Kopp Sisters Literary Society--A New Kopp Discovery!

Kopp Sisters Literary Society

First-I Have a Free Access Code for You

You might've seen in my newsletter that I'm teaching some writing classes on Skillshare this year. (If you missed that, you can read all about it here.)

I just found out that I can give away free access codes for these classes! So these are for you only--please don't share them. If you are at all interested in the writing process, I would love it if you'd watch the classes and, if your'e so inclined, post a review, a comment, a question, a project...any of that would be super helpful to me (and hopefully of some use to you, too.) If you're on Skillshare, you can follow me here to stay in the loop on discussions, updates, etc.

This link gives you (and only you!) free access to the Start Your Book class for 3 weeks.

This link gives you (only you!) free access to the Build Great Writing Habits class for 3 weeks.

Or, if you'd rather skip that and sign up for 2 free months of Skillshare, so you'll have access to anything and everything they offer, you can do that with this link. 

I have a class on story structure in the works, and when I'm in Mexico next month I hope to film a class on travel sketchbooks. Going forward it'll be a blend of writing, art, and some businessy/professional type stuff. I just feel like I'm at a point in my life where I want to share what I do and how I do it in case it can help somebody else.

Stay tuned for much more--and if there's anything you struggle with in the writing/art/creative enterprise arena, please do drop me a line and let me know! I might be able to address it in a future class. These classes have been really fun for me and seem to just fit with how I think about my work, so thanks for indulging me in a fulfilling new project.

OK, on to the big news...
 

"My Grandpa Knew Constance Kopp"

This was the actual subject line of an email I received last month. You can only imagine my excitement. This is the sort of thing I DREAM OF but it hardly every happens! 

I don't have permission from the sender to share too much of what he told me (hopefully he WILL agree to that, we're still talking) but I will say this...his grandfather worked at the jail when Constance was a deputy sheriff. This guy (the grandson) had the good sense to collect his grandfather's stories many years ago, when he was still alive, and he has transcripts and tapes.

Here are the most noteworthy bits:

First, Hector (the grandpa) said several times and in several different ways that Heath lost the election because he hired Constance. I had inferred this from the media coverage and made it a theme in MISS KOPP JUST WON'T QUIT, but I was still surprised to hear it from someone who was there.

Second, Hector was responsible for driving Constance home on the nights she didn't spend at the jail, and he said, "Connie lived with her sister, but what most people didn't know, was that this sister was actually her daughter. She was always trying to get us fixed up together, leaving me alone with her daughter, but that never amounted to anything."

What's crazy about that is that Hector knew the truth about Fleurette, but (according to Fleurette's family) Fleurette herself didn't know until after Constance's death!

The last bit is this implication that I've heard before, that Constance was "one of the Sheriff's girlfriends. He had her in his harem. There were three at the time. She was gonna commit suicide if he didn't give them others the belt."

I mean...a harem? I've always had some doubts about these rumors about Constance and Heath, in part because people back then probably couldn't understand the idea of a woman getting promotoed and being successful in a career if she hadn't slept her way to the top. (Glad that's changed!) But of course I'm fascinated by anything that an actual eyewitness has to say!

We Have a Cover!

I'm not sure if this is the final final cover, so I haven't shared it with the world yet. But my publisher posted it to Amazon, so we must be close!  Because this is a book of letters, we changed from a newspaper-style font to handwriting. Hope you like it. It'll be out in September and I'll have advance copies for you sometime later this spring! I'll be back in touch as soon as I have details.

Thanks as always for reading. Be good to yourselves, and please always stay in touch with me about anything and everything! 

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Constance Kopp, who was born 143 years ago today!