From a hotel room in Columbia, SC
I’m here in beautiful downtown Columbia–no, really, it is a lovely city, despite the fact that the school colors for USC are red and black–and they play UGA in the SEC, and we love all things UGA. We are celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Richland County Public Library, and a lovely library it is, big and bold and accessible and staffed by the smartest, most enthusiastic staff I’ve seen in a long time. Friday night they had a cocktail reception for Friends of the Library and staff, and I got to meet lots of nice folks, including the other two guest authors, Dr. Andrew Billingsley, who is a distinguished professor of family and African-American studies at USC and an author, and Anita Lobel, who writes and illustrates charming children’s books. This morning was the coolest thing ever. They had us read aloud at Children’s Storytime. It was such a blast! There were about 150 children and their parents, and I got to choose my book. Called, LLAMA, LLAMA, RED PAJAMA. Oh, how I wish I’d written that book. It is clever and funny, and the children seemed to love it as much as I did. And then, some of the library staff and friends took me to lunch–and junking. Now, what more can you ask from an organization? Free food, free bed, reading to adorable children, and JUNK!. We went to an antique mall called The Old Mill, and I got lots of goodies for Maisy’s Daisy, my antique booth at Tybee Island. I bought a paint by number scene of fishing boats, a way cool painting of people fishing on a boat and catching a swordfish that appears to be twice the size of the boat, and a vintage tin child’s cash register, probably from the 50s. I’ll fly home to Atlanta today, then it’s back to work on the FIXER-UPPER. Oh, and in the meantime, we’re finalizing arrangements for the launch party for DEEP DISH, which will be at Wordsmith’s Books in Decatur, on Feb. 25th. It’s the first time I’ve had a launch party. We’re selling tickets–$100 for the VIP cocktail portion–you get a goody bag with the book, and other freebies–and profits from this go to a charity that helps provide education for young people interested in culinary school. Regular tickets cost $35, and that gets you the book, goody bag, cocktails, food, ect. Of course, if you come at 7 pm, you get in for free to buy your book. And everybody who buys a book gets their name put in the hat for a great door prize–a $500 gas grill that’s being provided by my friends over at ATLANTA GAS LIGHT.
Cool, huh?
I’m here in beautiful downtown Columbia–no, really, it is a lovely city, despite the fact that the school colors for USC are red and black–and they play UGA in the SEC, and we love all things UGA. We are celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Richland County Public Library, and a lovely library it is, big and bold and accessible and staffed by the smartest, most enthusiastic staff I’ve seen in a long time. Friday night they had a cocktail reception for Friends of the Library and staff, and I got to meet lots of nice folks, including the other two guest authors, Dr. Andrew Billingsley, who is a distinguished professor of family and African-American studies at USC and an author, and Anita Lobel, who writes and illustrates charming children’s books. This morning was the coolest thing ever. They had us read aloud at Children’s Storytime. It was such a blast! There were about 150 children and their parents, and I got to choose my book. Called, LLAMA, LLAMA, RED PAJAMA. Oh, how I wish I’d written that book. It is clever and funny, and the children seemed to love it as much as I did. And then, some of the library staff and friends took me to lunch–and junking. Now, what more can you ask from an organization? Free food, free bed, reading to adorable children, and JUNK!. We went to an antique mall called The Old Mill, and I got lots of goodies for Maisy’s Daisy, my antique booth at Tybee Island. I bought a paint by number scene of fishing boats, a way cool painting of people fishing on a boat and catching a swordfish that appears to be twice the size of the boat, and a vintage tin child’s cash register, probably from the 50s. I’ll fly home to Atlanta today, then it’s back to work on the FIXER-UPPER. Oh, and in the meantime, we’re finalizing arrangements for the launch party for DEEP DISH, which will be at Wordsmith’s Books in Decatur, on Feb. 25th. It’s the first time I’ve had a launch party. We’re selling tickets–$100 for the VIP cocktail portion–you get a goody bag with the book, and other freebies–and profits from this go to a charity that helps provide education for young people interested in culinary school. Regular tickets cost $35, and that gets you the book, goody bag, cocktails, food, ect. Of course, if you come at 7 pm, you get in for free to buy your book. And everybody who buys a book gets their name put in the hat for a great door prize–a $500 gas grill that’s being provided by my friends over at ATLANTA GAS LIGHT.
Cool, huh?
