Hi! Welcome to my web site, and thank you for coming.Please scan through the various topics to see what I’m up to these days. As always, I love hearing from readers who enjoy my books at haywood100@aol.com.
Current Projects
Atlanta’s Real Women: Fortunately for readers and TV viewers, books and shows are like food: everybody likes something different. So for those of you who love “reality” TV, I wish you well. As for me, I have to deal with enough conflict and rude people in real life already, so I sure don’t want to read about it or watch it on TV. Ditto for post-apocalyptic horror and survival movies. Life’s too short, and I don’t have that many gray cells left, so for the ones I do have, I’d rather fill them with things that make me feel good. All that to say, the two times I watched a show about some Atlanta “housewives,” I really couldn’t relate, because those women had nothing in common with me or my friends.
Turns out, I’m not alone. So when my wonderful friend Linda Hughes, PhD., asked me to contribute a short memoire for her new collection of inspirational stories, Atlanta’s Real Women, written by hardworking Atlanta women like me, I jumped at the chance.
If you’d like to know more about how the challenges in my life helped equip me to become a New York Times Best Selling writer after forty, you can order a copy through
Queen Bee Goes Home Again
By popular demand from my readers, I have just finished the sequel to Queen Bee of Mimosa Branch, titled Queen Bee Goes Home Again It’s ten years later and, thanks to the recession and the real estate bust, Lin Breedlove Scott is forced to move back home with her mother and brother again. Now that her father and uncle are in the Alzheimer’s unit at The Home nearby, Lin helps her mother clean their huge old house from top to bottom, then sets out with her brother searching North Georgia for the Krugerrands her father hid, then forgot. Afraid she’ll end up being Cinderella, constantly cleaning and recleaning her childhood home, Lin decides to go back to college for her teaching degree.
Meanwhile, Lin falls for the one man in town she shouldn’t: the handsome new divorced Baptist minister, an AARP Adonis who is smitten with her, too, regardless of the rumors about her past transgressions. No way, can Lin change who she is to fit the small-town notions of a proper minister’s wife, so the two long for each other in vain. Things get even more complicated when her ex returns, having been converted, begging her to take him back, and using Bible quotes to ward off Lin’s new crush. Then brother Tommy is drafted to run for mayor, and things get even more complicated.
Though the book, as with all my novels, deals with many serious issues facing Baby Boomers, this “never too late” chapter in Lin’s life provides plenty of laughs, lots of heart, and the happy ending my readers voted for.
Shadow of a Song
(previously published as Secrets in Satin)
This “author’s cut” version of my second, award-winning historical (originally published in R-rated version) is now suitable for young adult and general readers, alike. Set during the intrigue and tumult of the British Civil War, Shadow of a Song is the story of abused widow Elizabeth, Countess Ravenwold, and carefree Garrett, Viscount Chestwick, who are forced to marry by exiled Crown Prince Charles, then packed off to England to help rescue Prince James from Cromwell’s Parliament to ensure the Stuart succession. Elizabeth needs to lighten up, and Garrett needs to grow up, and they do, finding a joy that can weather the strongest storms. Fast-moving and historically accurate, Shadow of a Song weaves a compelling story of love, survival, faith, danger, and triumph. And, as one critic said, “The best fictional pig since Babe.” Available in e-book format now, followed by Damask Rose, Shadow of a Crown, and Border Lord.
Currently available in e-book formats: Highland Princess and Dangerous Gifts.
Kitchen Table Gospel
After I’ve shared my beloved Granny Bess’s wisdom, parables, and practical faith at Bible studies, Sunday School, and church over the years, many of my Christian friends have asked me to do a book of those sayings, so I am currently working on it now every chance I get. I promise, I will finish and put it out there as soon as I can.
A New Historical Novel
Whenever I can’t sleep because of my medical bills, I have been working on a new historical novel at the request of my historical readers, An Arthurian story that will offer plenty of fascinating lore and history about Britain after the departure of Rome, a time when faith and magic battled for the souls of those who stayed behind, and the dangerous secrets that could bring death to my hero or heroine with the whisper of a single name.
Personal Appearances
I love speaking at local books cubs, women’s groups, libraries, and woman’s charity fundraisers, so if you’re looking for a speaker who will leave you laughing, please feel free to contact me at haywood100@aol.com to work out the particulars. I will happily bring along discounted copies of my books to sell.
For out-of-town nonprofit events, all I ask are basic travel expenses, transportation, a clean, non-smoking place to stay, and simple foods. (Please check about what I can eat at haywood100@aol.com.)
For commercial bookings, please e-mail me at haywood100@aol.com for my speaker fees and terms of payment.
I’ve just found you, and have almost finished The Red Hat Club. I’m having a ball and can’t wait to find the rest of your books at our county library. Red Hat was the only one our little Town of Honea Path had.
Though I live in Upstae SC, I know every place you mention in the vicinity of Atlanta. It’s so easy to ‘be there,’ so to speak. And as we’re the same age (got a couple of insignificant years on you), I relate to all the flashbacks, too.
But I want to challenge the mention of ‘Princess Thundercloud’ on page 156. Were you merely alluding to the name of a character from Howdy Doody (and couldn’t use the real name for some reason), is there an entire puppet show from childhood that I missed, or did you just misremember Princess Summerfallwinterspring & mix her up with Chief Thunderthud? Just wondering!
Thanks so much for characters I can actually relate to (and in some cases, am sure I have met!)
New fan,
Dalton Blankenship
I got mixed up! At my age, half my brain is full and the other half’s dead. Thanks for setting me straight! And I am so pleased you enjoy my books. God bless you.
Dear Ms. Smith, I have not read ‘all’ about you – I’m using a computer at the library, I’d rather write a paper letter, however ! Years ago, I had read the most wonderful review of ‘Shadows in Velvet’ in our local paper, and saved it. At that time, I couldn’t even afford the luxury of buying myself a paperback book, but I read and reread that article. I had recently become a single mother of four young children. I had, and still have a very strong passion for all things French. Eventually I was able to buy myself a copy. I don’t think the review did it justice. I don’t know how many times I’ve read it, and loaned it, and given copies as gifts. My circumstances have changed. Now that I am an ovarian cancer survivor and mentor, I have come to cherish that story even more. I had thought to somehow get a copy for you to inscribe for me, and as I will be going to Camp Mak-A-Dream in Montana in September, I would also like to get extra copies to give as gifts. I called our local Barnes and Noble, and not only don’t they have it, they said they can’t even order it ! I would prefer to buy them in such a way as that it would most directly benefit you, as the living author. I know that if I buy them used, on ebay or wherever, you do not profit. Is it still possible for me to buy copies of Shadows in Velvet, so that you would get the royalties ? I do hope so. I realize now that you’ve written many other books since, which doesn’t surprise me, and I congratulate you on your success. I also thank you for providing me with such a wonderful escape through many very difficult times in my live.
Sincerely,
Suzanne
I’m still smiling after reading the last lines of Queen Bee of Mimosa Branch! I enjoyed it so much I googled you to be sure you were still living and was delighted to see a picture of a woman that has aged beautifully!! I am a 76 year old woman that life has not been kind to but I have her by the throat and will not let her go til she blesses me!!! Again and again and again!!! Through it all life is sweet!
I loved your real life characters so much I am looking for the sequel- even if I have to pay full price! Can’t wait to visit with them again.
I
Thank you so much for loving and sharing my very first published book. God bless you. My historical novels are out of print, but you may be able to find them at used book websites. I am touched that you care about my royalties, but please feel free to buy them used. I had to quit writing historical when I went through a devastating divorce because they couldn’t pay the bills, but I switched to writing funny books about serious women’s issues, and ended up making the New York Times list, so all’s well that ends well.
Sorry this reply is so late. I broke my femur in December of 21, and ended up in the OR eight times till my last surgery in December, 2022.
I had MRSA, and they took out the titanium femur they gave me, and I was in traction for 72 days while they got me over the MRSA, then put in a new titanium femur that kept dislocating.
Anyway, i am slowly getting back to my life and walking for short distances without a cane.
I own the rights to SHADOWS IN VELVET, and haven’t been able to revise and re-release it. Hope you can find a used copy.
I am honored by your kind words..
Your new friend and fan,
Haywood Smith
First of all I want to say great blog! I had a quick question that I’d like to ask if you don’t mind.
I was interested to find out how you center yourself and clear your mind
prior to writing. I’ve had difficulty clearing my thoughts in getting my ideas out.
I truly do take pleasure in writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15
minutes are generally wasted simply just trying to figure out
how to begin. Any ideas or hints? Kudos!
Can you tell us more about this? I’d want to find
out more details.
Reading my first of your books. Recommended by a friend. “Queen Bee of Mimosa Branch.”
I grew up in Buford and went to what was then Gainesville Junior College. I love this book so much I am avoiding devouring it. I read a bit, then make myself put it down. Thank you so much for this, for your memories and so much truth in fiction. It’s a beautiful story. I am sure to read all of your work after this.
I have always thought your book Ladies of the Lake should be made into a movie. I am just rereading the book for the third time.
I hope you will enjoy my other books. Most are out of print, but you can find some ebooks on Amazon, and now they sell used books, too.
I am so sorry this reply is years overdue, but helping with my precious special-needs granddaughter has preempted my writing.
Then I fell helping take care of my 99-year-old blind mom in Atlanta and shattered my femur, then kept having to go back to surgery 7 times, including getting MRSA, so all that anesthesia definitely left me less able to focus. If God allows, I will write again. But for now, I am grateful for my life and my leg and a roof over my head, thanks to my loving family and friends. I pray that Gid has blessed you and will continue to do so.
I just finished the 3rd book of the Red Hat Club. I can easily deem this a favorite series of mine — the kind in which you hold of from finishing because you want more and more and more. Georgia Baker is my spirit animal through and through.
I just have on question… the absence of SuSu in Wedding Bells. Never mentioned. What happened?! Regardless, it held my attention to the very end. I’ll definitely be reading these books again!