Written By: Christopher Campaigne, Reporter
Mollie Cox Bryan went from being a young poetry lover, to a passionate college writer, and then became a journalist. Bryan visited the writing club, with words of wisdom and her experience as a writer.
“I started out with poetry,” said Bryan, describing her college life. Bryan then studied journalism, where she found stories on the streets of Pittsburgh.
Eventually Bryan started writing for a construction magazine, where she learned to “pull out information,” like most writers, and get critiqued by her two editors, an ex-Latin teacher, and a news editor.
“If you’re going to do journalism, you work intimately with the language, and learning that language is important,” said Bryan.
Bryan has also experienced rejection when she submitted a romance novel to a publisher. “If you don’t have the chops it doesn’t matter,” said Bryan, as she describes the criticism and process of writing.
Next, Bryan turned to freelance. This led to her discovery of Mrs. Rowe, the owner of Mrs. Rowe’s Restaurant, a popular restaurant and bakery located in Staunton.
“Mrs. Rowe’s lifestyle interested me and I wrote a biography on her,” said Bryan. Eventually Bryan revised the biography into a cookbook, Mrs. Rowe’s Restaurant Cookbook: A Lifetime of Recipes from the Shenandoah Valley,
After the biography was published, Bryan, still fascinated with Mrs. Rowe, published another cookbook. Bryan’s book, MRS. ROWE’S LITTLE BOOK OF SOUTHERN PIES, was recently named one of the Best Cookbooks of 2009 by All Foods Considered and was named one of the best summer cookbooks by the New York Times.
While her cookbooks continue to thrive, Bryan also works on updating her blogs, editing, poetry and even fictional writing, such as historical romance and mystery.
“I just want to sit in a corner and write and read,” said Bryan. “You have to feel compelled to do it.”“You have to love the process,” said Bryan. “You can’t imagine yourself doing anything else.” Bryan currently lives in Waynesboro, with her husband and two children.
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