Lisa Patton '76 - Successful Writer Seeks to Make a Difference with Latest Novel

It might seem simple: you’re a writer and have published three novels of a successful series. They feature a southern heroine named Leelee who finds herself in all kinds of crazy situations. The stories are funny, touching, and popular; people love the character. The titles themselves sell the books: Whistlin’ Dixie in a Nor’easter, Yankee Doodle Dixie, and Southern as a Second Language.
The simple solution would probably be to write a fourth novel that continues the series. But Lisa Patton ’76 knew she wanted to do something different. Just exactly what that something was, she wasn’t sure.
 
“I had a contract, and many times I thought, ‘I’m just going to give my advance money back.’ I wasn’t sure if I was still cut out for novel writing.” Patton confessed this to a packed room at Novel in Memphis, but it was clear she was being modest, because the crowd was there to celebrate the publication of her fourth book, Rush. Longtime readers, friends, sorority sisters, and Hutchison alumnae and teachers had shown up to hear her speak and sign books.
 
“I want to tell you how I came to write Rush,” Patton told her readers. She said that in 2015, she returned to The University of Alabama with sorority sister, roommate, and fellow Hutchison graduate, Wilda Weaver Hudson ’76, to see the ribbon cutting for their new sorority house. While she was mingling with everyone else, Patton kept noticing the African-American housekeeper. “She had on her navy scrubs, and every sorority girl was walking by her and telling her they loved her. And she was telling everyone back, ‘I love you, too, baby! I love you, too!’
 
“I was so intrigued, and I moseyed over and introduced myself. Frankly, I wanted her to hug me, too. I wanted that love. She was overflowing with kindness.”
 
As Patton’s friends left for a party at another house, she decided to stay and talk with the housekeeper. She spent an hour and a half with her and found out that the woman had been working at the sorority for 15 years and loved her job. The woman’s best friend had worked there too, until she’d died from cancer. The housekeeper told Patton that her friend had been too stubborn to go to the doctor.
 
Patton, a cancer survivor, couldn’t understand this and kept asking the housekeeper why her friend had never gone to the doctor. The woman finally explained, “Well, she didn’t have any health insurance; it was too expensive.”
 
An Idea Forms, Along With a Challenge
“I got home, and the housekeeper’s story wouldn’t leave me,” Patton said. “This went on for about six months, and I still didn’t know what I was going to write about.”
 
Then she had an idea: wouldn’t it be fun to write about sorority rush? She enjoyed writing books with a humorous side, and she knew rush would lend itself to funny moments. Patton wondered if she should include the housekeeper as part of the story but decided she wouldn’t. “When I grew up in the ’60s and ’70s,” she explained, “it was a polite southern society, and girls were taught not to object.”
 
She started researching the project. As she talked to people at sororities around the South, she inquired about whether their housekeepers had health insurance. Even though a few offered it, employees were often required to pay a percentage, which made it hard for some to participate. In her mind, Patton kept telling herself she wasn’t going to write that part of the story … that she’d stick to the fun parts.
 
“But it stayed in my heart and wouldn’t let me go. The more uncomfortable it made me, the more I realized, yep, you’ve got to include it in the story, Patton said. “There’s an old saying: ‘the shortest distance between the human heart and truth is a story.’ So I decided I’d make one of the point-of-view characters a housekeeper at a southern sorority. If I could write a story and have readers fall in love with my characters, then perhaps it could open the door for conversation and ultimately, change. The best thing that could happen with Rush is that after reading the book, members of Greek organizations might inquire about staff benefits at their own houses and push for improvement.”
 
One gets a sense of Patton’s mission just from the epigraph for Rush, which is a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ ” She also speaks to the inspiration for the novel in her author’s note at the end of the book.
 
Patton was quick to point out to the crowd at Novel that Rush is not all serious. She promised there’s plenty of fun in the book, and for sure, there’s a dead-on description of game day at Ole Miss, which lends the book verisimilitude. The book is told from three different points of view: Miss Pearl, the sorority housekeeper; Wilda, a sorority alum and mother of a freshman; and Cali, another freshman with a checkered past. Patton expertly weaves the novel’s story together from their voices.
 
Patton’s Motto Got Here Where She is Today
Patton got the idea for her first novel, Whistlin’ Dixie in a Nor’easter, after some unique personal experiences. The novel is a roman à clef of sorts. But she started and stopped the novel over years, all while taking care of her growing boys.
 
It wasn’t until she was working for Grammy-winning artist Michael McDonald in Nashville that she came back to it: he challenged her to finish it. “I thought, ‘Well, I might as well try.’ And that’s my life motto: ‘I might as well try.’ I never give up until I see something through, because I don’t believe in that. That’s the only reason I have four books.”
 
She admits writing novels doesn’t come easy for her. She equates writing a first draft with what she imagines knee replacement surgery would be like. While many authors produce a new book every year and a half or so, she went almost five years between her third and fourth book. She took some time off during those years to remarry. Much of the rest was filled with research.
 
For Rush, Patton tried something different. Instead of writing “by the seat of her pants,” she outlined the book and worked hard on her characters. “I took time to read books on the craft of novel writing and one of the things I learned is to give every major character both a psychological and a moral flaw. This book has three major characters and all three characters must have an arc, moral flaws, psychological flaws, and secrets. It was more work to do three points of view.”
 
Nevertheless, she believes her new book is an improvement over the first three. “If I was going to tell a story like this, I wanted to present my best effort. I wanted to better my craft. Like playing tennis or chess, the more you do it, the better you get, and I was up for the challenge.”
 
She has plans for a fifth novel about teachers, this time historical fiction.
 
Credit to Hutchison
Patton credits two Hutchison teachers for helping her find her strengths and become a better writer: Pat Newberry Kelly (honorary alum) and Mildred Bonner. “Oh Lord, Miss Newberry was tough, tough, but she made me learn the English language. I hated diagramming sentences, but she gave me a love for the written word. Mrs. Bonner was not only the drama teacher, she taught Shakespeare and creative writing. She understood that it was important to discover a child’s strengths. Because if a child is not good at math and science, it doesn’t mean her worth is less. It just means she possesses different gifts. She needs to work within those gifts so her self-confidence can be developed.”
 
To current Hutchison girls, Patton would say, “You were born with a voice. Don’t be afraid to speak up and use that voice, whether it’s for standing up for yourself or if it’s for a cause you believe in.”
 
When choosing their career paths, Patton encourages Hutchison girls to look at their gifts. “Don’t try to fit your square self into a round hole. As the mother of two creative kids, it was important for me to complete these novels, to show them that it’s okay to follow creative pursuits. It’s tough, however, because a career in the creative arts doesn’t always guarantee a great paycheck. But it’s important to find balance between supporting yourself and nourishing your creative heart and soul.”
 
She views a Hutchison education as a gift and believes that if girls view it that way, it will open a lot of doors. “It’s challenging and not an easy education to receive, but once attained, the rewards are everlasting.”
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