BLESS YOUR HEART!

I have just read an article about a very famous mystery writer. She is a Georgia gal and still writes from that wonderful state. However, I did take exception with her lack of a Southern soul when it comes to our phrases when speaking.

She seems to feel we are somewhat less intelligent if we continue to use our syrupy words when speaking to others. I happen to feel all warm and cherished when hearing those words slip into conversations. And I don't think people who speak in that charming way are dumb.

When I hear my voice on the answering machine, I am thrilled. I still hear the South in my voice and my phrases. I have been away for almost half of my life (by necessity, not by choice)and I love the thought that I still carry the South withn me wherever I go, in how I act, and in the drawl in my voice.

Those phrases this violent-crime-scene writer thinks have no place in her books, fit right into the ones I write. No, they won't make the millions I am sure she makes from those books (which I read, too-lol), but I have warm, comfortable, friends from all over the country who enjoy my sweet words, my too-kind conclusions, my characters who always end up together and happy, and they've never complained about that Southern world I create from memories of a wonderful childhood.

And, yes, when I hear of sorrows, of illness, of questions--I often use one of those "quaint" phrases that particular author would never use:

BLESS YOUR HEART!!!!