About Ronnie
May 31st 2007
Welcome to my Home Page. The purpose of this site is to inform and update readers and potential readers about my work as to the latest and greatest news related to the writing. If you are new to the site, these pages will help you become acquainted with me, my life, and my characters.
If you’re a return visitor, welcome back! Keep browsing to see what’s new with me and the fun cast of oddballs, geeks, and folks next door that I call my life!
Who is Ronnie Blackwell?
I’m a native Mississippian, a native Hattiesburg, Mississippian, that is! Born and raised in the town where rock and roll was born (yes, it’s true!) and home to The University of Southern Mississippi, I grew up in the western edge urban sprawl known as Oak Grove.
When the Blackwell clan first moved to Oak Grove in the early 60’s (when I was just a “little kid”), it was a sparsely populated rural setting. The Blackwell land backed up to 16th Section property, land that was held in trust by the county for the school system under Mississippi law. My brothers and I grew up not only on our parents’ land but also in a huge tract of undeveloped land bordering theirs on the north. For a kid in Mississippi, it’s a pretty idyllic lifestyle: endless miles of pine and hardwoods to roam in by day and to camp on the edge of by night, to fuel adventures in the sunny hours and nightmares in the dark. You will hear descriptions of these woods and others in my work.
My brothers (four boys total) and I all attended Oak Grove Elementary and High School, where our mother taught in the elementary grades for more than 30 years. When we weren’t in school (it was harder to keep track of some of us than others!), we were running through the woods, hunting, fishing, and generally doing south-Mississippi ‘kid stuff.’
During my senior year at Oak Grove High School, I began attending classes for a half-day at The University of Southern Mississippi. I began there full-time on graduation, majoring in Music. Many majors and a number of years later, I graduated from USM with a B.S. in English and a minor in Art History. From USM, I moved to Indiana State University in Terre Haute to study creative writing. After a few years there (actually, it was just one really long, very cold winter), I moved on to Stillwater, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State University. Still finding the grass not greener, I returned to Mississippi and my southern roots.
I believe in love and romance, despite the number of times I’ve been married. In 1981, I met the woman who would become my third (and “last – I believe in death, not divorce”) wife, Lin Harper. We married in 1984 in a civil ceremony and remain happily (well….most days) married 25 years later.
In 1986, Lin and I were both full-time graduate students at USM in Adult Education when we “discovered” our dream house — a circa 1900 Queen Anne in the North Main Historic Neighborhood District, a neighborhood suffering from ‘white flight’ and ‘urban decline,’ euphemisms for poor and run-down. Undaunted we bought the house and moved in. This is a house about 2 blocks from where I grew up (before moving to the country) and only 3 or so blocks away from where Lin first lived post-dormitory days in her first apartment. We had both driven by this house for many years, looking at it and dreaming about it, even before we met. Two decades and we are still living in RonaLin (of course, there’s a story behind the name!) and still love the house, despite perpetually leaking roofs, secret rooms, and resident ghosts.
Having grown up in the south Mississippi woods — now the thriving urban-sprawl of Hattiesburg — I have always had a deep appreciation of nature and the natural world. I became a true birder in my early 40s and have been active in our local Audubon Society for many years. I have co-led birding field trips with my friend Barry McPhail for the Alabama School for Math and Science . In the spring of 2007, I co-led a WINGS tour with my friend and former Hattiesburg resident Gavin Bieber, now residing in Tucson, AZ.
My wife Lin and I are co-editors (Okay, I admit it! She does most of the work!) of the newsletter for our local Audubon Chapter. You can read text-only issues online at the site below:
Pine Woods Audubon Society
Stephanie Williams responded on 26 Nov 2007 at 2:26 pm #
Want to purchase binoculars for bird watching in our yard.
New to the area; so do not know where to go looking or exactly what features to look for.
If you could provide suggestions or resources, I would really appreciate it.
Thanks
Ron responded on 26 Nov 2007 at 6:58 pm #
Lin (this Writer’s Wife) has already sent a very good answer directly to Stephanie. And, no, I’m not too proud to steal that good answer, so here it is—
Stephanie:
I’ve forwarded your message to Ronnie directly. Here are my suggestions:
We buy all our binoculars from Eagle Optics (http://www.eagleoptics.com). Ron reads their site for reviews, sometimes we even talk to them by toll-free #. They are very knowledgeable and very “user friendly”, especially for us neophytes (like me!). I really enjoy working with them and find they have wonderful prices, on top of the great customer service.
I’d think about questions like
• how big is your yard? How far away are the feeders?
• Who will be using the binoculars? Kids, adults, other? What is their experience with binocs?
• Will you be using them for mostly common birds, sea birds, warblers?
• Do you need waterproofing? WHERE will these be used mostly?
Things like that will let the folks at EO understand your needs and they can make appropriate and good suggestions. Also, don’t be afraid to stay within your budget (have an upper limit in mind). Binocs can cost as much as small cars or as little as a good meal out, so know your limits. Obviously, the more you spend, the more you get, but you may find you don’t NEED as much as you think.
Think about coming to some of our Audubon activities in Hattiesburg. To see our events list, and schedule, You can view our website at
http://home.comcast.net/~blackwellr/
Best of luck with everything. Thanks for reading!
Lin
See? I told you it was a very good answer. But, of course, I do have another 2 cents to add.
Most binoculars that you can buy locally are not designed for bird watchers. They are often too high-powered or have bad optics or both. When shopping for binoculars you will quickly bombarded by
arcane features and specifications. Don’t panic. I think a good beginning binocular should not be more powerful than 7 or 8 power. You would think that more powerful is better, but with power you lose field-of-view (how much landscape you can see through the binoculars). In other words, a high-powered binocular won’t do you any good if you can’t find the bird in your field of view. The next most important thing to consider is how the binoculars feel. Do they fit your hands? Do they fit your eyes? When you look through them do you see a clear image with true colors. You’ll know when you find the right pair for you, although they may not be right for the person standing beside you.
Lin was right in saying that we buy all of our binoculars from Eagle Optics; however, you should never buy a binocular model that you haven’t held in your hands and looked through at a bird. That’s where the Audubon meetings come in.
Going to an Audubon meeting and talking to bird watchers is the very best way to learn about birding. Go on a field trip and ask to try out the different binoculars other bird-watchers are using. Most of us are thrilled to show off our binoculars.
One more thing, Stephanie, the first bird-worthy binoculars you buy will most likely not be your last ones, so don’t worry too much. I promise that bird watching is a lot more fun than shopping for binoculars.
Thanks for reading my work,
Ron
Romy Simpson responded on 12 Mar 2008 at 1:19 pm #
Hi Ron,
for more information: http://www.negrottosgallery.com
I will be hosting a one day exhibit and sale of the Audubon Centennial Edition Prints on the 20th of March at Negrotto’s Gallery in Biloxi, Mississippi. These prints are true to life size and color as the original folios created by Audubon. There are only 200 of each print which also have the embossed seal of the Audubon Society -as they are the first restoration and highest quality print created to date. I was asked to personally invite you -an avid supporter of the Mississippi Audubon Society Chapters, and I will also be raising funds to help support the local chapters through a raffle of one of the prints. If you would be so kind and accept this very late invitation we would love to meet you and be honored that you penciled us into your schedule! I have not been able to send out invites sooner and I do apologize for that. I hope ALL NATURE LOVERS who read this comment will also come to the gallery, we are the premiere gallery authorized to represent the Centennial Edition on the Gulf Coast and so if you miss the reception on the 20th PLEASE KNOW YOU ARE WELCOMED ANY TIME!!
or 228-388-8822
Hope to meet you soon!
Romy Simpson
owner -Negrotto’s Gallery
David P responded on 08 Jun 2008 at 9:52 pm #
Hey Ronnie, I enjoyed your book quite some time ago, thought Id check in and see whats new…nothing, its been over a year since an update? Id love to hear another story, anything in the works?
Paul responded on 09 Jun 2008 at 4:52 am #
Another book is in the works. You should see more info on it soon.
Lea Anne Locke responded on 07 Jul 2008 at 8:31 pm #
Just wanted to drop Ronnie a line about Serve It Cold. I just finished listening to it and I have to say, WELL DONE!!! You are an extremely talented writer and I look forward to seeing/hearing your next novel.
My only critique is with the performances and sound effects from Dancing Cat Studios: Less Is More. The loud sound effects distracted from the novel; the ringing phones were irritating to the ear and at times the music drowned out the dialogue. I nearly quit the novel midway through because the voices started annoying me that much. I live in The South myself, and hearing poorly done Southern accents is high on my list of annoying things. (Please don’t take it personally, Dancing Cat actors–I’m sure you did your best. But you should know, not everyone who lives south of the Mason/Dixon line sounds like someone out of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.)
Otherwise, Ronnie, please accept my congratulations on a wonderfully written piece of work and keep it coming!!!
Ron responded on 14 Jul 2008 at 9:19 pm #
Lea Anne,
Thanks for listening. I’m glad you liked the book. I guess Serve It Cold simmered around in the back of my mind for twenty years before I knew that I had to write it. I hope you like the new Jonny C book, SPITE. It’s available from Lulu.com right now, but it still needs some nips and tucks before it is released widely.
As far as Dancing Cat Studios goes, they were inventing a new medium-or reinventing an ancient one- on the fly. You can hear the technical quality getting better as the story goes along. And the quality will be even better next time around. Dancing Cats has agreed to record SPITE. Already Dancing Cats is the state of the art. They were just nominated for two Parsec Awards, including one for Serve It Cold.
I know what you mean about Southern accents, though. It’s hard for people who weren’t raised here to get the nuances. But, you know, some of those bad southern accents came from good old southerners-like me! I couldn’t believe how bad I sounded–and no, I won’t tell which character I played. I need to hang on to some dignity!
Lea Anne Locke responded on 26 Jul 2008 at 2:47 pm #
Ronnie,
Thank you so much for your response!! And I don’t believe you when you say you sounded bad! Didn’t you voice Jonny C??? I completely pictured you voicing him!!!
I’ve been reading Spite, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it so far! You have a unique style of narration and it totally works. You suck me into the story and never let go; even after the last chapter is finished, I’m still hearing your characters in my head.
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your fabulous work.
Wishing you every success,
Lea Anne Locke
Ron responded on 27 Jul 2008 at 11:14 am #
Lea Ann,
Thank you for your support. You know, I’ve got that same problem of hearing the Jonny C characers in my head. I busy working on lots of different projects, but I’m itching to get back to the next book in the series, Cold Comfort.
I’m thrilled that you like my work, Lea Ann. And, no, I’m not the voice of Jonny C. That is the workhorse of the audio cast, Eric Rowe. Eric is also an accomplished songwriter and musician. His web site is earow.com.
My role in Serve it Cold was limited to Steve, the manager of Margarhittavile.
Thanks, again.
Ron
Lea Anne Locke responded on 28 Jul 2008 at 11:47 pm #
Awesome! I had to go back and listen to Episode 5 again to hear you as Steve. I think you did a great job–Steve sounded natural, not forced and your voice suited the character. I look forward to Dancing Cat’s rendition of Spite–I know that the more practice they get with your characters, the better they will get.
I do hope Eric Rowe will voice Jonny C–he was terrific with the role.
All the best,
LL
Shawn responded on 18 Aug 2008 at 6:51 pm #
What a great story! I just found it and I’m 12 chapters deep. And I mean deep. Only stopped listening today because I was late picking up my daughter from her first day of school. The story is soo addicting to listen to that I almost wish I could sit and listen to the whole thing in one shot. I read an earlier review from someone who was displeased with the sound effects and quality. I think they are great. Hearing the horns and car alarms and such does so much to create a movie in your head and you can really visualize being there on the streets with the characters. I think you’re a fantastic author and the production company did.. is doing.. a great job. Hope to hear more from you soon.
Kip & Gayle responded on 12 Apr 2009 at 5:20 pm #
We live in Diamondhead, MS, and enjoy seeing the birds who frequent our birdfeeder. Today we saw a beautiful bird that we can’t seem to name. He has a bright red breast, dark blue head, yellow on his back and dark green wing tips. He is about the size of a finch but I have not been able to find him in my bird books. Any ideas as to what he is?
Lillian Patterson responded on 09 Jul 2009 at 3:56 pm #
Mr. Blackwell,
I work for an organization called the Gulf Restoration Network. I am from Ocean Springs Mississippi but I’m living in New Orleans where our organization is based. I stumbled across your website and you seemed interested in some of the issues we work on, specifically, I am working on a campaign against the Richton Salt Dome Project. I would love to talk to you a little about some of the issues and maybe get you involved with our organization. Let me know if you would be interested.
-Lillian Patterson
Ron responded on 15 Jul 2009 at 9:39 am #
Kip and Gayle, you are not the only ones who saw this beautiful bird for the first time this week. I’ve gotten reports from all over the coast about Easter Egg Birds and Rainbow Birds at their feeders.
I’m considering writing a Painted Bunting story for next weeks column.
The bird is a Painted Bunting, a close relative to the Indigo buntings that your bird may well have been traveling with. The Painted Bunting actually nests along the coast, but it always picks the hottest, most tangled piece of scrub to nest in.
Congratulations, you have been visited by one the most sought after feeder birds in the world!
Ron
Alexander Eno responded on 13 Dec 2009 at 1:18 am #
Hi
I like your style of writing crime stories. I was very impressed with Serve it cold. I really felt like I knew the Quarter as you described it. you can put a face on everyone and everything in your stories.
Now my purpose in writing you.Do you know you are sitting on one of the hottest untold crime stories in MS? Take Cash McCool’s, Studebakers, and Bonnie and Clyde’s a sports agent/ DA a mayor and a banker and half a dozen business men then throw in the dixie mafia and some south american drug cartel. Use Castro and Che for background and set it (almost all) in the Hub city. I love reading about places people and i know. There are so many great story lines in Hattiesburg If i could write fiction I would have a bunch books out about Hattiesburg myself. I realize these stories may be too hot to be Served cold still. Still someone should tell them before they are forgotten. I know the Moncreif family would never touch those stories but time passes. There are other stories not fit for a daily. My mother told me the story of the cat ladies and of the Tatums and Danzlers and of Dr. Love…..
Lex
Danny Herring responded on 21 Apr 2010 at 6:43 pm #
We have had male bald eagle in our Long Beach neighborhood since Aug. 09. Femail joined him around Oct. Today 4/21/10 adult with offspring were soaring above us. Tried to get photos but none came out. Gonna try again tomarrow.