Queens, Queens, Everywhere!

The Southeastern Literary Tourism Initiative, with the help of author Patricia Neely-Dorsey, has recently posted on its blog a wonderful article about the Pulpwood Queens! Aside from giving our Pulpwood matron much kudos, the article also mentions the Heart of Dixie chapter from north Alabama; I'm proud to say that my own mother is their Queen. Take a look at the article here to find out how SLTI has done its part to help promote travels to Jefferson, TX and curiosity about our beloved Pulpwood Queens!

Book And Author Summer Concert Series

The Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Club is proud to announce their BOOK AND AUTHOR SUMMER CONCERT SERIES:

June 8th, 6:30 p.m.

Linden, TX

Tickets $25 (includes book, refreshments, concert)

Charles Martin, will speak of his latest book, "The Mountain Between Us", followed by our Official Pulpwood Queen and Timber Guy Band, DESTINY DUKE AND THE HAZZARDS! The Pulpwood Queens of Linden and Jefferson, Texas will be providing the food and refreshments!

July 13th, 6:30 p.m.

Beauty and the Book

608 N. Polk, Jefferson TX

Ad Hudler, back by popular demand, to talk of his latest book, MAN OF THE HOUSE followed by our house band, DESTINY DUKE AND THE HAZZARDS! Everyone is to bring a covered dish, a lawn chair or blanket, for DINNER ON THE GROUNDS. Beauty and the Book will be providing the sweet tea, cups, plates, and silverware. This is outside so bring the bug spray and dress accordingly.

August 10th, 6:30 p.m.

Jefferson, TX

David Marion Wilkinson will be in town for the 15th Anniversary of his bestseller, NOT BETWEEN BROTHERS. Details on this event and location forthcoming. We will also be having a homemade ice cream contest as it will be David's birthday and The Pulpwood Queen will be baking a Texas size birthday cake! David will be the judge of the contest and the WINNER will receive a signed limited edition numbered copy of his hardback, NOT BETWEEN BROTHERS!

All the authors books will be for purchase at the events but quantities are limited. To ensure a copy for you to get signed, pre-order your tickets and books TODAY at 903-665-7520. Beauty and the Book accepts all major credit cards!

For Every Queen There Is A Princess

This new children's book, written by the legendary Julie Andrews, is a must read for all little girls who aspire to one day be a Pulpwood Queen!

Do you believe in Fairies? Geraldine does...

And though her family and friends don't, Gerry knows for certain that she is one.

In fact she is a VERY fairy princess!

From morning to night, Gerry does everything that fairy princesses do: she dresses in royal attire and practices her flying skills, and she is always on the lookout for problems to solve. But it isn't all pink and proper- as every real-life fairy princess knows, dirty fingernails and scabby knees are just the price you pay for a perfect day! (Barnes & Noble)

Shreveport's Digital Library - Now Open!

Do you want to read the newest releases but don't have the time? Have an iPod or CD player handy? Shreve Memorial Library now has a digital collection for library card holders! Listen to titles on your computer, transfer to iPod and iPhone, or burn many of them to CD format. Browse the digital library here.

Three easy steps!

1. Browse

2. Check out

3. Download and enjoy!

Support Louisiana Publishing

LSU Press’s nationally and internationally recognized program is built on books about the South. The Press is dedicated not only to the publication of fine works of scholarly research but also timely general interest and regional books. Each year LSU Press brings out 80 new books, mostly in the following areas:

Click here to view the Spring 2010 Catalog!

(From now through December 31, 2010, receive 35% off all the LSU Press books you order through the website.Use discount code 04ANNIVER during checkout and enjoy some of the wonderful books published at a discounted price.)

Katrina Chronicles: New Poetry

In Breach, (April 10, 2010 LSU Press) New Orleans native Nicole Cooley recalls Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in gritty, poignant detail, bearing witness to the destruction of a region and to its recovery. Ranging from the urgent to the reflective, these poems speak not only to the horrors of the immediate disaster, but also to family dynamics in a time of crisis and to the social, political, and cultural realities that contextualized the storm and its wake. In the title poem, Cooley invokes the multiple meanings of the word “breach”—breach of the levees, breach of trust—which resonate with survivors in the Crescent City, and in “Evacuation,” she recounts her efforts to encourage her parents to leave the city and her harrowing three-day wait to hear from them after they refused. A number of poems, including “Write a Love Letter to Camellia Grill,” “The Superdome: A Suite,” and “Biloxi Bay Bridge Still Out,” offer a broad range of voices and experiences to expand the perspective beyond Cooley’s own family. With language and images both powerful and precise, this compelling collection dares us to “watch the surface of the city tear like loose skin.” (from LSU Press)

Read a selection of Nicole Cooley's poetry here.

Romance Is In The Air

For all you romance readers, come out and support local author Liz Talley at Barnes & Noble on Youree Dr. in Shreveport on June 12 at 1:30pm! She is a dear friend to author, friend, and soon-t0-be Red River Pulpwood Queen Connie Cox. She will be doing her first ever signing of her upcoming book Vegas Two-Step. Come out and support another creative mind in the Ark-La-Tex!

Johnette Downing Library Event

Johnette Downing

(author, storyteller, musician)

June 10, 2010

10:00am-11:00am

Webster Parish Library

Minden, La

Johnette Downing is a multi-award winning author, singer, songwriter and musician performing music and presenting books with Louisiana spice for children internationally.

About Why Crawfish Lives in the Mud

One hot and humid day on the bayou back when Crab and Crawfish were still best friends, Crawfish was hungry, and as luck would have it, Crab had just gone fishing. Not only hungry, Crawfish was also lazy. Thinking only about himself-only about his empty belly, Crawfish decided to trick his friend out of his lunch. But Crawfish had taken advantage of Crab's good nature one time too many, and soon he learns about the consequences of cheating his friend. This cute cautionary tale, filled with Johnette Downing's signature Louisiana flavor and fresh collage-style illustrations, includes a glossary of Cajun phrases and crawfish fun facts. (from Johnette Downing: Music and Books for Children) Other books: Chef Creole; My Aunt Came Back from Louisiane; Down in Louisiana; Today is Monday in Louisiana; Today is Monday in Texas.

Centenary Book Bazaar Drop Off Dates

The Muses of Centenary College will be accepting donations for the 24th annual Centenary Book Bazaar from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 7 and Aug 9 at the Centenary College Book House, located in Centenary Square, 108 E. Kings Highway, Shreveport. Volunteers will be on hand to help unload donations of gently used books, compact disks, videotapes, DVDs, records and cassettes. Receipts will also be issued to those donors requesting them.

The annual book bazaar is sponsored by the Centenary Muses with proceeds used to fund projects and programs for Centenary students. This year's bazaar will be held Sept. 10-11 in the Centenary Gold Dome.

For more information, contact the Book House at (318) 219-3409 or David Williams at (318) 869-5162.

July 23, 2010

12:00pm

West Monroe (West Ouachita Parish Library)

$30.00

Please let me know by the June meeting if you are interested in making this road trip so I can collect money and purchase tickets! If you cannot make the trip but want a signed book, please let me know ASAP.

Friends of the Ouachita Parish Library present: Lunch with the Editor. This is a ticketed event requiring pre-registration. Your $30 ticket is good for lunch and a signed copy of Louisiana Women: their lives and times. Tickets to be sold in advance by the Friends of the Library. Call 327-5414 for more information.

About Louisiana Women: Their Lives and Times

Moving chronologically from the colonial period to the present, this collection of seventeen biographical essays provides a window into the social, cultural, and geographic milieu of women's lives in the state. Within the context of the historical forces that have shaped Louisiana, the contributors look at ways in which the women they profile either abided by prevailing gender norms or negotiated new models of behavior for themselves and other women. Louisiana Women concludes with an essay that examines women's active responses to problems that emerged in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

The women whose absorbing life stories are collected here include Marie Therese Coincoin, who was born a slave but later became a successful entrepreneur, and Oretha Castle Haley, civil rights activist and leader of the New Orleans chapter of CORE. From such well-known figures as author Kate Chopin and Voudou priestess Marie Laveau, to lesser known women such as Cajun musician Cleoma Breaux Falcon, this volume reveals a compelling cross section of historical figures. The women profiled vary by race, class, political affiliation, and religious persuasion, but they all share an unusual grit and determination that allowed them to turn trying circumstances into opportunity. Lively yet rigorous, these essays introduce readers to the courageous, dedicated, and inventive women who have been an essential part of Louisiana's history.

Historical figures included:
• Marie Therese Coincoin
• The Baroness Pontalba
• Marie Laveau
• Sarah Katherine (Kate) Stone
• Eliza Jane Nicholson
• Kate Chopin
• Grace King
• Louisa Williams Robinson, Her Daughters, and Her Granddaughters
• Clementine Hunter
• Dorothy Dix
• True Methodist Women
• Cleoma Breaux Falcon
• Caroline Dormon
• Mary Land
• Rowena Spencer
• Oretha Castle Haley
• Louisiana Women and Hurricane Katrina

GF Weekend Authors Announced!

11th Anniversary Girlfriend Weekend Author Extravaganza, January 13 - 16, 2011

Want to know more about the authors attending Girlfriend Weekend? Click on an author name to go directly to his or her website! It's not too early to decide which books you want to pick up and get signed! Get your tickets for the event soon! $150 for the entire weekend(for Pulpwood Queens only).

Keynote Speakers:

Fannie Flagg (Fried Green Tomatoes and the Whistle Stop Cafe)

Pat Conroy (The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini, South of Broad)

Rick Bragg (All Over But the Shoutin', The Prince of Frogtown)

Other authors on our list to be featured are:

Robert Leleux (The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy)

Bernie Schein (If Holden Cauldfield Were in My Classroom)

Cassandra King (Queen of Broken Hearts, Making Waves)

Janis Owens (The Cracker Kitchen: A Cookbook, My Brother Michael)

River Jordan (Saints in Limbo, Magnolia Street, The Gin Girl)

Shellie Rushing Tomlinson (Suck Your Stomach in and Put Some Color On!)

Ad Hudler (Man of the House, Househusband, Southern Living)

Todd Johnson (The Sweet By and By)

Mark Childress (Crazy in Alabama, One Mississippi)

Charles Martin (The Mountain Between Us, Where the River Ends)

Denise Hildreth Jones (Savannah series, Flies in the Butter)

Michael Morris (Slow Way Home, A Place Called Wiregrass)

Sam Bracken (My Orange Duffel Bag)

Echo Garrett (My Orange Duffel Bag, Why Don't They Just Get a Job?)

Patti Callahan Henry (Driftwood Summer, The Art of Keeping Secrets)

Jeanine Cummins (The Outside Boy, A Rip in Heaven)

Susan Parker (Walking in the Deep End)

Kathi Appelt (Keeper, The Underneath) for young readers

Kimberly Willis Holt (The Water Seeker, My Louisiana Sky, Piper Reed series) young readers

Melissa Conroy (pOppy's Pants) young readers

Vladimir Radunsky (Hip Hop Dog, You?, Where the Giant Sleeps) young readers

Elise Blackwell (The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish, An Unfinished Score, Grub, Hunger)

Judy Christie (Hurry Less Worry Less series, Gone to Green series)

Lisa Wingate (Beyond Summer, The Summer Kitchen)

Marsha Fine

Neil White (The Sanctuary of Outcasts)

Amy Bourret (Mothers and Other Liars)

Deanne Gist (A Maid to Match, Beguiled, The Measure of a Lady)

and more to be announced.

Queen Kathy Talks about the Red River Queens

The original Pulpwood Queen Kathy Patrick has been kind enough to showcase the Red River Pulpwood Queens on her newest blog post! Not only does she share with the world what a nice time she had visiting with us at Shreveport's eclectic Columbia Cafe, but she also shares some of her daughter's wonderful photography. Check out that cherry chocolate chip bread pudding with a sauce crafted for adults only!

Thank you Queen Kathy, for making our first meeting such a delight! We hope you can join us again soon!

Pulpwood Queen Kathy Talks Books!

When: June 3, 2010

Time: 12:00pm

Where: Blog Talk Radio

Our Queen Kathy Patrick will be featured on April Robins' Red River Radio Program on Blog Talk Radio! You all please tune in to hear all about our Book and Author Summer Concert series with authors, Charles Martin, Ad Hudler, and David Marian Wilkinson and the band, Destiny Duke and the Hazzards and MORE!

June Book Selection

Cutting For Stone - by Abraham Verghese

A sweeping, emotionally riveting first novel — an enthralling family saga of Africa and America, doctors and patients, exile and home.Marion and Shiva Stone are twin brothers born of a secret union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother’s death in childbirth and their father’s disappearance, bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution. Yet it will be love, not politics — their passion for the same woman — that will tear them apart and force Marion, fresh out of medical school, to flee his homeland. He makes his way to America, finding refuge in his work as an intern at an underfunded, overcrowded New York City hospital. When the past catches up to him — nearly destroying him — Marion must entrust his life to the two men he thought he trusted least in the world: the surgeon father who abandoned him and the brother who betrayed him.An unforgettable journey into one man’s remarkable life, and an epic story about the power, intimacy, and curious beauty of the work of healing others. (Barnes & Noble)

Meet the Red River Pulpwood Queens!

"So I shall say I write in the morning, when not too strongly drawn to struggle with the intricacies of a pattern, and in the afternoon, if the temptation to try a new furniture polish on an old table leg is not too powerful to be denied; sometimes at night, though as I grow older I am more and more inclined to believe that night was made for sleep." -Kate Chopin (read at the meeting by author Judy Christie)

The first meeting of the Red River Pulpwood Queens was, without a doubt, elegant, relaxing, and inspiring. The Columbia Cafe on E. Kings in the historic Highland area of Shreveport was extremely accommodating and the waiter saw to our every need. The original Pulpwood Queen Kathy Patrick arrived, her beautiful daughters in tow, wearing a spectacular tiara hand crafted in New Orleans. Joining the group was previous head queen Lynn Laird, author Judy Christie, Leslie Holder, Sharon Steckelberg, and Susie Irelan.

Cocktails were served as we discussed the function of the Commonplace Book, a reading journal that compiles favorite passages, quotes, books, poems, etc. Everyone has been challenged to create their own to document their personal reading experiences. Homework: List your favorite 15 books of all time and share why each book is special to you! In order to get to know each other better, we will be discussing the lists at the June meeting.

Topics discussed over dinner were possible literary road trips coming up this year, Girlfriend Weekend in Jefferson, Texas, the fabulous author Rick Bragg, canoeing, spiders, desserts, Kathy's summer concert/literary series, and hair ball costumes of past Girlfriend Weekends.

The next Red River Pulpwood Queen meeting: June 29, 2010 - Columbia Cafe 6:30pm

(it is not too late to join this fantastic reading group!)

Sizzling Summer Series presents
FRIED GREEN TOMATOES
Friday, June 4, 7:00 PM
$25 Admission Includes Dinner, Movie, and More
To Purchase Tickets Call (318) 459-4122

Event Information

The Robinson Film Center's Sizzling Summer Series, a series of themed movie and activity nights, kicks off Friday, June 4 at 7:00 PM with Fried Green Tomatoes. In addition to a screening of the popular film, the event will include a Southern Comfort Dinner, a modified poker run, door prizes, and a cash bar. $25 admission includes meal, movie, and activities.

Menu for "Southern Comfort" Dinner:
-Fried Green Tomatoes Topped with Crabmeat Remoulade
-Brisket
-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Butter and Brown Sugar
-Raisin Biscuits
-Berry Cobbler

To purchase tickets, call (318) 459-4122. On-line ticket sales coming soon.

Book Fair for the Robinson

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

9:00am-10:00pm

Barnes & Noble Shreveport

6646 Youree Drive

Barnes & Noble is hosting a Book Fair benefiting The Robinson Film Center on Tuesday, May 25, all day long at their Youree Drive location. All you have to do is present the voucher below when making your purchase and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the cultural and educational programs of The Robinson Film Center. Print out your vouchers here.

Louisiana Women at the Library

Beginning the last week of May and extending throughout the summer, editors Janet Allured, Judith Gentry and several contributors will be giving talks and signings of the book Louisiana Women: Their Lives and Times at the Ouachita Parish Public Library. These adult programs will cover the lives of many remarkable Louisiana female natives including Kate Chopin, Marie Laveau, Dorothy Dix, Baroness Pontalba, Clementine Hunter, and many more. Click here for a full calendar!

July 23, Friday, 12:00pm, West Ouachita Branch: Friends of the Ouachita Parish Library present: Lunch with the Editor. This is a ticketed event requiring pre-registration. Your $30 ticket is good for lunch and a signed copy of Louisiana Women: their lives and times. Tickets to be sold in advance by the Friends of the Library. Call 327-5414 for mor information.

Meeting Tuesday Night - Special Treat!

Want to know more about the Pulpwood Queens and find out how it all began? Join us for our first Red River Pulpwood Queen meeting tomorrow night at 6:30 at Shreveport's own Columbia Cafe for wine, good food, and a chance to meet the original Pulpwood Queen Kathy Patrick and daughters!

Spoon - Discussion Questions

Author, Robert Greer has now confirmed he will be joining Fannie Flagg, Pat Conroy, Rick Bragg and about 40 or more authors at our 11th Anniversary Girlfriend Weekend, January 13 - 16, 2011! This is our book to READ of the month of The Pulpwood Queens and Timber Guys Book Clubs. - Kathy Patrick

Spoon: A Novel
By Robert Greer

Questions for Discussion


1. Is there a particular event or scene that influenced the outcome of the book more than another?

2. How do you feel about Spoon as a person? Would you be friends with him? Do you think he’s clairvoyant?

3. How much does history affect each of the characters and their relationships with one another?

4. In what ways is Spoon a traditional Western? Are there ways in which it challenges this genre classification?

5. What was unique about the setting and how did it enhance or take away from the story?

6. What specific themes did the author emphasize throughout the novel? What do you think he is trying to get across to the reader?

7. Do the characters seem real and believable? Can you relate to their predicaments? To what extent do they remind you of yourself or someone you know?

8. How do characters change or evolve throughout the course of the story? What events trigger such changes?

9. Did certain parts of the book make you uncomfortable? If so, why did you feel that way? Did this lead to a new understanding or awareness of some aspect of your life you might not have thought about before?

10. In what ways did you identify with the situations and/or characters?

11. What major emotions did the story evoke in you as a reader?

12. Many of the ranch owners and families agree that they would die for their land. To what extent does concern for land/property continue today? What would you die for?

LA Past Book Selections Worth Reading

The Mercy of Thin Air - by Ronlyn Domingue

New Orleans, 1920s. Raziela Nolan is in the throes of a magnificent love affair when she dies in a tragic accident. In an instant, she leaves behind her one true love and her dream of becoming a doctor--but somehow, she still remains. Immediately after her death, Razi chooses to stay between--a realm that exists after life and before whatever lies beyond it.

From this remarkable vantage point, Razi narrates the stories of her lost love, Andrew, and the relationship of Amy and Scott, a couple whose house she haunts almost seventy-five years later. The Mercy of Thin Air entwines these two fateful and redemptive love stories that echo across three generations. From ambitious, forward-thinking Razi, who illegally slips birth control guides into library books; to hip Web designer Amy, who begins to fall off the edge of grief; to Eugenia, caught between since the Civil War, the characters in this wondrous novel sing with life. Evoking the power of love, memory, and time, The Mercy of Thin Air culminates in a startling finish that will leave readers breathless.

The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish - by Elise Blackwell

Set in southern Louisiana in the weeks preceding the great flood of 1927, this novel depicts a place and way of life about to be forever changed. On the verge of manhood and a stone’s throw of the rising Mississippi River, Louis Proby is pulled between his love of the natural world and the glittering temptations of New Orleans, between the beautiful Nanette Lançon and a father who no longer seems larger-than-life, between the simplicity of childhood and the complicated decisions of adulthood.

Louis comes of age at a time when the country is coming of age. In Louisiana, it’s a time when the powerful prove themselves willing to sacrifice the poor to protect their position. As the people of Cypress Parish go about their daily lives, bankers in New Orleans are plotting to alter those lives irrevocably. Like so many calamities, the one that befalls Cypress Parish has both natural and human causes.

Based on historical events and narrated on the eve of another disaster, The Unnatural History of Cypress Parish tells the story of a young man growing up in a time and place not quite like any other. And in doing so it reveals the complexity of our own relationship to the past. This a beautifully turned novel of love and natural history, married to the shadowy politics of Louisiana, a novel about what manhood means now and what it meant in the south in the 1920s.

Cane River - by Lalita Tademy

It was here, on a medium-sized Creole plantation owned by a family named Derbanne, that author Lalita Tademy found her family's roots-and the stories of four astonishing women who battled vast injustices to create a legacy of hope and achievement. They were women whose lives began in slavery, who weathered the Civil War, and who grappled with the contradictions of emancipation through the turbulent early years of the twentieth century. Through it all, they fought to unite their family and forge success on their own terms. Here amid small farmhouses and a tightly knit community of French-speaking slaves, free people of color, and whites, Tademy's great-great-great-great grandmother Elisabeth would bear both a proud heritage and the yoke of slavery. Her youngest daughter, Suzette, would be the first to discover the promise-and heartbreak-of freedom. Suzette's strong-willed daughter Philomene would use determination born of tragedy to reunite her family and gain unheard-of economic independence. And Emily, Philomene's spirited daughter, would fight to secure her children's just due and preserve their future against dangerous odds.

Pretty Pink Popcorn!

Pretty Pretty Princess Pink Party Popcorn
from Erin Cooks

Popcorn
Vegetable Oil or Olive Oil
Kosher Salt
8 ounces of good White Chocolate
Red Food Coloring

Pop a batch of popcorn. The stove top method is best, but you could also use microwave popcorn if you must — just try to avoid the flavored kind. Either way you will need approximately 8 cups of popcorn.

Spread the popcorn over a baking sheet lined with a silpat or wax paper. Pick out any unpopped kernels — you don’t want anyone to break a tooth!

Melt 8 ounces of white chocolate until smooth. You can use a double-boiler to melt the chocolate, or put it in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time on medium power, stirring after each round. Once the chocolate is smooth, add a few drops of food coloring, and stir to blend.

Use a spoon to drizzle the melted chocolate across the popcorn. Mix the popcorn around with the spoon to evenly distribute the chocolate. Then place the baking sheet in the refridgerator for 20 minutes to allow the chocolate to harden. Finally, serve and enjoy!

Feather Boa Doughnuts

Baked Feather Boa Doughnuts
Baked Doughnut recipe adapted from Heidi Swanson’s website 101 Cookbooks.
Makes 1 1/2 – 2 dozen medium doughnuts.

1 1/3 cups warm milk, 95 to 105 degrees (divided)
1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons butter
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
5 cups all-purpose flour
A pinch or two of nutmeg, freshly grated
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

1 1/2 cups shredded coconut
2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4-6 tablespoons milk (depending on your desired consistency)
2-4 drops of red food coloring (depending on your desired shade of pink)

Place 1/3 cup of the warm milk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and set aside for five minutes or so. Be sure your milk isn’t too hot or it will kill the yeast. Stir the butter and sugar into the remaining cup of warm milk and add it to the yeast mixture. With a fork, stir in the eggs, flour, nutmeg, and salt – just until the flour is incorporated. With the dough hook attachment of your mixer beat the dough for a few minutes at medium speed. This is where you are going to need to make adjustments – if your dough is overly sticky, add flour a few tablespoons at a time. Too dry? Add more milk a bit at a time. You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and eventually become supple and smooth. Turn it out onto a floured counter-top, knead a few times (the dough should be barely sticky), and shape into a ball.

Transfer the dough to a buttered (or oiled) bowl, cover, put in a warm place (I turn on the oven at this point and set the bowl on top), and let rise for an hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and roll it out 1/2-inch thick on your floured countertop. Most people (like myself) don’t have a doughnut cutter, instead I use a 2-3 inch cookie cutter to stamp out circles. Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet and stamp out the smaller inner circles using a smaller cutter. If you cut the inner holes out any earlier, they become distorted when you attempt to move them. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for another 45 minutes.

Bake in a 375 degree oven until the bottoms are just golden, 8 to 10 minutes – start checking around 8. While the doughnuts are baking, combine the confectioners sugar, milk, vanilla, and food coloring in a medium bowl. Place the coconut in a separate bowl.

Remove the doughnuts from the oven and let cool for just a minute or two. Dip each one in the icing, and than sprinkle the coconut onto the top of the doughnut. Eat immediately if not sooner.

List of Ark-La-Tex Authors

• Kathy Patrick - The Pulpwood Queens' Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide To Life - Jefferson TX
• Charlaine Harris - Sookie Stackhouse (Southern Vampire) novels - Magnolia AR
• Michelle McCrary - Dead Set: A Zombie Anthology - Shreveport LA
• Judy Christie - Hurry Less, Worry Less series, Gone to Green - NW Louisiana
• Mitchel Whitington - Ghost In My Suitcase, Ghosts of East Texas - Jefferson, TX
• Gary Joiner - One Damn Blunder From Beginning to End, The Red River Campaign - Shreveport, LA
• William Joyce - Big Time Olie, George Shrinks, A Day with Wilbur Robinson - Shreveport, LA
• Eric Brock - Shreveport history series, Images of America series - Shreveport LA

Know someone else you want me to add to the list? Let me know!

Support Ark-La-Tex Authors!

Charlaine Harris' popular heroine Sookie Stackhouse is back on another adventure with her vampire and fairy friends in Dead In The Family! Read the first chapter here and pick up your copy in bookstores now to support authors in Ark-La-Tex area!

Author and my great friend Deborah LeBlanc of Lafayette, La will soon release her new book Ghost Box. Book one in the Ghost Tracker series, you can read the synopsis here.