Official Website of Haywood Smith

To all my wonderful readers, friends, and prospective readers:

Thanks so much for visiting my web site, whether you’re a fan of my historical novels, my women’s fiction, my nonfiction handbooks, or just checking out a new author. Every visit is important to me, and I love to hear from readers at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Though I’m Internet challenged, I’ll do my best to keep you updated on my appearances and latest projects.

GOOD NEWS!

I’m hard at work on my next book, WAKING UP IN DIXIE, due for release in the fall of 2010. It’s a fun twist on the usual midlife crisis story, about a cold, calculating banker who has a stroke and wakes up a nice guy who tells the truth all the time—without any filters—which scares his estranged wife to death. I get to send up lots of small-town institutions. Imagine what would happen if a banker who knew where all the bodies were buried started asking the guys in the Rotary Club to really apply the four-way test in all their dealings. Or started talking about being born-again at the Episcopal vestry meeting. Or turned up at his wife’s garden club meeting just to see what it’s been about all those years. As always, there will be plenty of laughs, and plenty of heart.

After that, I have three more novels in various planning stages. I’m so grateful to have a job with a commute of ten feet, one I can do in my recliner, with a dress code of pajamas. Even better, I get to read your wonderful emails about how my books have encouraged you and made you laugh. (If you don’t like them, please be merciful and keep it to yourself.)

MORE GOOD NEWS!

The birth of healthy, hearty (9 lbs. 9 oz.) Jonathan Brody Cowan, my newest great-nephew, in Germantown, TN. And a happy first birthday for my youngest granddaughter, Elise.

And I’m headed to Ireland with my mother for a week in August, a gift from my precious son and daughter-in-law for my sixtieth birthday. I am SO excited about this trip, and my mother is a great traveling companion. (I snore like a chain saw, and she can’t hear without her hearing aids.)

Turning sixty was depressing, so I decided to make a new beginning and applied for college at Gainesville State in nearby Oakwood, starting in January. I already teach writing all over the place, and my students seem to get a lot out of it, but I’d love to teach (and still write) with an actual salary, and there’s nothing like being around young people to keep you young. Not to mention the fact that I’ll get some great material for a book about a “mature” co-ed. My daughter-in-law is math whiz, and she’s agreed to tutor me, so I might actually graduate before I die. Maybe.

HOW TO BOOK AND APPEARANCE OR SIGNING

I love nothing better than to get to meet my readers, and we always laugh and have a good time when I talk about how a Southern Baptist Sunday school teacher ended up writing romance novels, then making the New York Times list writing Hell Hath No Fury hardback books after finding out my G-rated life had turned to an X. To arrange a signing in your area, just ask your favorite local bookseller to contact my publisher’s publicist at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Even better, I love to help good causes, so I waive my speaker’s fee for women’s charity fundraisers, large Red Hat Society get-togethers, Friends of the Library fundraisers, and Junior League events. All I ask is my basic expenses (I’m a cheap date: I don’t drink or charge movies to my room), which include transportation, meals, and a place to stay with no mold, smoking, or pets (I’m allergic), and a local bookseller on hand to provide and sell my books if anybody wants one. Some groups include the book in the price of the tickets, either purchased direct from my publisher or from a local bookseller, and most booksellers will donate a portion of the profits to the sponsoring charity. All funds raised go to the sponsoring charity. Many groups use frequent flyer miles to bring me in (tourist is fine), and I’m yours for the duration. To book me for an event, please email me direct at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and I’ll check my calendar for availability.

Most of the year, I must limit my appearances to two per month so I have time to write, so please book early. I do, occasionally, have cancellations (lately, from library budget cutbacks), so I have those dates available, too.

I’m a real pushover for a free meal, and I’d love to have lunch or dinner with your book club or Red Hat Group when I’m in your area. And I happily do Metro Atlanta area book clubs or meetings, when my schedule permits.

LADIES OF THE LAKE

September 1, 2009, LADIES OF THE LAKE will become available in hardback. You can pre-order as of July or August, which really helps me make those all-important best seller lists, so I can keep writing funny books with a heart. I know hardback books are a big investment in these tough economic times, and I deeply appreciate every single sale. I encourage you to take advantage of early or online discounts.

LADIES OF THE LAKE has been a long time—and a lot of rewrites—coming, but my editor and I both love this book, and I hope you will, too. I’ll be launching the book and speaking at Decatur Presbyterian Church on the square in Decatur, Georgia, for their annual book festival. So if you live near Atlanta, grab a few friends and come to the festival early Saturday, September 4. I’m speaking at ten, at Decatur Presbyterian on the square. The festival is a great place to meet wonderful authors and local publishers. I’ll also be signing and meeting folks with some great Georgia romance writers at the Georgia Romance Writers booth during the rest of the festival.

LADIES OF THE LAKE recounts the adventures of four middle-aged sisters who must spend the entire summer with just each other, completely out of the contexts by which we women define ourselves, at the beloved lake of their childhood summers in order to inherit and sell the valuable acreage. Before long, old alliances—and old rivalries—surface. But the sisters get far more than they bargained for, including love in a most unexpected package for one, and two mummified dead bodies—one in a WWI doughboy’s uniform—walled up in the root cellar in great-granddaddy’s masterpiece hand-carved chairs!

The practical sister says they have to call the police so they can find out how the men died. The touchy-feely sister says they have to notify the police so the men’s families can be found and told what happened to them. The desperate divorcee says they have to get rid of the bodies, so the sale can close in time to keep her Buckhead home from foreclosure. And the sweet, garage-sale queen of a baby sister calls, “Dibs on the chairs.”

Now that my own divorce is behind me and I’m happily single, my wonderful doctor, Glen Havens, of The Ark in Kennesaw, suggested that, for my own mental health, I write about a man-woman relationship with a positive resolution. So the book also deals with a very reluctant divorcee’s first attempts at dating a man who doesn’t remotely resemble Mr. Right. As always, there are laughs, surprises, and plenty of heart.

By summer’s end, everyone comes away with a lot more than money.

As for the sisters in the book, I want to make one thing very clear: like every single one of the characters in my books, they’re fictional. Though I have three wonderful sisters and brother, I’m the only weirdo in the bunch. Even so, they’ve always been unfailingly loving and supportive. (Well, except for the tomato aspic incident with Betsy, but I forgive her.) My real sisters are far too kind and well-adjusted to provide more than the occasional childhood anecdote or quirk for my fiction. So enjoy the Barrett sisters. They’re a product of my imagination—and my editor’s urging of, “More conflict! More conflict!”

As for my brother Jim the Episcopal priest, I left you out completely, just as you asked. So far.

WEDDING BELLES IN PAPERBACK

Make a note for your Christmas list or stocking-stuffers: WEDDING BELLES will be available in paperback this November. If you need relief from the holidays, the economy, the war, and the health crisis, treat yourself or a friend to a fun, uplifting read. As I always say, “Life gives you grief for free. If you invest in one of my books, you’ll end up laughing and feeling good.”)

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