I’m running slightly late on our challenges after a long weekend away, so am catching up now on yesterday’s: Great writers share others’ work. I’m enjoying meeting new writers along this 15 Habits journey, but for today’s challenge I want to nominate Billy Coffey.
I ‘met’ him through my brother (who is also a great writer, by the way, just read this poem if you don’t believe me. But I digress…).
Billy is a blogger turned author who can best be described as a redneck with an iPad. His blog posts are so infused with the very particular culture he lives in that reading one I – sitting in rainy England – am immediately transported to a porch swing somewhere in the American South, with the sound of crickets chirping in the humid afternoon, and a jug of sweet tea sweating on the table beside me. (Don’t worry, I’m not going to drink the sweet tea – disgusting stuff – it’s just part of the scenery he takes me to.)
Billy blogs about life in small town America and the lessons he finds lurking in the most unexpected places (a bottle of bodywash, for example…), and a lot about fatherhood.
Be warned: if you see a post that refers to his daughter, save it to read until you’re somewhere private with a good stock of tissues (I’m resisting the urge to write ‘Kleenex’ there – I’ve read just a few posts today and already I think I’m in the States again!). He’s made me cry in public more than once with posts about his little girl (who is growing up much too fast for either of us).
If I can ever develop to the point that my writing affects people as much as Billy affects me, that it conjures up a scene, sights and smells as completely (and seemingly-effortlessly) as he can, I’ll be thrilled.
Great job, Billy, keep it up!
on Jun 19th at 3:22 pm
Redneck, oh, I know that word well. I actually live in the American South and have drunk plenty of sweet tea in my life. I will make sure to take a look at his blog.