Latest / Arroe Collins Like It's Live / Now The Attention Is On Her True Crime A Memoir From Author Patricia Cornwell

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Now The Attention Is On Her True Crime A Memoir From Author Patricia Cornwell · Arroe Collins Like It's Live

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  Speaker 1: The podcast network is called arrow dot Net a r
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  Speaker 1: and good morning. How are you doing this morning?
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  Speaker 2: I'm fine? How about you?
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  Speaker 1: Very excited to share a conversation with you because you've
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  Speaker 1: given us what is it a rim brand or a
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  Speaker 1: van go kind of appeal when it comes to your
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  Speaker 1: artwork inside books, because now this one's on you, this
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  Speaker 1: is like a van Go.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I hope I retained both my ears. You know,
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  Speaker 2: we'll hope things don't get that bad.
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  Speaker 1: What was it like for you to turn the lens
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  Speaker 1: onto you, because I realize as authors, there's so much
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  Speaker 1: of our own personal lives that we put inside these stories,
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  Speaker 1: but you did it in a real format this time.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think one of the things that helped me
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  Speaker 2: to be able to do it is I, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I've written the Scarpetta books from the first person point
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  Speaker 2: of view for so many years, you know, Eye this
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  Speaker 2: and I that, so that when I started writing about myself,
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  Speaker 2: I sort of went into a mode where I tried
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  Speaker 2: to keep a little bit of distance between me and
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  Speaker 2: the story I was telling, so I didn't become self
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  Speaker 2: conscious about it, because you've got to be honest, and
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  Speaker 2: some of these stories that I'm telling in my book
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  Speaker 2: are not stories that I've ever told in public before,
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  Speaker 2: and particularly stories about my family or even some of
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  Speaker 2: my early memories of when I first went to work
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  Speaker 2: in the medical Examiner's office in the early stages of
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  Speaker 2: writing books that nobody wanted, and what it was like
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  Speaker 2: to see my first dead body, or to start watching
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  Speaker 2: autopsies or going to crime scenes, and how that changes
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  Speaker 2: you when you become exposed to really sometimes unimaginable violence,
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  Speaker 2: things that people would do that you just can't even fathom,
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  Speaker 2: and so it was very poignant and also really difficult
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  Speaker 2: and sometimes sad when I got an overview like this
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  Speaker 2: in my life, and some of that I found funny.
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  Speaker 2: I laughed at myself a lot.
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  Speaker 1: Did you find yourself using what I call hidden speak?
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  Speaker 1: In other words, in the way that you turn your
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  Speaker 1: experiences around to where it's not about you, but you
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  Speaker 1: have to use a form of writing that really still
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  Speaker 1: brings up the emotion, but you can't identify the source
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  Speaker 1: because it's part of the story, and it's got that
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  Speaker 1: readers got to know it's about somebody else.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I will tell you one thing that was interesting.
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  Speaker 2: When I was going through my research notebooks and my journals,
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  Speaker 2: letters and all these things, I didn't realize that when
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  Speaker 2: I was writing post Mortem way back in nineteen eighty nine,
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  Speaker 2: that some of the details that I wove into that
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  Speaker 2: novel were really rather autobiographical, to sort of to your point,
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  Speaker 2: where even in fiction sometimes we end up revealing some
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  Speaker 2: true things about ourselves, And that I wasn't really expecting that.
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  Speaker 2: I hadn't remembered how much some of what I put
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  Speaker 2: in my books echoes things that have happened in my
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  Speaker 2: own life.
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  Speaker 1: Well, if it wasn't for this book, I would have
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  Speaker 1: never learned that you had a connection with the Billy
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  Speaker 1: Graham Library or even Billy Graham, because I live here
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  Speaker 1: in Charlotte and the Billy Graham Library owns a huge
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  Speaker 1: part of my soul. That is a place of peace.
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  Speaker 1: Please tell me you've been there.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, yes, I was just there, like just a couple
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  Speaker 2: of weeks ago. I went there and I visited with
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  Speaker 2: Franklin Franklin Graham and we paid our respect to billion
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  Speaker 2: Ruth's graves there at the Billy Graham Library, which if
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  Speaker 2: people haven't been, is a beautiful place, and I mean
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  Speaker 2: just gorgeous and very peaceful, and you can visit their
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  Speaker 2: graves or you can go in and see the museum.
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  Speaker 2: So I was there, and yes, that was a very
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  Speaker 2: big part of my life. I mean, I grew up
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  Speaker 2: in Montreet. You're familiar with western North Carolina and Charlotte
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  Speaker 2: was That's where I started out At the Charlotte Observer.
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  Speaker 2: I started out as a journalist, and then after that
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  Speaker 2: I did the biography of Ruth Graham, and then from
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  Speaker 2: there I decided to write turn my hand at murder
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  Speaker 2: Mysteries and see if I could write novels about crime,
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  Speaker 2: and so that's how that all happened. But yes, the
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  Speaker 2: Grahams were my neighbors, and Ruth became like my surrogate mother,
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  Speaker 2: and they were incredibly kind of my family. When I
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  Speaker 2: was growing up, I.
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  Speaker 1: Was writing inside my journals before they even laid them
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  Speaker 1: to rest. Back there, when I go back there, it
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  Speaker 1: is a transition of so much energy. It brings back
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  Speaker 1: memories of when I was journaling versus when when Ruth
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  Speaker 1: arrived and now Billy is there. I mean, when I
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  Speaker 1: go there, you just you just feel a sense of something.
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  Speaker 1: And if you're not a writer, you will be. You're
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  Speaker 1: going to pick up on some energy from that whole
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  Speaker 1: entire library area.
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  Speaker 2: It's true, it does have quite a wonderful energy. And
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  Speaker 2: I feel Ruth's presence, in particular, her presence very strongly
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  Speaker 2: there because you know, you see the mountain laurels and
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  Speaker 2: the azaleas and the rhododenrons and all these beautiful, uh foliage.
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  Speaker 2: It's very similar to what I grew up around. And
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  Speaker 2: if you've ever you know, if you've ever been up
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  Speaker 2: to her mountain top where she or her house which
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  Speaker 2: is still there, but you know, that that is so
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  Speaker 2: much the way that part of the world looks, and
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  Speaker 2: they managed to capture that. And it's also fun to
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  Speaker 2: go in there and see recreations of the bedroom that
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  Speaker 2: she lived in, in the living room and all these
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  Speaker 2: things that I remember from going all the way back
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  Speaker 2: to when I was nine years old. I was nine
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  Speaker 2: the first time I was ever up at the Graham house.
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  Speaker 2: And so that is a big part of my story
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  Speaker 2: and it's not and it shouldn't be lost on anybody
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  Speaker 2: that it's no matter what is going on in life,
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  Speaker 2: we should try to remember to be kind. And the
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  Speaker 2: Grahams were kind people to my family, and that had
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  Speaker 2: a huge impact on me and always will.
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  Speaker 1: Please do not move. There's more with Patricia Cornwell coming
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  Speaker 1: up next the name of her brand new book, True Crime,
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  Speaker 1: a Memoir. Oh yeah, the lens is now on her.
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  Speaker 1: We are back with author Patricia Cornwell. It was Chloris
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  Speaker 1: Leachman that really opened up my eyes when she said
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  Speaker 1: that life is a book of chapters that go into
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  Speaker 1: a book. And right here in front of me is
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  Speaker 1: exactly what she said. Your life is a book of
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  Speaker 1: chapters and it's sitting right here in this book. Patricia,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, and you know what, I'm sure Billy talked
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  Speaker 1: about this as well. You know, when you get into heaven,
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  Speaker 1: God's going to say, We're going to play that film
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  Speaker 1: and watch your life all over again. Did you feel
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  Speaker 1: that when putting this book together?
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  Speaker 2: I did had I don't feel that way, you know,
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  Speaker 2: and it goes to show that you know everything we
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  Speaker 2: live is in some ways you're leaving a record, even
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  Speaker 2: if you think that you don't. And of course these
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  Speaker 2: days we're probably leaving a record we don't even know
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  Speaker 2: of because there isn't very much in the way of
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  Speaker 2: privacy anymore. But I also think you've got to tell
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  Speaker 2: the truth about yourself. If you can look at yourself,
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  Speaker 2: take a little distance, and for good or for bad,
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  Speaker 2: to get an overview of your life, no matter how
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  Speaker 2: far along in it you are. That is the only
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  Speaker 2: way that you can self correct if you want to
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  Speaker 2: improve something or you get insight about it. But you've
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  Speaker 2: got to look, and that's not easy to do.
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  Speaker 1: You know, this is going to change the way that
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  Speaker 1: I have conversations with you in the future, because now
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  Speaker 1: every book that you release, I'm going to say, I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to dig deeper into your journey to find out
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  Speaker 1: where and see if I can find the Easter eggs.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I suspect you will. If anybody's going to it
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  Speaker 2: will be you.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you present yourself in such a real way. And
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  Speaker 1: now that I have this book, it just it enlightens me.
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  Speaker 1: It empowers me in the way of saying, oh my God,
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  Speaker 1: Now I got to go back to to your stories
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  Speaker 1: and I will reread them and get a completely different vibe.
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  Speaker 2: Now, well, you might get a slightly different one because
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  Speaker 2: you will recognize some things when you go. That sounds
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  Speaker 2: now that I see that, that that echoes very much
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  Speaker 2: something that she wrote about that happened in her own life.
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  Speaker 2: But I think a lot of fiction writers do that.
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  Speaker 2: You know, everything is an ingredient for a story. It's
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  Speaker 2: you know, it's just another crayon in your box, things
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  Speaker 2: that happened to you, and you might translate it into
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  Speaker 2: something different, but the dry been forced behind it is
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  Speaker 2: a memory of something that happened in your own life.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, ten minutes with you is never enough. Please promise
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  Speaker 1: me one time we can meet at the Billy Graham
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  Speaker 1: Library and just have a face to face conversation.
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  Speaker 2: I think we should do that. That would be fun.
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  Speaker 2: Let's do it.
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  Speaker 1: You know, we'll find a time even if it's out
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  Speaker 1: there on the on the little foyer or the deck
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  Speaker 1: out there in the back where we can get away
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  Speaker 1: from people. We can have lunch there. Am I God.
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  Speaker 1: Those people that work in that kitchen are just so amazing.
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  Speaker 1: There's so many stories being shared. Oh my god.
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  Speaker 2: Oh you know what else just going You know that
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  Speaker 2: people don't know, but Billy Graham's childhood home and had
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  Speaker 2: it moved just over there where the library is, And
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  Speaker 2: that would be a fun place to talk too, is
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  Speaker 2: to sit in his childhood living room.
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  Speaker 1: And you know what, I always remember that house for
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  Speaker 1: the kangaroo. Around Christmas time, they always brought a kangaroo
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  Speaker 1: and I would go over there to the house where
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  Speaker 1: the kangaroo was and I would laugh like a child,
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  Speaker 1: and then go inside that house and just sit there
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  Speaker 1: and just go I'm supposed to feel this and understand it.
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  Speaker 1: Please let me feel and you always do.
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  Speaker 2: That's great. Well, I'll look forward to seeing you there.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely Where can people go to find out more about
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  Speaker 1: what you're doing, Because now that they have this view
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  Speaker 1: of you through these pages, oh my god, they're going
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  Speaker 1: to get closer to you now.
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  Speaker 2: Well social media, they can keep up with me on that.
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  Speaker 2: And also I hope that they will read True Crime
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  Speaker 2: because I think it will keep them company. Yes, I
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  Speaker 2: think they'll find that they it becomes a bit of
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  Speaker 2: a friend and some encouragement on their own life journey,
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  Speaker 2: and I appreciate them sharing mine.
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  Speaker 1: Wow. Well, please come back to this show anytime in
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  Speaker 1: the future. You know that door is always going to
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  Speaker 1: be open for you.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, thank you, thank you. I'll look forward to it.
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  Speaker 1: Will you be brilliant today?
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  Speaker 2: Okay, I'm going to try it at the tall order