A Resting Day



So this weekend I got to be on a panel at the SC Book Festival, an event I'd always hoped to be invited to. I was honored to be included in this one and excited to get to know some new authors and present on a panel about faith and fiction with the lovely and talented Denise Hildreth Jones and Kathryn Hewitt, with Sue Duffy moderating. The panel went well and I was happy to get to discuss things like how I write while sitting on my bed and the fact that all 3 panelists combined had a total of 15 children. Phew! Perhaps our panel should've been called "Faith, Fiction and Fertility."

That's me signing in the background. Someone actually wanted my signature on a book, if you can believe that.

 

The pic above is of Janna McMahan, one of the lovely authors I got to hang out with. We talked mostly about how hard it is to raise teenagers. I thieved this pic from her Facebook page because I, as usual, didn't take any photos. I also got to hang out with my friends Erika Marks and Kim Boykin and Patti Callahan Henry, and my new friend Mary Kay Andrews, who let me wear her lovely pink linen jacket to the reception because she and the wily Patti convinced me to go with them to the reception I wasn't planning to go to and I was woefully underdressed. (I was not being intentionally anti-social, I was sick-- more about that later.) Mary Kay literally gave me the shirt jacket off her back-- now that is kindness. Her New York Times bestseller status has certainly not gone to her head. She is down to earth and just plain nice, which makes me want to read her books all the more. And y'all should too.

And in the name of promoting fellow authors, here is a list of the ones I have mentioned in this post, with links to each of their new books, because I know y'all are making out your summer reading lists and don't want to find some great reads:

Denise Hildreth Jones: Secrets Over Sweet Tea

Kathryn Hewitt: Snow

Janna McMahan: Anonymity

Erika Marks: The Guest House

Kim Boykin: The Wisdom Of Hair

Patti Callahan Henry: And Then I Found You

Mary Kay Andrews: Ladies' Night


And so now it is Sunday and I am home (arrived home yesterday afternoon) and playing hooky from church. I was sick the latter part of last week but in denial because Curt was gone and someone had to keep driving the bus. Then I had to hightail it to SC for the fest and so the denial continued. But shortly after I arrived home and my husband heard me coughing he said, "Admit it. You're sick." And so, sweet man that he is, he has given me the day today to lounge and rest and try desperately to recover before another busy week is upon us.

I'm using the time to catch up on my reading, write a bit (including this blog post), and finish watching The Killing, an A&E show my husband and I have gotten hooked on courtesy of Netflix. This is a whodunit show that takes two seasons to solve one murder and does it well. I didn't know how they were going to do that, but I'm down to the last two episodes of the second season and am still guessing and anxious as I was in the beginning. As a writer, I'm taking notes as to how they've accomplished that level of suspense. The new season starts on A&E on June 1st and we will be ready.

So that is all I have to report for now. I'm sure I'll think of some other stuff to share later this week. But for now I'm resting. And reading. And setting goals and making lists. And being grateful for this life, in sickness and health and everything in between.