Post-Books Alive Roundup

This is without a doubt one of my favorite events of the year. Books Alive brings dozens of writers/creative thinkers to Panama City each year and lets readers and aspiring authors pick their brains and be lifted by their inspiration.

I have been privileged for several years to be invited to participate as a moderator, introducing one author or another. I got to meet John Dufresne this way, and Tiger Edmonds, and got to know Janis Owens better, and made some weird connection with Michael Morris. That first time we met while he talking on the veranda with Barbara Clemons last year, we actually seemed to be on the same wavelength, and really hit it off. He pretended we were cousins this year when Kathie Bennett was introducing me to other authors.

That's Michael Morris, Janis Owens and Jeff Shaara above.

This time around, I had a moment to rub elbows (literally) with Jeff Shaara, author of Gods and Generals, shake hands with Ron Rash, author of Serena, and bump into (again, literally) Michael Curtis, fiction editor for the Atlantic Monthly. I also spent time catching up with Carol and Lee Lapensohn, Becky Saunders, Bettina Mead, Janice Lucas, John Robert Middlemas, Sandra Pierce, George Vickery, Ann Houpt, Ann Robbins, Wayne Garrett, Chris Arrant (who sold his last copy of Comic Book Tattoo to Janis Owens for her daughter), and so many more.

That's Ron Rash, Kathie Bennett, Michael Curtis, Elizabeth Cox and Masha Hamilton

(Last year, Janis purchased a copy of Welcome to the Dawning of a New Century, and she was so tickled by the back cover, which featured an image of a 1980s-era parade with someone wearing a Piggly Wiggly mascot costume in a convertible, which she said described her image of her smalltown childhood.)

It was so nice to see folks I only get to see at these events, and it was awfully gratifying to talk to people who read my columns or have bought and (claim to have) enjoyed my books or stories, and who want to just stand there and get to know me a little. Books Alive is inspirational to me that way, because it validates my obsession, and because it reminds me there are regular folks who are making a modest living doing what I dream of doing.

Today's Pick(s): Here's the latest from the folks listed above. I can't pick just one.









Today's Word: Aspire.





Peace.





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REMINDER: If you aren't going to the blog, you aren't seeing the picks and links. Check it out.

BOOKS ALIVE!

Can't believe I didn't put details about today's events in here before. Go here for lists of authors, a schedule of presentations, and more info. It's my favorite event of the year, and I'll be there most of the day. I'll be back tonight to load photos of the event. Til then.

Peace.

Dazed and Disturbed

Spent the evening on two projects: Fixing the toilet in the hallway bathroom (it has been loose since Debra replaced the floor tile) and editing a video Nathan and the rest of us shot in 2005-06 in Apalachicola and St. Andrews State Park. It's the story of a pair of fallen angels battling and killing each other throughout time, and their final meeting.

I finished neither project. Yet.

Today's Word: Closure.

Today's Pick:



Peace.

Health Expo(sure)

Spent a couple of hours today at the inaugural Health Expo at Edgewater Conference Center, talking to snowbirds about the newspaper and the website, shaking hands, handing out free papers, and so forth. Rod Whiting from Gulf Coast Medical Center told me that an elderly man had stopped by their booth for a heart screening and his numbers were so bad that the staff took him to a nearby doctor's office to have the readout interpreted; the doc sent the fellow straight to the emergency room with orders for an angioplasty.

Ironically, today I saw my doctor for a checkup regarding my ticker, and let's just say he wasn't thrilled with my progress. My cholesterol numbers went in the wrong direction this winter, I've put on 10 pounds (when he already wanted me to lose 5, so I'm 15 too heavy), and I've been off my exercise regimen most of the winter to boot. So I've got new prescriptions, orders to get on the South Beach Diet, and to go from just walking to "intergral" training, which he explained to me is slow/fast/slow/fast (walk/run) to really get my heart working.

Today's Pick:


Today's Word: Cabbage.

Peace.

100 years

It's been that long since the official naming of Panama City. The Centennial (today's word) is upon us. I spent some time at the Visual Arts Center today, videotaping the historical items and artwork being put on display for the opening there tonight, and running through the end of the month, celebrating the centennial. I'll post the video at newsherald.com in the morning.

Discussing the Centennial, however, I can't help but think about my book, which took place during the centennial week of Century, Florida, in 2001, fictional though it was.


And of course, the James Michener miniseries and novel, Centennial.

And, even more appropriately, the second volume of City Limits, which is dedicated to the memory of my good friend and daughter in spirit, Marisa Joy Williams. Perhaps its more than coincidence (and I don't believe in coincidence) that the official date of the Centennial is Feb. 23. It's not a day I will feel like celebrating, as it's also the anniversary of Marisa's death.

This is Marisa:

Shhhh.

The word for the day is

Time.

As in, I don't have enough of it right now. Please carry on. I'll get back to you tomorrow.

Peace.

Super Sunday

No picks today (unless you want a favorite ad pick, but I'm still trying to decide) as we spent the evening at the Rader's house watching the Super Bowl. Except I missed the third quarter, as Billy got a call from one of our neighbors about a prowler on our street, trying to break into houses. I went home to check it out and talked to the city K9 officer who was in my front yard. She'd been in our back yard and into our garage, checked our back doors. Apparently the prowler had been trying to get in the back doors of the houses. I went inside, got Jessi's Zombie Basher, and checked the rooms and closets and under the beds. All clear. And that fourth quarter! Wow!

See you tomorrow.

Peace.
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UPDATE: Favorite ad was HULU. (My brain was so mushy it took a while to decide.)