Monday, April 19, 2010

WOW!

Good evening. I'm writing without my glasses, so please try to overlook any typos. I'm still too excited about our party's success to sleep, and I don't want to awaken Jamey to look for them.

Well over 200 folks came to our Authors Gathering and Book Signing on Sunday, and, lo and behold, they bought a huge number of books written by Frank, Ed, Jackie, Sam, Marilynn and Susanne, John, and me.
The weather was puuuurrrfect and the azaleas splendid. My dear bridge club ladies and authors Marilynn Winston and Sam (his wife, Pat) Heys provided the most delicious goodies for our guests.

My friend Betty Ann sent a darling bouquet, while one of our daughter's friends, and author Frank Cox each brought flowers. Two couples arrived bringing champagne, while our beloved neighbors, Mary and Marvin contributed wine. It felt like a birthday party as much as it did a book gathering. THANK YOU, everybody!

As I told my friend Pam today, I must admit to a bit of a letdown now that the special day is over. HOWEVER, writing this blog is perking me up considerably.

Our son Jay and his music partner Summer entertained with some of their new compositions. Grin. Several in their audience had lovely compliments about this, the duo's second only performance.

In an emotional and most surprising moment, a courageous friend appeared. Battling cancer, the wonderfully gifted sculptress, sporting her very cute chemo wig, said, "I just wanted to be here."
I couldn't believe she was. What an amazingly brave women is Dale.

Also, a little girl with gorgeous eyes, my new friend, came to the party to meet me. Elizabeth had seen the movie, "The Adventures of Ociee Nash." So charmed was I by this precious girl, I told her I was doubly happy Ociee's best friend, Elizabeth Murphy carries "her" name.

My sincerest gratitude to all who came. It was a marvelous day! I'm going back to sleep now. Milam

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Busy Week Ahead

Whew, I've been pulling up weeds and trimming bushes today to get ready for the Georgia Authors Gathering at our house on Sunday, April 18.
To repeat, here's who is scheduled to participate in our special event: Sam Heys, J. Kershaw Cooper, Jaclyn White, E.C. Putnam, John Wilsterman, Franklin Cox, Marilynn Winston and Susanne Katz.
Please let me know via e-mail if you want to come to the party and meet everyone: Milamwritesbooks@gmail.com

So why did I spend the day weeding? With 200+ folks coming, our house can't possibly hold everyone, so we're counting big time on entertaining both inside AND out. If this gorgeous weather will hold for eight more days, we're golden.

On Wednesday, my sweet husband Jamey will take over yard beautification while I drive over to Alabama to visit my children's old school, Our Lady of Sorrows, in Birmingham. OLS is hosting its first "Ultimate Authors Day" and has kindly invited me to speak to the 4th and 5th grades about my now five Ociee books. I understand many of the children have seen "The Adventures of Ociee Nash" so it will be fun to hear what they think about our film.

When speaking at schools, I often encourage the students to interview some older people and ask questions about their childhoods (what games they played, what they ate, how they dressed).
Once a darling little boy told me he knew someone REALLY old.
"Who might that be?" I asked, thinking of a great grandparent pushing 90.
The ten-year-old excitedly replied, "My Daddy! Daddy's real old. Back when he was little, there were only three channels on his TV!"
All the boy's classmates gasped.
"Three channels," I mused. "Guess what? My family was one of the first on our street to buy a TV. The programs were all black and white and the screen was 'this big.'" I positioned my fingers to demonstrate the tiny image.
The room went totally silent.
I may as well have said, "My dinosaur is tied up out back."

Best get back to work. It's dark now, so I've come inside to make nametags for the authors. I also need to gather my books and pre-sign a few. Thank goodness my friends have offered to bake goodies for the party; I couldn't handle much kitchen duty! Milam

Thursday, April 1, 2010

It's Spring at last

Hi everyone, Happy Easter and best wishes for Passover, too.

My Jamey is outside happily working in the yard. The cherry trees are blooming here on Cherrywood Lane as the daffodils are already beginning to fade. Everything is turning green AT LAST; greener than normal due to all our winter rain. Feels like we Atlantans have been let out of our cages as everybody seems to be out wandering about like dazed bears after our winter naps.

Actually, I have nothing of note to say other than I hope you dear readers will have a lovely weekend and enjoy some well deserved weather. *This is said with sincere apologies to precious family, friends, and fans who are still cold and/or wet.

Please, yawl, come on down. We're waiting for you with a glass of sweet tea. Milam