[music] -The following program is a West Tennessee PBS special pre made possible through the genero financial support of viewers lik Please visit westtnpbs.org and make a donation today so that we can continue to make local programs like this possible.

Thank you.

-She lives in the Tennessee wood literally 16 acres to be exact.

She burns food in the kitchen, hopes to one day organize her purse, but more importantly, she's an author.

Coming up next on Tennessee Writ we're sitting down with writer Lisa Smartt with two We'll find out about the series of books she's written, what her true passion is, and why her purse is so messy.

Get the coffee brewing and get comfortable for the next Tenness [music] -Books about Tennessee.

-Books that come from Tennessee -Books and stories with a Tennes -West Tennessee PBS presents Tennessee Writes.

[music] -Hello and thank you for joining My name is Peter Noll and I welc to the show about books with a Tennessee connection.

If you've ever thought that you should write a book but never did, you're going to meet people who have actually done it because we're meeting authors wh have written books and they all a Tennessee connection.

Some moved here, some are from here, but their st all have a Tennessee twist.

Today, Tennessee Writes welcomes author Lisa Smartt.

She lives in the woods outside of Dresden.

Tennessee, that's right.

She's a wife, mom, and like a lo she hopes to one day clean out her closet along with her messy Welcome, Lisa Smartt.

[music] -Great to be here.

-Welcome to Tennessee Writes.

-Thank you.

This is a thrill.

-We're so excited to have you on -I'm so excited to be on the sho -Do you really have a messy purs -I have a messy everything, yes.

-Wow.

How did you begin writing?

-When we moved to West Tennessee 20 years ago,- -From where?

--from Texas.

-From Texas.

You're a Kentucky g -I was originally Kentucky but spent most of my life in Tex We moved to a little small town in West Tennessee, a little Mayberry, and I began to meet characters who were so extraordinary, so interesting, and so funny.

-What town was this?

-It's right out in the outskirts of Dresden.

It's where we live.

We don't live in town, as they w We live on the outskirts, out in the county.

I began to meet some of the most fascinating small-town character I was also raised around a lot of small-town people.

I began to just see and develop.

I would have dreams about funny that small-town characters would Also, I travel as a speaker to a lot of big cities.

I would find that sometimes they would have these generalizations about, small-town people.

I thought, "No, they have no ide They have no idea the treasure t in a small town."

-You're a big-time speaker.

Were you speaking first and then -Speaking first, yes.

I think speaking first.

I was speaking.

I would go to places like big ci and I realized I don't think the a good understanding of the inge and the humor in small towns.

-How does one become a professional speaker?

-Yes.

How does one do that?

Let me just tell you.

-You're still trying to figure i -No, I'll tell you what we tell people all the time.

We probably lost money for seven We probably broke even for seven Then one day you break into the professional speaking.

Then like somebody who's playing the guitar for free in Nashville then they have a record contract There's not a lot of middle grou How do you take that path?

It's different for every person.

I always say there's two kinds o The kind that when they start ta people stop what they're doing, and the kind when they start tal people are still going through their purse.

If you're that person, there's no training that could t that would make a difference.

-When you were a little girl growing up in Texas, did you think, "I'm going to be a professional speaker"?

-I was bad at everything else.

My teachers would always say, "Use your inside voice."

I thought, "Hmm, there's got to be something ther I loved people and I loved encouraging people.

I will honestly say when I first started speaking, I didn't know it was a job.

I thought I was doing it as a ho People would ask me to speak at and things like that.

I had no idea that someday I wou all over the country and that wo my job.

I enjoy it.

It's a lot of fun.

-When we started looking for local authors, we didn't know how many there we I just remember seeing there was all these people say, "I've written a book.

I've writt I'm like, "We're here in rural West Tennes We got to do something with all these local authors."

A lot of people kept saying, "You got to get Lisa Smartt.

You got to get Lisa Smartt."

-Thank you, people.

Whoever you are, thank you.

My grandma, my cousin who called No, I'm-- -If you had to choose between only being a public spea only being an author, what would -The written word lasts forever.

I was in Florida a few days ago speaking and they thought it was great, but they probably have already f how to spell my last name.

I don't know.

I guess writing actually outlast I want to think that the things on a speaking circuit make a dif I hope they do.

Oh, that's a tough one.

Nobody's ever asked me this.

Nobody's ever asked me that.

That's a great question.

-Do the people in Dresden or the places you've lived when your books come out, run to it and go, "Am I in it?"

or, "That person is based on Millie at the café"?

-The characters in my book, everybody knows somebody like th The Aunt Charlotte who's always in everybody's business, and we love and hate her at the same moment, we love her as much as we hate h If you've ever lived in a small those characters are so real.

The idea that you would have a small-town character who would a hope and dream of something be the small town, that's also realistic.

Then just human beings are pretty much the same.

A lot of the things they get into could even happen.

I always tell people, "Write what you know."

I don't write about an Ecuadoria who lives in New York City because I'm not from Ecuador and I don't know what it's like to live in New York City.

Small-town humor, romance that I have experienced firsthan so I can write about that.

-For our viewers out there who have always thought, "I should write a book,"-- -Right.

They call me a lot.

-Do they?

-They do.

-What do you tell those people?

-This is what I tell them.

They say, "Hey, Lisa, I've been about writing a book."

I say, "Great.

When you write it, call me back.

Because everybody I've ever met has thought about writing a book They've talked about writing a b There's very few that have sat d at a computer and actually writt I always tell people, "The hardest thing is not thinki about it and it's not talking ab The hardest thing is writing it.

When you complete it, call me back and we'll talk abou -I think that's a societal thing We all work in a lot of corporat and companies where they love to and plan and meet and discuss an and they're not allowed to do it -Plus, we're lazy.

I'm lazy.

I tell people it's ama that this was a four-part series by nature, I only do what I have Yet this was such a labor of lov and I kept getting excited about was going to happen next.

A lot of people want to write a The writing is the hard part.

-Let's go back to small-town lif I'm from a small town.

You're living outside a small to Some people consider Jackson, Tennessee a small town.

-Yes, and that's an error.

That's an error.

I always say a small town is where you know the names of the -[laughs] Yes.

True.

-If a dog runs by and you don't know the name of that dog, you don't live in a small town.

Sometimes when I'm speaking plac they'll say, "This is a small town."

I'll get there, there'll be thre and four Starbucks.

It's like, "No, y'all don't know what a small town is."

-You travel all over and talk to what are their misconceptions about small towns?

-Probably that it's boring.

The worst thing, and sometimes we'll hear this wh move to the Martin or Dresden ar They'll say, "Wow, I really miss That's a really uneducated thing because culture is the way peopl If I go to New Guinea, there may not be ballet there, but there is culture.

I think probably that's the thin that bothers me the most is when to big cities and they say, "Living in a small town.

Do you miss the culture?"

I say, "Well, I'm living with human beings, so there is a very powerful cult I think that's a culture I love.

It's the Mayberry.

It's the fact that we are in each other's business and we need people in our busine I tell people all the time, "If you see me with three half gallons of Blue Bell in the store, you need to say, "Are you going somewhere?

What you doing with that girl?

Put it back."

We need that.

We do have culture in a small to It may not be culture that you p if you love the big city, but it's an error to say that that's what's missing in a small town.

[music] -Lisa, let's delve into Doug and Carlie [?].

Now, this book that you had us r a third in a four-part series so Give us a little synopsis of thi and of the series.

-Okay.

Doug and Carlie, the firs I'll just give you a little shor Carlie is a 32-year-old woman who's working at the Dollar General.

Everybody in her family is a college graduate.

She feels like a failure.

She always was told in school she was really smart, but somehow she just landed at the Dollar General.

She has a bunch of hopes and dre and a bunch of funny things that happen even as a retail wor in a small town in the South.

Long story short, she meets a gu She moves to Sharon, Tennessee, and she starts writing.

All the humor and all the collection of her li she begins to see through a different lens.

She also gets in everybody's bus She loves people, and she loves to get involved and be "helpful.

I say helpful in quotes.

Sometimes it's not always awesom She is a matchmaker because she has found love.

I also, in real life.

People say, if they know my husb when they read the Doug and Carlie books, they say, "Every time Carlie talks, I can just hear your voice, and every time Doug says something nice and calm, that reminds me of Philip."

When you're in love and you are happily married, you want that for everybody else She begins a bunch of matchmakin even after she becomes a little more famous.

There always has to be someone who's lost their spouse, Peter.

That's the standard.

There's a sweet widow, and she l and she wants to help him find l -I got a Hallmark movie feeling in the book.

Is that-- -Yes, I embrace that.

-Do you sit and watch Hallmark C all day long?

-I don't.

-With your ice cream?

-No.

Here's what I will say.

Yes.

I think Hallmark now is a joke because they've used the same thing over and over aga but if you go back, at the beginning of Hallmark mov there were some that were pretty interesting and pretty good.

I don't reject that take.

-You said everyone's based on characters, people.

-A lot.

-Something is all real.

Yes.

What about these books?

Are there always something?

How much of this is you?

-Okay.

Carlie is a lot me, probably personality-wise.

The one thing that's in all four of the books is there's a lot of brokenness.

Somebody's really hurting.

Somebody has either been broken by their own bad choices-- The f is probably my favorite book, that somebody has been broken to the point that they had to be incarcerated.

Do we give up on that person or do we still love them?

I think that's where it's not Ha in the fact that people really-- some of the experiences they have are truly, genuinely difficult and broken.

The love of community and the church family and other people is what helps to help them not t -What would you say is the thing you want a reader to f when they finish your book?

-I think my favorite comment that I've gotten a lot is, "I laughed," and, "I cried."

I think you should do both.

I think there should be times that it's just so light and enjo because it's a small-town story.

Then there are times when your favorite character, something really bad happens and -There's four.

Are there going to be more?

-I thought there was.

I started writing a fifth and didn't love it.

I would rather have four that I really love, that I'm really proud of, than to keep going.

I might at some point.

If I retire from speaking, I wou more time and I might do it at t -Are they standalone books?

Do you need to start at number o -Probably -I was able to finish this one, but I felt like-- -Yes.

You probably should have started at one.

I just like some of the storyline of this one.

In order to meet the characters, it's best probably to start at o -Did you speak to a Dollar General convention?

-I did.

That was a dream come true.

That was a dream come true.

It was not even related to the b I got to go to Nashville and spe at their big headquarters, the Dollar General.

I got my picture made out in fro of the Dollar General big headqu because it was a dream come true with Carlie working at Dollar Ge and hoping that she would meet a Senior discount 10% off and peop would come in and always tell her, "I got this guy.

I know somebody."

Speaking at the Dollar General c I said I could be killed.

That was a dream come true.

-How often are you on the road?

-In the fall and the spring, quite a bit.

Sometimes I'll have two weeks at It'll be great.

Then I'll be gone for a little b -Out of 365 days, you're traveli -I don't even know.

I've never really added it up.

Usually, in the summer, it's a lot more dead.

Then in January and February, usually it's dead because confer and events don't usually happen -Are you a writer that writes from the heart and just lets it or do you have flow charts and plot line graphs and sticky all over?

-No.

I write the first word until the last word.

You're right, everybody has a different way of doing it.

I'm writing the story and then sometimes something wil and I'll think, "Oh no, I cannot believe that happened."

I feel like, "No, I had not planned that."

In fact, there's a tragedy usually in every book and people say, "Why did you do I said, "I don't even know.

It's like that just happened."

Then I was like, "Oh no."

-I don't know.

I was possessed.

-Right, I was possessed.

No, I do.

I write from word one until the end.

I don't know what's going to hap -What do you write on?

Are you writing it out or are you-- -Just a computer?

-A computer.

-Yes.

-Okay.

Do you use Word?

What's your processing?

-Yes.

I'm a grammatician, so I do have editing to make sur it's grammatically accurate, but I am fastidious even as I'm writing the base.

Even when I'm writing the origin if I see a spelling error, I'm just insane.

The only thing I was ever good at was spelling, so I love-- I just-- Yes.

-Has a book ever come out, published, sitting in the store and you're like, "There's a mistake.

I missed that one."

-I tell people all the time, "I'll give you $100 to find one, because I think we found one-- M then would edit.

My mom, she's gone to heaven now but she was an immaculate proofr Yes.

I don't know.

-Who's proofreading now for you?

-She died after the fourth book, so I haven't had anybody proofre [music] -We have come to the point in Tennessee Writes of the segme we like to call Lightning Round, where we ask our visiting author to answer a series of book and writing-related questions as quick as they can, and see how many questions they in two minutes.

Do you want to play?

-I'm on.

I'm ready.

I'm so ready.

-We have two minutes on the cloc and it's going to start after I ask you the first questi -Okay.

-Favorite book of all time?

-The Bible or Screwtape Letters.

-What book are you reading right -Seamless.

It's a Bible study.

-Last book you finished reading?

-To Kill a Mockingbird.

-What author, living or dead, would you most like to have dinn -C. S. Lewis.

-Paper books or e-books?

-Paper.

-Who would you want to play you if your book or life is made int -[laughs] Somebody that's not tall and fat, just somebody short and pretty.

-Favorite place to read books?

-Recliner, like an old person.

-Least favorite place to read bo -The airport.

-First book you can remember rea -God's Smuggler by-- what's his name?

He smuggled Bibles into places that you couldn't go in the Midd -On average, how many books do you read in one year?

-Oh, I have no idea.

I really don't know.

Pass.

-How many books are on your nightstand right now?

-Two.

-What book took you the longest to finish reading?

-Probably Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis.

-How long?

-Years because I kept stopping and going back.

-Do you own more paperback books or hardcover books?

-Paperback.

-What's your favorite movie based on a book?

-I don't know.

Pass.

-What book are you most embarras to tell people you've ever read?

-[laughs] Oh my goodness.

Probably something I just bought at the airport.

It wouldn't be trashy, but just a stupid book.

I don't know how to describe it.

-Name a fellow author you would like to go on a book t -Oh man, that's hard.

I can't.

In the amount of time, I-- They have to be living?

See, I love the old guys.

I love the people who have already passed on.

If it has to be a living person, I don't know.

That would be hard to decide.

-Two minutes is up.

How many did she get?

-She got 14.

-I'll take it, Peter.

-Okay, that's good.

[music] -Here at Tennessee Writes, we love to hear the author read their own work.

Lisa, would you read from your b a little excerpt for us?

-I'll be glad to.

-That would be great.

Thank you.

-We'll just start at the very be [music] -"Despite the fact that I was th most awkward fourth grader alive MeeMaw assured me I was destined for greatness after watching my performance as the aluminum foil-covered tinman in Commerce Elementary School lo adaptation of the Wizard of Oz.

She thought becoming a famous ac was a perfectly noble goal, but Mama thought I'd be better o getting a formal education, learning how to trim the hedges and wearing sensible shoes.

My parents thought it was low-cl and trivial to waste time watchi movie stars pat each other on the back every year, but MeeMaw believed watching the Academy Awards was a sensible use of four hours.

She once told me that Charlton H made her get weak in the knees.

I later asked Mama what it meant to get weak in the knees.

She made a huffing sound and said it was sacrilegious to that about someone who was best known for playing M When it comes to Hollywood, I'd say I got a lot of mixed messages growing Every year on Oscar night, I walked across the street, sat on MeeMaw's green plaid couc wrapped myself in a purple crocheted afghan, and prepared for the festivities.

MeeMaw always wore bright red lipstick on Oscar nig even though some of the lipstick crawled up her nose.

She made popcorn in an old black and always had Coke for us to dr We could drink as much as we wan and we got to drink it in the li Mama told us Coke would rot our but guess what?

Our teeth never rotted, which made me think that even though MeeMaw wasn't a high school graduate, she was a lot smarter than her college-educated daught Mama and Daddy were teachers, and everyone in Commerce, Georgia respected them greatly.

For years, I thought I was a grave disappointment to both o because I didn't become a teache I worked at the Dollar General S in Commerce 10 long years.

Then one day, I became a famous I met Matt Lauer and that did not age well, and David Letterman, and went to book signings in big cities.

It was crazy.

I even appeared on The View once Couldn't get a word in edgewise, but no matter.

Just being there seemed like a d Me, famous.

If only MeeMaw had lived long en to see me hug Jay Leno.

If only."

[music] -What is next for Lisa Smartt?

Is it cleaning closets and organizing your purse?

-Absolutely.

Cooking Thanksgiving dinner, all kinds of things.

No.

I tell you the truth.

My daily life is more interestin than my professional life, and so I tell people all the tim if the speaking ends tomorrow, if nobody ever buys another book if I never write another book, I will have a very fulfilling li living out in the outskirts of D where we live and interacting with the real people.

The truth is, if you're more interested in promoting something you did r rather than living the actual wo of what you wrote, then you're going to be disappointed in life.

I'm not going to be able to be disappointed.

-Have you sold the movie TV righ to any of your books?

-Are you interested in buying th -I wish WLJT could afford that.

-I would love that.

-If you're interested in underwriting such an undertak please email me.

-Yes, absolutely.

No, I would love that.

-Where can people buy your books Where do you sell them?

-Mostly, I sell them at speaking but most people get them on Amaz You can get paper or Kindle vers The e-version is cheaper.

I'm so thrifty, I always tell th the e-version's cheaper.

It's funny, people think that the old people want the pap and the young people want the e- I find it to be the opposite.

Old people have so many books in their house, a lot of times they'll do the e- but the young people are really about having a book in their han -You're a speaker, if people want to contact you about speaking engagements, where should they go?

-They can email me at lisa@lisas but you got to go have two T's.

-With two T's.

-That's right.

I always say we're not smart eno to spell it correctly.

It's probably German, I don't know what it was.

This is my husband's name, so I don't know.

I'm guessing it's German.

He's very smart.

-Speaking of your husband, does he read your books before they go to the-- -Oh, absolutely.

-Does he ever say, "You can't do that in this book" -Oh, absolutely.

No, he laughs, he's my biggest f Nothing would ever be printed th [crosstalk] -Does he travel with you?

-No, he teaches at University of Tennessee at Ma He travels with me if I go in the summer or if I go on a br We recently, just a few weeks ag I had an event in Salt Lake City and he had some time off, so he went with me, and we went through southern Utah and drove.

-You drove from Dresden?

-We drove to Salt Lake, yes.

I had been there several times b He's wonderful, he's the best.

-Does he have a fan club?

-Yes, just among the people that actually know him, yes.

-Now what does he teach at UTM?

-He teaches forestry, parks, and recreation, the people that are going to be Tennessee State Park Range study under him.

It's great.

-The woods that you live in must be well cared for.

-Oh yes, it's beautiful.

It's lovely.

-You have two sons?

-Two grown sons that are both ma -Are they in the area?

-Yes, one lives in Pinson, and one lives in Union City so we get to see them very frequ -Okay, wow, you're all here in West Tennessee.

-Yes.

-Have they ever been to your spe -Oh, yes, they have been before.

-Are they in your speeches?

-Sometimes, yes.

I did a big event for 4-H in Nas and our son was one of the 4-H d There was hundreds of kids from Yes, he was one of the delegates -Embarrassed?

--but he's very proud of me.

-Oh, proud, okay.

-No, very proud of me.

Very proud of me, everybody in m -He didn't change his name and act like, "Oh, she's a different Smartt."

-No, he did fine.

I did tell him, I said, "I know he's cute, but girls, ba He was not even embarrassed abou -The website, one more time?

-Lisasmartt.com.

-Two T's.

-Yes.

-Okay, great.

Our time has run out, it goes by so quickly when we're having fun.

-Yes.

-I really thank you for coming on Tennessee Writes, and sharing more about yourself, and your books, and speaking, and what your life -Thank you.

-Before we go, we have a favor t -Okay.

-Would you sign your book for us -I would love to.

-Thank you.

-Absolutely.

[music] -Sweet, because we always have to start everything with sweet.

"Sweet friends at [?]

Channel."

How do you spell [?]

Channel?

"Come see me in Dresden.

I'll make biscuits.

Love Lisa."

[music] -For comments about today's show or to suggest a Tennessee author for a future program, email us at tennesseewrites@west Tennessee Writes, on air and streaming now.

[music] -The program you've been watching was made possible through the generous financial s of West Tennessee PBS viewers li Please visit westtnpbs.org and m a donation today so that we can to make local programs like this Thank you.

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