Meet Kay Ellington, Author of The Paragraph Ranch

The Paragraph Ranch is a novel by Kay Ellington (on the left in the photo) and Barbara Brannon. Our interview is with Kay Ellington, a West Texas native. She is an alumna of the Kenyon Review Writers Workshop and has worked in newspaper audience and content development for thirty years from New York to California to the Carolinas and back again to Texas.

To learn more about The Paragraph Ranch, please visit the book's website, as well as the book's page on Amazon, where it's available for download for Kindle.

1. Where did you come up with the title, "The Paragraph Ranch"?

We were looking for a phrase that captured the intersection of brain and brawn. After a few guesses, The Paragraph Ranch just seemed the perfect fit.

2. Is the setting of the novel inspired by real-life places where you've lived in Texas?

It was inspired by the farm I grew up on in West Texas.

3. I see that your novel has been compared to work by Fannie Flagg and Billie Letts. First of all, congrats on those comparisons! Second of all, what are some of your strategies or techniques when it comes to writing humorous fiction in a way that feels natural to the reader?

We both come from a long line of family members who are great storytellers with wicked senses of humor. It's just the sort of Southern, Gothic way. It is an execution of understated hyperbole.

4. For someone who is just hearing about your book for the first time in reading this interview, what would you like that person to know about the book?

It's an Everyman (or Everywoman) story that no matter what your dreams are, with persistence you can achieve them.

5. I noticed on Amazon that your book is listed as the first in a series. Could you tell us a little bit about your ideas for future books?

Of course! Next up:

A Wedding at the Paragraph Ranch, June 2015

Christmas at the Paragraph Ranch, November 2016

The Paragraph Ranch Cookbook, April 2017

Thanks, Kay!