Mary Liza Hartong’s first novel draws from her own experiences

MELISSA WHITLER | Contributing Writer
editor@dallasvoice.com

Looking for some southern comfort? Looking no further than Mary Liza Hartong’s new novel Love and Hot Chicken. It’s the perfect heartwarming story for spring.

Love and Hot Chicken follows PJ’s life in her hometown of Pennywhistle, Tenn., where, after her father’s death, PJ returns, after leaving Vanderbilt, to work at The Chickie Shak.

Things are relatively simple while PJ keeps her coworkers, Linda and Boof, at arm’s length, but everything begins to change with the announcement of the Hot Chicken Pageant. Working through her grief, PJ has to decide if she’s willing to take the risk to fall in love and follow her dream.

The author sat down with Dallas Voice to discuss her art and her experiences growing up queer in the South.

Dallas Voice: When did you know you wanted to be a writer? Mary Liza Hartong: I always wanted to be a writer. When I was really little, I loved to draw. As I grew up, I drew stories and started to put words to them.

I remember in sixth grade I brought one of my teachers a binder of stories. She told me, “You are a writer.” It meant so much to me to have an adult encourage my dream. And my parents are such big supporters of me doing what I want to do, so it was the natural choice.

Love and Hot Chicken is set in your home state of Tennessee. How much of your inspiration comes from your own experience? Tons of it. I may not have lived in a small town, but it had a feel of community, and people looked out for each other. I wanted to capture that in my book, I wanted queer characters who were just totally part of that community and totally beloved.

A lot of the inspiration also came from my mom. She is a quintessential southern lady. I think my homesickness at the time made me gravitate to that vernacular, to those specific southern phrases. There’s such humor to southern writing, and I loved getting to sink into that warm, fuzzy southern-ness.

What does your writing process look like? My writing process is very sporadic. The plot happens as I go. This story started with just the idea of three people in the workplace. Things like the themes and feel came along as I wrote.

I try to sit through the uncomfortableness and pull out all the details until it comes together.

In terms of visualizing, I think about it from a movie standpoint. I often picture scenes to figure out characters and pacing.

What was your experience growing up queer in the southern United States? Growing up there was a lot of pressure to be this traditional southern girl, go on dates and be a beautiful, southern belle. I didn’t have any vision of being queer and what that would look like.

With coming out, I was worried about disappointing people and doing something different. I wanted family and community, but I also knew I had to forge my own way. I’m very fortunate that my family loves and accepts me, so it wasn’t as big a deal as it could have been.

What are you looking forward to as people begin to read your book? I love getting to hear what other people think of the story. I’m looking forward to people falling in love with the characters like I did. One thing I really wanted to be clear was what the characters liked about each other. I worked hard for their rapport to feel natural. PJ is very introverted and has imposter syndrome; Boof is warm and bubbly. I wanted to play out how those two personalities interact.

I’m also so excited to share more queer love stories. I want people to see a world where you can have southern community and love who you want to love. It doesn’t have to be one or the other. I don’t want all of our stories to just be sad or about hiding who you are.

In addition to writing, you also do some illustrations. Is it different for you writing versus creating visual art? With art I feel so much less pressure. I’m not trying to be an artist but just enjoying my doodling. For me it is something I find relaxing. My fiancé is an artist, so I get inspiration from her. It also serves as a reminder to just do something; it doesn’t have to be perfect.

What’s next for you? Well, I’m almost done with the first draft of a new book! This time I’m working on something more coming of age. I found an old journal of mine from 2009, and I’ve been getting inspiration from that.

It’s starting to feel real that I have a published novel. I really want to take the things I feel proud of and continue to get better.

To read Love and Hot Chicken and learn more about Mary Liza Hartong, go to MaryLizaHartong.com.