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