Lisa Patton, second from left, with author J. Scott Sawyer, famed editor John Seigenthaler, author J.T. Elliston and the Williamson Literacy Council's Bonnie Brown at the 2010 Author! Author! benefit at Brentwood Country Club..

Author has endeared herself to local readers
By AMY STUMPFL
For Brentwood Home Page
There are good writers, and there are good storytellers. And then there’s Lisa Patton – who happens to be both.

 “I don’t know about you, but I just love to tell a good story,” says Patton, a Memphis native who has lived in Williamson County for 17 years. “To find the humor and irony in a situation, and entertain people with my stories – that’s really fun for me.”

What: Lisa Patton reads and signs Yankee Doodle Dixie Where: Barnes & Noble, 1701 Mallory Lane, Brentwood When: Tuesday, September 13 at 7:00 p.m. Info: Call 377-9979 or visit www.barnesandnoble.com or www.lisapatton.com

Patton certainly had fun with her 2009 debut novel, Whistlin’ Dixie in a Nor’Easter. The story – which delighted both readers and critics – follows the adventures of Leelee Satterfield, a Southern belle whose peaceful world is turned upside-down when her husband decides to pull up stakes and move the family to rural Vermont to run an inn.

Now Leelee is back. And Patton is about to celebrate the release of her second book, a sequel called Yankee Doodle Dixie.

“I’m still shocked to think that Whistlin’ Dixie sold more than 22 copies,” she says with a laugh. “But I’m so excited to have, not one, but two books out. It’s like a dream.”

The follow-up finds Leelee back home in Memphis – without her two-timing husband. But with a little help from her three best friends – and the occasional peach daiquiri – Leelee rediscovers the wonders of true Southern grit.

 “I like to say that Leelee is deliciously flawed,” Patton says. “Calamity follows her everywhere, but she’s just so much fun and very lovable. Two of my favorite television characters are Lucille Ball from I Love Lucy and Rachel Green from Friends – and Leelee reminds me of both of them.”

Still, Patton admits that writing the sequel in less than a year was a tall order.

“It took a long time to write Whistlin’ Dixie. I was a single mother raising my two boys, working full time, writing in my spare time. So I was just so happy to get to the finish line with that one – it took many years. But when St. Martin’s Press bought my first book, they also bought the unwritten sequel. Well, I was absolutely thrilled until it came time to actually sit down and do it on a deadline, and then the world came crashing down. I mean I still had to work, I still had my sons, I was promoting my first book, and had just lost two loved ones. It was hard to be funny and creative.”

In the end, Patton left her position as special events director for Historic Carnton Plantation to complete Yankee Doodle Dixie.

“It was a real leap of faith, but that’s how I’ve always tried to live my life.”

One of the highlights of her journey? Getting to meet her literary hero Fannie Flagg (Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe). Even better, Flagg provided a blurb for the new book.

“Let me tell you, having Fannie Flagg’s name anywhere close to my name is a dream come true,” Patton says. “But seriously, I was really honored that she would read my book and give me a blurb.”

Despite her success, however, Patton says she is “still the same old Lisa.” She is already hard at work on a third book about Leelee. And when she’s not writing, Patton leads walking tours as part of Franklin on Foot – another great outlet for this born storyteller.

“Probably the biggest change is that I really feel that I can call myself a writer now. I still wasn’t sure after the first one – it still felt a little like a fluke. But once I completed the second book, I thought: ‘Wow, I’m an author.’ It still blows my mind.”