INSIDE ONE AUTHOR'S HEART: My Life as a Writer

May 4, 1991, was ""Eugenia Price Day"" on Georgia's St. Simons Island--a 75th birthday and general ""I-Love-You-E.P."" celebration organized by the writer's friends and publishing company. The occasion so moved this author of 37 books (among them inspirational titles and historical series like the Savannah Quartet) that she paused while working on her follow-up to Bright Captivity (1991) to write this little thank-you note to all the people who made her what she is today--a very successful writer indeed, with hundreds of thousands of fans whom she thanks right along with Doubleday president Stephen Rubin and her agent, editor, sales reps, typist, and yardworker. Along the way, Price reveals some fascinating personal facts--that she and her longtime companion, Joyce Blackburn, bought burial plots on St. Simons before they bought their house; that Price named her Buick LeSabre after the protagonist of the Savannah Quartet; and that she includes God (""Him"") while making publishing decisions with her agent. To Price aficionados, it will make sense that, as a reader, the author prefers biographies to fiction (since her own novels favor character over plot), though it may prove disappointing to hear how Price delegates research tasks. But, mostly, fans will hold this valentine to their bosoms, even though Price warns that establishment critics will find it ""schmaltzy, dripping with sentiment."" Well, yes--not to mention a little too ingenuously good-willed. But there's a broader lesson here: Price has spent three decades listening to her own creative voice, never trying to be all things to all people--and so she has endured.