MY POEMS ARE ON THE JOB...Always, Always Celebrating the South and Promoting A Positive Mississippi

EXCITING NEWS!!
 
I might just be able to add the title of songwriter 
to my resume, soon!
I recently received this wonderful e-mail:

.........................................................................

My name is...........
I am a songwriter in South Florida.
My writing partner, ............., lives in Mississippi. .
We have some pretty cool things happening right now.
I am working on a song titled ............. which talks about all the amazing things about Mississippi.
While writing this song I googled things relating to Mississippi and I stumbled upon your site and was captivated by your poetry. Really loved your style, timing, rhyming schemes, etc. You paint a beautiful picture!
There were several phrases that I saw that I think could fit quite well into this song, that we have brewing.
I wanted to reach out to you to see if you'd be interested in allowing us to use some of your phrases into the song. In exchange we would share co-writing credits between you, my partner and myself. It could be fun! And perhaps we can create a great song that will move some people and do Mississippi proud!
If this sounds interesting to you, I'd love to hear back.
Thanks Patricia! Keep writing!

............................................................................

Almost every day amazing things come 
my way concerning my books and poems. 
I feel truly blessed !
Of course, I would love being a part of 
anything promoting a Positive Mississippi!
It's what I (and my poems) try to do !
I'll keep you posted and share more 
details when I can !
Stay Tuned !

Who's Your Favorite MISSISSIPPI POET??? I hope it's ME!!!

TODAY is World Poetry Day !

World Poetry Day was declared by UNESCO in 1999. 

The purpose of the day is to promote the reading, writing, 

publishing and teaching of poetry throughout the world.

 My first book of poetry: Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia- A Life In Poems *Link to book on Amazon.com*
Published  February, 2008 

 
My second book of poetry: My Magnolia Memories and Musings -In Poems *Link to book on Amazon.com*
Published  February 2012
I call both books a
"celebration of the south and things southern". 

 Using childhood memories, personal thoughts and dreams, I attempt to give a positive glimpse into the southern way of life. There are so many negative connotations associated with
Mississippi and the south in general. 

I want to show a flip side of the coin.
There is much to love about this maligned and misunderstood part of our country.
I would really love for you to get to KNOW Mississippi 

(and the south) in a different light.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

* * * SPRING HAS SPRUNG!  * * *
*´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
*(¸.•´ (¸.•` ¤ ¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)   .................

Today is the first day of Spring ! Enjoy !

¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)

 





















¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
*(¸.•´ (¸.•` ¤ ¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)

Spring begins with the vernal equinox at 7:02 A.M. (EDT) 
on March 20, 2013 in the Northern Hemisphere.

*´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
*(¸.•´ (¸.•` ¤ ¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)  *´¨)¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)

A One And A Two And A Three...LAWRENCE WELK , GRANDDADDY AND ME

A One And A Two And A Three...
LAWRENCE WELK , GRANDDADDY AND ME


Recently, I posted on my Facebook page :

Hubby is always trying to get me mad or make me say crazy stuff
by turning the television to something he thinks will irritate me.
It seems to be very amusing to him !
How MANY times do I have to tell him that he cannot phase me by trying to hold the tv hostage on Lawrence Welk.  I was raised on Lawrence Welk!
Lawrence Welk was MANDATORY viewing if you were at my Granddaddy's house on a Saturday night.
We couldn't make a move or even breathe too hard while the "tap dancing 'colored' man" was on !!! 

PND: Please, James..You gonna have to do better than that !

Lawrence Welk - (March 11, 1903 – May 17, 1992)

DID YOU KNOW...
There was a singer from Tupelo on the Lawrence Welk Show
Guy Lee Hovis, Jr. (born September 24, 1941), along with his former wife, Ralna English of West Texas, was one of the featured acts of television's The Lawrence Welk Show.Born and reared in Tupelo, Mississippi, he was the son of an officer from the Mississippi Highway Patrol. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Mississippi at Oxford. After a two-year stint in the Army, Hovis decided to try a career as a musical performer in Hollywood.
On his days off, Hovis still continues to perform, at the Lawrence Welk Resort in Branson, Missouri, for pledge specials on PBS, or with Ralna at state fairs, concert halls and casinos.

Ralna & Guy

Commenting on my Lawrence Welk post, one of my dear Facebook friends wrote :
"Patricia, thank you for stirring up this old memory machine...How we looked forward to that too. Our Sat nights were filled with smell of yeast from cinnamon rolls rising...and then baking, Lawrence Welk, and the biggy was  wrestling at 10:00pm...beautiful thing to think about."

I have a poem about my Granddaddy that mentions his love for The Lawrence Welk Show that I plan to put in my next book. I think that is the true beauty and real attraction of my books/poems.
They bring back so many of the readers' own wonderful memories of days gone by.

Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia - A Life in Poems - Link to Amazon

Magnolia Memories and Musings - In Poems - Link to Amazon

MARCH is National Reading Month ! It's time to READ!!!

MARCH is National Reading Month! 

~*~ READ ~*~

Many schools kick off the celebration of National reading Month with a birthday party honoring the beloved children’s author, Dr. Seuss, who was born March 2nd.
Green eggs and ham, along with a birthday cake, are often featured fixtures at those parties!

The goal of National Reading Month is to get children excited about reading, as well as improving their reading skills.  It is the perfect time to emphasize the importance and value of reading and to help them understand how important reading is in daily life and how it will help them achieve goals and become successful in life.  

My books, Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia and My Magnolia Memories and Musings are perfect books to READ, BUY and GIVE during National Reading Month. With very simple language and relatable themes, they can be read, enjoyed and understood by readers of all ages 8 to 80 (and beyond). 
There is definitely something in my "little books of southern poems" for EVERYONE.

 

 

Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia - A Life in Poems - Link to Amazon

Magnolia Memories and Musings - In Poems - Link to Amazon

 

MY NEXT BIG THING...is Showing (More) Love for Mississippi !

MY NEXT BIG THING...is Showing (More) Love for Mississippi ! 

Welcome to......

Blog Hop ...............


I was absolutely THRILLED when fellow blogger friend NancyKay Wessman
at  www.wessmanwords.com invited me to participate and be "tagged" in the “The Next Big Thing,” blog chain “Blog Hop” started by the She Writes blog site to help female authors promote their current work by answering a set of questions and then “tagging” other writers, inviting them to do the same. 
 
Here are the questions and my answers: 

1: What is the working title of your book(s)? 

Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia-A Life in Poems (2008)
My Magnolia Memories and Musings- In Poems (2012)

2: Where did the idea for the book originate? 

As the bible says, out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.
I believe that my poems all came from an overflow of my great love for Mississippi and the southern way of life. 

3: Under what genre does your book come? 

Poetry...... more specifically Southern Poetry.

4: Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition? 

Jennifer Hudson ... I absolutely love her !!!
"Jennifer, Play Me ! Play Me !!!!" 

~Jennifer Hudson~

5: What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? 

I call both books "a celebration of the south and things southern "
My slogan is "Always, Always Celebrating the South and Promoting a Positive Mississippi ".  One reviewer called Reflections "A love letter to the south".
In My Magnolia Memories and Musings, the love affair continued.
Now, there is, yet another book to come, showing even more LOVE ! 

  

6: Will your next book be self-published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency? 

Self-Published 

7: How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? 

Most of the poems in both of my books were written in a span of about 6 months.
I wrote my very first poem February 14, 2007.   I woke up out of my sleep with a poem just swirling around in my head.  I quickly got up, and scribbled it down.  After that, the poems just started to flow and flow.  In a span of about two months,  I had over 200 poems.  Those poems became the first and second books.
My first book was published February 2008 and the second February 2012.
The poems that were not published there, will be included in my third book.

8: To what other books within your genre would you compare this story? 

The Collected Works of Maya Angelou 

9: Who or what inspired you to write this book? 

My love for Mississippi, the south and the life that I have lived are at the root of all of my poems. 

10: What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? 

For readers, I think the book will bring back a lot of very fond, familiar, shared memories of growing up in Mississippi and/or the south. 
Here are some of my poetry titles....... 
JUST SEE IF THEY DON'T CONJURE UP SOME WONDERFUL 
SOUTHERN MEMORIES FOR YOU .................................

~'Summer Nights' ~ 'The Rules' ~ 'Country Breakfast' ~
~'Preaching Sunday' ~ 'Southern Comfort (Food)'  ~
~ 'Fall in the Country' ~ 'Going to Town' ~
~'Neighborhood Groceries' ~ 'Childhood Christmas'~ ......  :)

Please click this link and ......
LISTEN to me read a few of my "Mississippi" poems.


~ MY NEXT BIG THING ~
 
The 3rd book in the Reflections "trilogy"
It will be entitled Mississippi In Me - Poems and More.
Set to be published early 2014.
I am also working on audio recordings of a selection of my poems.

Always, Always Celebrating the South and Promoting a Positive Mississippi

CHECK OUT these other blogs in hop tour :


Christy Williams
http://www.godsdesignforyou.com/2013/article-blog-hop-waste-storm.html



Emerald Barnes
http://ebarnes23.wordpress.com/2012/09/05/why-yes-i-am-participating-in-the-next-big-thing/


Kory Wells
http://korywells.com/2013/02/the-next-big-thing-is-there-still-a-novel-in-this-poets-future/


Susan Cushman
http://susancushman.com/writing-on-wednesday-the-next-big-thing-authors-blog-hop/


Stephanie MacAfee

http://stephaniemcafee.wordpress.com

MISSISSIPPI IS THE MOST RELIGIOUS STATE (Again)

MISSISSIPPI IS THE MOST RELIGIOUS STATE (Again) 

Mississippi is ranked as the nation's most religious state in 2012, ahead of Alabama and Utah, which tied for second, according to the latest Gallup poll.
The poll found that 58 percent of Mississippi residents identified themselves as "very religious" - based on saying religion is an important part of their daily life and that they attend religious services every week or almost every week.
Alabama and Utah were at 56 percent.

Eight of the 10 most religious states were in the South, with Louisiana, Arkansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia and Oklahoma rounding out the top 10. The rankings were unchanged from a similar survey by Gallup in 2011.

~ We live by faith, not by sight ~

2 Corinthians 5:7

 

 

 

I Wanna Be A "Hat Lady " (Like Her) ...When I Grow Up !

I was on Facebook recently when one of my More than Fabulous , More than Facebook friends Ms. Jo McDivitt  of Hattiesburg, Mississippi posted a picture of herself in one of the hundreds of amazing hats that she owns and loves.  This one though, was extra special.
To me, it was THE hat ! It was THAT Hat ! I remembered it very well !

It was the hat ( or one almost exactly like it ) that she had on when I was first blessed with making the acquaintance of this absolutely phenomenal woman !

I was at one of my very first large book-signings with multiple Mississippi authors. 
It was an annual book-signing extravaganza held by Main Street Books in Hattiesburg. There were some very popular, big name authors in attendance.   I definitely was NOT one of those big names !   I was one of about 25 authors there.   My little book of southern poems, Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia,  had just been published in February (2008). The event was in December.  I had the privilege of being an invited author, riding on the coat tail of my dear friend John Campell, the brother of the late, great blues legend "Little Milton" Campbell who had published his book, Day Dreaming on My Cotton Sack,  several months before mine and was very instrumental in making my new life as a published author a reality.
I wrote about that journey and our longtime friendship in the foreword of my book.

Anyway, back to the storyline of Ms Jo McDivitt ......
I was a wide-eyed new author who was simply excited to be in the presence and listed alongside so many wonderful Mississippi authors.  I dutifully said my "spill" about my little
" book baby " to anyone who would remotely listen or glance my way.  One very distinguished gentleman came over and listened very intently to me, asked me several questions about the book and and purchased a copy.   It might have just been out of pity and to encourage a new author, but it was a sale!    I made several that night . He looked the book over and flipped through a few of the poems.   He then told me that I should definitely introduce myself and my book to Jo McDivitt.   He said that he was sure that she would be there sometime during the evening.  He said that he felt she would really be interested in the book and enjoy the poems. He also shared with me that Ms. McDivitt was a writer /publisher of her own newspaper,
Today Mississippi Woman. 

That really made me ears perk up.  Even as a young author I knew that much of the success of a book depended on good press and publicity, in whatever form.  Maybe she WOULD like my book and maybe she would write about my book in her paper and maybe she could help more people find out about my little needle in a haystack book.  I was excited!
Then,  I looked around, at the almost standing room only crowd of people.   With new faces coming and going and standing in long lines, I wondered how in the world I would possibly know who she was since,  this kind gentleman was on his way to another engagement and would not be there to introduce me to her.   I said these thoughts out loud.   A boyish grin came across this very sophisticated face and I could have sworn that his eyes glazed over in some type of wistful longing.  He simply said. "You'll know her."  "She'll be the one in the big hat." 
Again, I thought to myself, I wondered how in the world he knew she would have on a big hat and how he knew that I would know that it was her in that hat.

It was cold outside,  and as I looked around,  I saw that there were already several ladies inside that had on hats.  This time, though I did not voice my thoughts.
He seemed very confident in the fact that I would know her when I saw her.

How right he was!.  Maybe an hour later, this little, delicate waif of a woman came floating through the door.  It seemed almost like the heavens opened up and a spotlight was shining down on her from above.  She was an amazing sight to behold!.   People, mostly men, flocked around her like flies.   It sort of reminded me of that scene in Gone With the Wind when all of the men and would - be suitors were flocked around Scarlet trying to get her some tea or some cake ..or ANYTHING.

Ms Jo McDivitt was indeed wearing a VERY BIG hat, almost as big as she was. 
It was big......and fabulous !!!!

I had to wait for the dust to settle to finally get a chance to approach her about my book.
It took quite a while, because it seemed like she was, on the red carpet at the Academy Awards.   It was a book signing event and was suppossedly all about the authors, but she was undoubtedly and- hands down the star in the room !

To make a long story short, I met Ms Jo, I introduced my self and my book . She bought a copy and promised that she would let me know what she thought .  A few months later I received a glowing review in her Today's Mississippi Woman publication.(February 2009).
Since then we have frequently been in touch and as I said we are Facebook friends.
We share many interests and a passionate love for hats.  I am only a closet "Hat Lady" and a Hat Lady in training.  I frequently buy hats but rarely wear them in public.  This baffles my Dear Hubby to no end.   I just don't feel ready to do the Hat Lady thing justice.  To me, it is serious business!!     I have been telling all of my friends since I turned 40 that I planned to be a full-fledged Hat Lady when I turned 50 !  That will be next year (February 2014)


Ms Jo wrote a comment to me on her fabulous hat post !
This is my "Patricia Neely Dorsey hat-in-waiting" until you are fifty-or-so!
I just so happen to have an extra one because I knew it would be difficult to find another?!
After a while following a few of my excited comments she wrote:: "This hat has stopped traffic from Manhattan to Potts Camp, MS!  I WANT you to have one. Will you be fifty in ten years?
If so, I will continue to dust the webs from its brim. Deal completed."

Later on in the evening , she wrote:
It's way past my bedtime but that did not stop me from dashing to the "hat room" to place the "other" hat on VIP reserve.  I think it will be delivered prior to the fiftieth celebration! PND will let her glowing light "shine" in this chapeau.

Woo Hoo !!! February 2014 ..It's on !!!!
I am going to be a real, full-fledged TOO FABULOUS Hat Lady just like her ...
especially in THAT hat !!! Just Wait And See !!!
OMG!!! Ms Jo MUST really LOVE me !!! Hat Ladies DO NOT just Willy Nilly give their hats away even if they do have TWO of same.

~*~  Ms Jo McDivitt  ~*~
THAT HAT !

About Jo McDivitt:

Jo McDivitt is a writer, newspaper publisher, bookworm, publicist, gourmet cook and gardener. She was a stewardess with United Airlines during the golden era of flying; a publicist at Niki Singer, Inc., on Madison Avenue in New York City, and host of a Memphis "morning and evening drive" talk radio show, "A Cup of Jo." Jo's first newspaper column was published when she was fourteen-years-old. She has continued to write product copy and features for a variety of publications.
Born in Pontotoc, Mississippi, in 1948, she grew up in the northern Mississippi town of Amory.

Jo is featured in the University Press
soon- to- be- released book:
Coming Home To Mississippi

The book is scheduled for release in April 2013.

Coming Home to Mississippi


Celebrations of homecoming by prominent Mississippians who made the return journey.    In this collection, essayists examine their lives, their memories of Mississippi, the reasons they left the state, and what drew them back.
They talk about how life differs and wears on you in the far-flung
parts of our nation, and the qualities that make Mississippi unique.

Cover artwork by Mississippi Artist -  Wyatt Waters

Coming Home to Mississippi
~*~  On Amazon ~*~

"A woman's hat speaks, long before she 

ever opens her mouth"
from "Crowns" The Stage Play 

~*~

Home Is (DEFINITELY ) Where My Heart Is !

My name is Patricia Neely-Dorsey. I am from Tupelo, Mississippi... located in the beautiful red clay "Hills" of Mississippi and yes, the birthplace of Elvis Presley!

I am the author of two books of poetry: 

Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia -A Life In Poems.

My Magnolia Memories and Musings -In Poems.I call both books a true celebration of the south and things southern.   There are so many negative connotations associated with Mississippi and the south in general. 
I try to give a positive glimpse into my home state and region.  There is much to love about this much maligned and misunderstood part of our country.   I invite readers to get to KNOW Mississippi (and the south) in a different light I invite EVERYONE to Meet Mississippi Through Poetry, Prose and the written word.

I travel all around my state speaking at schools, churches, libraries and various civic organizations, delivering the message of a positive Mississippi and a positive southern experience....According to me, one of the best places to live in ALL of the world is POSITIVELY MISSISSIPPI !!!

LINKS TO AMAZON ..............

Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia-A Life in Poems  -  


My Magnolia Memories and Musings- In Poems  



ENTER AT the BOX in the top of this blog post
for a chance to WIN these prizes......... 

1st Grand Prize: $40 Gift Certificate from your
favorite eBookstore
2nd Grand Prize: $40 Gift Certificate from your
favorite eBookstore
3rd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks, bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, and more!

Any time from February 15th, 8:00 a.m. CT to February 18th midnight CT you can enter both individual blogger prizes and the Grand Prize by commenting on each blog. Be sure to give us an email address so we can contact you if you win.

TO WIN 1 OF MY BOOKS.... 
JUST LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS POST

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS - For More info please go here...

To visit the other blogs on the tour...
Please follow these links below......

Gloria Harchar: Steampunk Novels

Bonnie Blythes: Pure Romance

 
Emerald Barnes Dreaming Awake Blog

 
Under the Trolls Bridge

 
Prism Book Group Publisher Blog

 
Just For Laughs

Catherine Chant Time Travel Romance

Cause Everyone Needs Romance

 Pauline Creeden Blog