The Wedding Circle (22 page)

Many writers have day jobs to support themselves until and even after they get published. I made what I think was a very smart choice of careers in becoming a vendor to public libraries in six Southeastern states. Libraries have budgets to buy all of the materials that patrons often take for granted. They must pay for reference materials, periodicals, best-sellers, research titles, audiovisual materials, furniture, computers—indeed, everything that makes a library complete. And they rely upon library vendors to sell them these materials within the confines of their budgets, which are generated through taxes. Over the years I have sold everything from DVDs to large-print books to research titles to libraries, and that has helped me pay the bills while pursuing a writing career full-time.

As a result of this work, I learned quite a bit about the inner workings of libraries—but particularly their budget issues. Many libraries are woefully underfunded, and their budgets are the first to be cut when there is a municipal or county shortfall. My agent suggested to me that an entertaining series about what librarians have to endure in this arena might sell successfully and educate the public about how libraries work as well. I believe that libraries are the repositories of our culture. They tell us where we've been, where we are now, and prepare us for the future. New technologies will be incorporated into their mission, but cannot ever replace it.

Since I have hundreds of librarian friends because of my vendor work over the years, the response from libraries has been phenomenal. I have been invited to give book talks and do signings at many libraries, but I was most honored to be invited by the Louisiana Library Association to be their Luncheon Speaker at their Public Library/Trustees Section at their 2014 Convention/Conference in Lafayette, Louisiana. At that function I explained in great detail how my career as a published writer has been intricately interwoven with my library vendor work. One has complemented the other, and I have every reason to believe that that will continue indefinitely.

In elementary school, believe it or not. I would spend my allowance on buying ruled tablets and Ticonderoga pencils at the five-and-dime store. Then I would write these little stories with illustrations. There wasn't much to them, but it definitely indicated someone who wanted to tell stories rather than do anything else. When I learned that my father had been an editor and writer in New York briefly after World War II, writing what is now known as pulp fiction, I began to realize that perhaps this urge to write was in my genes. My best grades were in English, and I majored in English at Sewanee—the University of the South. I suppose a lot of aspiring writers major in English, but I didn't have to think about it twice. It was always my best subject.

Yes, my mother. She enrolled me in summer reading at the library in my hometown of Natchez, Mississippi. I got caught up in reading to earn ribbons for prizes, and I loved the books I read. Then, she would also read to me every night. My favorite of all time was
Adventures of Uncle Wiggily.
I loved the way each chapter ended with a cautionary statement such as, “And if all the trees in the forest don't fall and the river doesn't flood, Uncle Wiggily will be back to live another day.” Or something on that order. I also loved the fact that each Uncle Wiggily chapter was titled. To this day, I title each of my chapters. It helps me focus on what I want to accomplish with my characters and the plot in that segment of the novel. And I also think it intrigues the reader if the chapter title is particularly unique. For example, in the second novel in this series,
The Reading Circle,
there is an early chapter titled “Hieroglyphics and Empty Pajamas.” Several readers have told me that they couldn't wait to find out what that chapter could possibly be about.

If you're implying that we drink the Mississippi River water and that makes us a little crazy, that's not true. Natchez gets its water from deep wells. But I do think Natchez is a laboratory for writers. It's the oldest city on the Mississippi, founded in 1716, two years before New Orleans. As a result, there's a lot of history that has taken place there, and the people who live there reflect that. Old Southern cities, particularly river ports, have seen it all and generally have a more laid-back attitude when it comes to human behavior. If you're a writer and have the knack for listening and observing generations of people, you have a leg up on those who want to get published. In fact, you may have to water down some of the characters and episodes drawn from growing up in a town like Natchez so that they will be believable. As in—the truth really is stranger than fiction.

I'd like for my readers to find themselves in some manner or other in my writing. Perhaps it would be a character who reminded them of themselves or a family member. Or an episode that rang true because it happened to them or someone they knew. I'd like for them to be entertained and, if possible, educated now and then on some subject or issue. Most of all, I'd like for them to disappear in my writing, come up for air, and think, “Thanks for that little vacation in my head, Ashton. And it only cost me the price of your novel!”