossip flow freely…most of the residents know the dish about you before you do. If you have nothing to hide, it is a wonderful place – if you have something to hide, we welcome you…and your scandalous stories.
And writing is my passion, well hobby more or less. My truest passion is taking old things and making them new again. I’m restoring my grandmother’s old home and furnishing it with nothing but antiques. Maybe it is because I believe everything deserves a second chance. Maybe it is because I’m cheap. Or maybe it is because I long to live in a past I never got to see…only read about and hear about through stories passed from generation to generation. My next greatest passion is as an outdoorsman. Whether it be fishing, hiking, or just mowing my grass I’m much more at home out of doors rather than being cooped up inside. I don’t know how many passions one person is allowed to have, but writing would follow after that (no, I take that back…it would follow after cars…I’m a car collector so that is definitely a passion.) So I say writing is a passion, but it may fall more in the hobby category.
I don’t believe writing is this “spectacular gift of divine intervention” awarded to only a select few people. I believe it is hard work. And I believe it is the undying belief that you as a person have a story that is worth sharing and worth being told. Writing isn’t a concept that is only mastered by those who are master linguists. Writing is mastered by those who are great story tellers. A great story teller is a person that can take cold, black and white words and transport a reader to a land full of color and bold characters whether they be people who could pass as neighbors, ancestors of a past long gone by, or someone who would be a perfect best friend from a land which only a child could dream.
I write the former…stories of the South and of characters who I wish were true to life friends instead of living only in my imagination. But they aren’t always fictitious…the best stories come from what you know. I know Southerners. I know hospitality, gossip, and scandal. No offense to our Northern counterparts (or anyone who may read this above the Mason-Dixon Line), but the only place a Yankee (Good Lord, but does that word leave a bitter taste in my mouth) will ever have in any story of mine is as a villain who plays against the good nature of a Southerner.
So writing isn’t a miraculous gift – it is a passion to write what you know and stories worth being told. I truly believe each person may not write – but every person can tell a story (or at least Southerners can). So write what you know. Don’t keep those stories to yourself. There is an old saying that every time a person dies, a library burns down…and I believe that with all my heart. Every person and every thing has a story worth being told – so tell it. (Just remember to change the names to protect the innocent.)
I’ve enjoyed our time together. I hope I’ll be invited back.
Warm Southern Days,
Russ
Hopefully, I can convince Russ to come back and give us a teaser of his new novel Moonlight Serenade. I am in the process of reading it and can't wait to finish! Thanks, Russ, for gracing us with your presence at "The Writers' Block."
-JGP
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