Local Author and creator of Killer Nashville: Clay Stafford
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Clay Stafford’s love for writing came naturally, and it came at an early age. His second grade teacher once told him, many years after the fact, that she kept his ‘little essays. The other children would write their paragraph while he would turn it in two pages.” Needless to say, he has never been short on words.
I spoke to Stafford for over an hour and a half. We spoke about his love of writing and helping other authors. We spoke about the mystery/thriller writer’s conference he started, Killer Nashville. And, we veered off and spoke about everyday nonsense like two old friends, because Stafford is the amiable sort of fellow that just makes you feel at home in any conversation.
Stafford grew up in a setting where many of his family were without running water or electricity. It was a simple lifestyle, and the best form of entertainment came from telling stories. He was raised in the country with ‘old world story tellers,’ so of course he would come to be one himself. His grandmother was a driving force in his early education of being an artist, as well as a local performing arts group that allowed him his abilities to take center stage.
Stafford is an accomplished, award winning author. He has spent the last 20 years traveling, screenwriting, novel creating, conference championing and adding a number of other accomplishments to his belt. With his current masterpiece, ‘Bringing Daddy Home,’ in the editing stage, he has his attention focused on the upcoming Killer Nashville Conference in August.
I asked Stafford why he started a mystery/thriller conference, and he told me, “Just about every good story is a mystery and a thriller,” and that “there wasn’t anything like this here.” Any author, fan or person with an interest in true crime has the availability to come to the conference in August. Stafford has brought opportunity to the door of every local, and interested, author. I wouldn’t have thought that an author would be so interested in helping other writers, but Stafford has a real love of his fellow writing community.
Stafford, a former professor, wanted to create “a situation where writers who have talent, but do not have the breaks, came come together and mingle with other established writers and editors and go on and do what they are wanting to.” Killer Nashville was the perfect opportunity to help educate and offer contingency to all these authors.
I had to ask why Stafford has traveled the path he has. His answer made me think. He told me when he was in college a Professor had asked him what he wanted to be. He told him he was there to become a writer. The professor responded, “If you are in school to be a writer – what are you doing here? If you have a back up plan you always go to the back up plan.”
So, Stafford left college. His family thought he had lost his mind, but he had found it. He went after his dream, and is still living it. For Stafford, to be able to do what he wants to do, he feels God has given him a gift in a particular area. It comes down to choice he says, “If you make the choice out of fear, expediency or desperation, then it is the wrong choice.” He continued, “You have to ask yourself, does this fit into who I am? That is your answer.”
Stafford knows who he is. He is a man who followed his dream and in doing so, is now bringing reality to the dreams of others authors.
For more information about Killer Nashville, go to: www.killernashville.com. Or stay tuned for updates here, as the conference approaches.
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