Fired Up!

Yesterday I took my mother for a little spot of fun in an otherwise dreary, rainy day. We ventured to the hallowed hills of Mt. Pleasant where the Center for Women was holding its 3rd Annual Lowcountry Women Writers Holiday Book Signing. There were over 50 local women writers there signing their books and meeting their fans.

I also got to see a few people I know. Kelly Love Johnson was there with her book, Skirt! Rules for the Workplace, which would make an excellent gift for any young lady about to graduate from college or anyone who works.

There was also Beth Webb Hart who I had met once before at a seminar at the Center for Women. I bought her new book, The Wedding Machine as a present for myself.

I got to see Mary Alice Monroe again. She loves Jason (well every one who knows him loves him) because he provided her with some research on her latest book, Last Light Over Carolina. If you pick up a copy, read the acknowledgments and you might see a familiar name. And I have to give her some serious respect because when I walked up to the table she said, "I've met you before." Which was exactly once for about two seconds last summer. As I am horrible with recognizing people out of place (if I know you from the hospital, I'll recognize you there, but not in WalMart) and even worse with names, I was in awe that she just knew that she'd seen me before.

I spoke briefly with Mary Edna Frasier about the cause she is involved with - saving from development a spit of barrier island near Kiawah - and thanked her again for the party she held at her studio for the cause where we sang protest songs.

And perhaps most exciting, I saw two women that attended the same writer's workshop as I did. Cleo Scott Brown has written the fantastic story -Witness to the Truth- of her father and family in Louisiana and his involvement in the Civil Rights Act and trying to get registered to vote. Amazing story. The other lady, Cree Foreman, who at 84 has just put out her second book. Her first, Phil and the French Country Inn, is a memorial to her husband who was a self taught French chef who traveled France to learn the art and opened a French restaurant in a small North Carolina town.

(File under the learn something new everyday: New rules for bloggers. Angie, I actually saw you and your adorable little man. My mom and I were standing behind you while you talked to Beth Webb Hart. I will echo your sentiment that I am merely a fan, an aspiring writer, and the books I purchased, I did so with my own money and have received no compensation for any of my comments above. I have, however, received much encouragement which does my soul better than any amount of money ever did my wallet.)

Now I'm fired up, ready to write, using all three of my names. After coffee.

Thor sez: But look how cute I am, don't you want to play with me instead?