Wanted: a Hero Niles Reddick When Andrea Thomas (played by Joanna Cameron) dug up the Tutmose amulet in the Egyptian desert and put it on, she had supernatural powers of Isis. The 1970s television series filled us with excitement and imagination. The sound of the acronym ISIS now conjures scenes of misguided humans wreaking havoc on a postmodern world that’s no better than its past. Whether victims in Paris,…
You Never Know
You Never Know Niles Reddick Earlier today, I did a photo shoot with Rhonda and Greg from the UofM for an article about the publication of my upcoming novel. In preparing for the shoot, I was walking back from my vehicle with two blazers, ties, an extra shirt in case they needed me to change clothes for the shoot when an employee said, “You think you might need a…
My Motlow Circle
My Motlow Circle for Greer Niles Reddick For thirteen years, I worked with some wonderful people at Motlow College in Lynchburg TN (and McMinnville, Fayetteville and Smyrna). I remember going there as a young faculty member in my twenties and making 25k my first year, but it was a full time teaching job instead of my part time gigs. Oh, I made some mistakes through the years, like spending…
Hunger
Hunger Niles Reddick “Dad, I’m hungry,” my son said on his way to the pantry. I was reviewing the guide on the television to find something to take my mind away from all the bad news in the world. Before I could tell him we just had dinner an hour ago, and he didn’t need it, he was half-way into a pop tart, a peanut butter one sprayed…
Meeting Coach Bowden
Meeting Coach Bowden Niles Reddick Yes, I went to Florida State for graduate school, but while I was spending endless nights pouring through library resources, the same library where students were shot years later by a random nut with an egocentric cause, co-eds were drinking, whooping it up, and chopping air and chanting at Doak Campbell stadium for our Seminoles. Charlie Ward was quarterback, Warrick Dunn was a…
What I Don’t Know
July 2010 What I Don’t Know by Niles Reddick When I was younger, I thought I knew everything. I was confident about what I knew, I was much more assertive about what I know than now, and I liked myself a lot more. My dear grandmother, who died three years ago, once told me on her front porch, “I wish I loved myself as much as you do.” Of course,…
Q&A with Niles Reddick from A Good Blog is Hard to Find
Monday, April 26, 2010 Q and A With Niles Reddick, author of Lead Me Home What’s the backstory behind Lead Me Home? Lead Me Home was inspired by a moment of anger I had at work when I lived in Tennessee. I was mad because someone had been hired when I thought the money needed to be spent elsewhere. So, I thought this would be a good story—that a…
Hoarding Pays
March 22, 2010 Hoarding Pays by Niles Reddick Instead of writing, I’ve lately been watching old movies and television shows. One reality show (and I have to question how realistic these reality shows are) was about hoarders, and I found myself fascinated with their compulsion to collect and save. They remind me of squirrels gathering nuts for the winter and of some of my family members on my dad’s side….
Moving on up!
January 21, 2010 Moving On Up by Niles Reddick When I was in high school at Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Georgia, I worked on the yearbook staff and I worked for the newspaper staff. Well, I call it work, but it was more like doing whatever I had to do to get by with a passing grade. I continued to do that a bit when I was in…
Forgetting Rejections
November 18, 2009 Niles Reddick on Forgetting Rejections Man, do I feel honored to follow Sharyn and Joshilyn, and while I won’t write about my old dog Harper Lee who I keep thinking has got to die this year since she’s 16 (and if she don’t maybe I’ll get into the Guinness Book of World Records), and I don’t remember that I’ve ever been on a writing retreat…
Dreams of Jimmy Carter and Jack Daniel
April 18, 2011 Dreams of Jimmy Carter and Jack Daniel by Niles Reddick I have good days and I have bad days, as we all do, and I do have tendencies toward misanthropic or hermit-like behaviors. There are days when I love surrounding myself with people, talking, sharing stories. I recently went to a fundraiser dinner in Atlanta, met a Georgia Senator and the Governor, and almost met…
Lady Gaga, Eduardo Cruz, and My New Novel
February 17, 2011 “Lady Gaga, Eduardo Cruz, and My New Novel” by Niles Reddick Lady Gaga arrived in an egg at the Grammy’s, and another headline I read speculated whether Eduardo Cruz got a tattoo of Eva Longoria or not. Interestingly, we don’t often see much about books, or authors, at all in the media. It may be that the writing craft has evolved out of what is…
The Writing Influence
October 2010 The Writing Influence by Niles Reddick As a child, I recall reading for fun—The Hardy Boys, Trixie Beldon, and other early mysteries, and I enjoyed investigating. In my elementary school days, me and my friends fancied ourselves uncovering all sorts of evils in our small town of Hahira, Georgia—child molesters, robbers, murderers. The problem was that we didn’t have those crimes back then. Today, sadly, there…
Sticking to the Cemetery
September 11th, 2011 Sticking to the Cemetery by Niles Reddick Most of my writing experiences have been pleasant ones. Places where I’ve spoke or read and did book-signings, like the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, Tennessee, or the Cherokee Arts Festival outside Atlanta in Canton, were surprisingly fun. I enjoyed meeting folks, talking to people, answering their questions, and I always learn something. I don’t know that…