Milam McGraw Propst

Hello, I'm Milam McGraw Propst, an author and mighty proud of it!

NEWSFLASH:
The two new Ociees, Books IV and V, the last in the Ociee Nash series, will be available in late March, 2010. Check out their lovely sepia covers on the left side of this website.

Please also visit Youtube; go to "The Further Adventures of Ociee Nash."
Here you can have a glimpse, an introduction to the five-book series which is based on the early life of my beloved grandmother Ociee Nash Whitman.

It's fun to welcome folks to my Authors Guild website and to the other sites listed here, including Mercer University Press, Belle Books, and Amazon.com.
ALSO, I like to BLOG and, on occasion, play with FaceBook. Yikes, this stuff could/​may/​has become an obsession for me. In fact, I may never see real people ever again!

To read my blog, click on the link on the right side of this page. Here you will find frequent updates and nutsy stuff that pops into my mind from time to time. Blogging has become a really fun way to bring readers up to date on my work and on the work of some of my other, far more talented friends.

Here's the truth; admittedly low-tech, I'm neither a tennis player nor an ice dancer. I'm tired of cooking, find it too hot to garden, and many years ago, doing serious housework lost its appeal. So I WRITE.
For most of my life, I have enjoyed being a wife and a mother, one who also does volunteer work.
Sprinkled in were a couple of professional careers, two with newspapers, and three in public relations.

But like many women, I discovered my other self/​my real self a little later in my journey. My moment of clarity took place in a writing class taught by gifted author Carol Lee Lorenzo. In 1992, with Carole Lee's encouragement, I began writing a short story about my grandmother. It started out as a picture book with a little girl riding on a train, turned into a book, and with my often mentioned gratitude to Mercer University Press, was released as my first novel, "A Flower Blooms on Charlotte Street."
The title character, Ociee Nash, went on to become a five-book series with a movie to boot. Who knows what Ociee has yet to offer!

So, as off March 2010, I will have a total of seven books with two publishers and one very creative printer.

The first Ociee: "A Flower Blooms on Charlotte Street" (Mercer University Press)
The second Ociee: "Ociee on Her Own" (Mercer University Press)
"It May Not Leave a Scar" A story of forgiveness and redemption (Mercer University Press)

"Creola's Moonbeam" One writer's look back . . . and forward (Belle Books)
The third Ociee: "The Further Adventures of Ociee Nash" (Belle Books)

The fourth Ociee: "Ociee and Ben Nash, the Asheville Adventure" (FuzionPrint)
The fifth and last Ociee: "Ociee Nash, the Finale" (FuzionPrint)

JUST FOR FUN:
Belle Books Marketing Director Deborah Smith created two promotional trailers on Youtube for my work. The first, mentioned previously, is the Ociee Nash piece. The second, a complete departure from our old-fashioned farm girl, is a funny take on "Creola's Moonbeam." Just a hoot, it takes the viewer on a one-minute vacation to the beach.

As a point of interest, the title of the third book in the series, "The Further Adventures of Ociee Nash", is a spin off from the wonderful family film “The Adventures of Ociee Nash” which premiered at Atlanta’s Fox Theater in 2003. Written, produced, and directed by Amy McGary and Kristen McGary, the movie is available on DVD.

THIS MOVIE REMAINS THE BIGGEST THING IN MY PROFESSIONAL LIFE!!

The film stars Skyler Day as Ociee with Keith Carradine (Papa) and Mare Winningham (Aunt Mamie) along with noted stage actors Tom Key (Mr. Lynch) and Anthony Rodriquez (The Gypsy). Ty Pennington makes a cameo appearance as one of the Wright brothers!
Kindly go to Ociee Nash.com

As I finished the last chapter of her final story, I tried to imagine what my grandmother might be thinking about all this attention being paid to her childhood.
"Much ado about nothing," she'd likely say with a twinkle in her eyes.
To which my late mother would surely add, "Milam, you always tell everything you know, and more besides!"

Born in Memphis, I’ve also lived in Birmingham, New Orleans, Springfield, Massachusetts, and now in Atlanta in the house we redid in "Creola's Moonbeam."
Jamey and I have three grown children, Amanda, William and Jay. William and his wife Abigail have most generously provided us with our charming playmates, our two precious grandsons, Loftin and Emmett.
*The boys are pictured with me on the back cover of "Ociee and Ben Nash, the Asheville Adventure."

Thank you for your interest in my work. Please feel free to write to me at milamwritesbooks@​gmail.com.
And you can also order the two new books from me through my e-mail address.

Enjoy! Milam