Meet Me At The River

May 14th is approaching, the day a charter bus full of folks who read Hell Swamp will come to the scene of the crime, Black River Plantation. They will travel nearly two hours to the river, where the Raleigh Parks and Recreation Read and Go program is catering a picnic on the grounds between the mansion and the river. I am truly honored to have been contacted by such a large group who are reading North Carolina writers and traveling to visit with them.

To make the day even more special, the owner of the mansion will be there to tour the group and answer questions about the 1793 mansion. I will read excerpts from Hell Swamp and answer questions about Genesis Beach, which the group also read. Reporters from surrounding counties have been invited to attend.

My hope is that the weather will be spectacular and everyone will enjoy the event as much as I'm sure I will.

I am truly amazed by all of this. I write because I must. Everything else is whipped cream!

I suppose this all happened because I joined a few writing groups and managed to update my activities often enough to get attention. Now, when I feel like I don't have time to blog, update my sites, and answer emails, I think about what is about to take place and get myself to the keyboard! I've never had so much fun! It's worth the time and effort.

Nerves

I was just chatting with my sister-in-law about gaining weight and I told her my ta-tas are so fat and bouncy, I use them for air bags! When I got off the phone, I raced to my post-it-notes and jotted it down to use in an upcoming book (hopefully). Hey! Get inspiration anywhere you can!

I've been interviewed so many times lately, I don't know which end is up, but it occurred to me (Duh!) that I needed to save copies of this stuff so that I can tweak it and move along. So, I've spent much of the day doing just that. Now I have a reserve of questions (and answers) from which to draw. Maybe now I can relax a little. I've been on TV enough to be comfortable and know not to look at the camera. If I do that, I lose my cool so I focus only on the interviewer and maybe a stray fly on the lamp beside me.

I'm packing now for a TV appearance in Wilmington, NC and trying to decide what to wear. Even though it'll be in the 80s, I'm thinking people usually look better with their arms covered, so I think I'll take a long-sleeve suit for TV and then change into a short-sleeved one for the book signing later in the day. My arms! Geez, I need to spray on some tan, that's for sure. And I have hair on my arms. Do people notice that? I mean, it's not long enough for a curling iron, but just a little which I suppose is normal?

Nervous? No. Okay, maybe a teensy bit.

We're discussing Hell Swamp, the new release, set near Wilmington, and they are going to show the video trailer for "a tease". I hope I get some attention from readers and if someone from the film studio comes by, why, I'll soak my panties!