St. Jude School

I had a ball with the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students at St. Judes last week. The children were receptive and very interested not only in our Ociee girl, but also in creative writing in general.

One enthusiastic English teacher, Cole Hansard, worked with his students in writing, illustrating, and even binding their very own books WITH marvelous covers. Yes, indeed, and very well done were their projects. I just wish I had enough time to read each and every one of their stories.

AND the media specialist, Eleonora Straub, along with teacher, Terri Marks, produced binders with their students which included chapters about their goals and ambitions, service projects, and marvelous autobiographies along with delightful family photographs.
*Mrs. Straub's son, David, is a particularly nice young man who assisted me during the afternoon session. Thank you, David.

Fun for me, too, was seeing some familiar faces, including Charley Pickel, the son of one of my husband's former co-workers. The charming young man approached me following my talk to his class and introduced himself as Walt's son. I loved seeing him.

Another delightful young lady, Emily Lennings, also greeted me and announced that she is in the midst of writing her own novel about her sister and herself, and her grandmother's cats. Shhhhh, please don't give away her plot.
***One of the best things about my job is meeting my future competition.

Putting all work aside for now, however, I wish a very Happy Memorial Day to you to and yours.
Hats off this day to our military heroes!

Milam

Wednesday

I'm pretty pumped about a talk, make that three talks, I'm to give on Wednesday, May 26. I've been invited to St. Jude the Apostle School to chat with the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students about my Ociee series. The children will have seen the film, "The Adventures of Ociee Nash" by the time we meet, so there will likely be lots of cool questions about making the movie.
What I enjoy most about these conversations is always what the young people have to say to me. So this promises to be an interesting day. If not, I'll have to do most of the talking and that would be rather BORING.

That being said, hats off to teachers who can not only open young minds, but also keep control of their classrooms! I tend to stimulate my audiences a tad too much, which is the very reason I write books and not teach school. Hold positive thoughts for me next week. PLEASE.

What I really plan to accomplish is to encourage the girls and boys of St. Jude to read, read, read AND to write, write, write . . . not only during the summer but all the time as well. Shhhhh, don't tell them.

Confession: if I have one major regret from my younger days, it's that I lost my childhood diary (it was pink and had a lock and key). I never again got back into the fine habit of chronicling my thoughts. How I wish I could remember oh so much that's lost in my now well cobwebbed mind! Therefore, my mission is for these young students to avoid making that dreadful mistake by jotting down things in their own journals.

Enough of my sermon, I must now gather some thoughts for my very important audience next week. Milam

Cute Ociee Story

Our 4-year-old neighbor Alice was watching "The Adventures of Ociee Nash" with her parents and two older sisters, Emma and Lucy.
Toward the conclusion of the movie, one of the characters says, "God bless you, Ociee Nash."
Hearing this, darlin' little Alice questioned, "Why did he say 'God bless you'? Ociee did NOT sneeze."

Tomorrow!

Just a quick howdy-do and a reminder of tomorrow's booksigning! Franklin Cox, talented author of "Lullabies for Lieutenants" and I will be signing our books this very Thursday, May 6, from 5 to 7 at Eagle Eye Book Shop in Decatur, Georgia. The book store is located in a shopping center at the corner of Clairmont and North Decatur (2076 No. Decatur Road).
Please refer to my last blog for additional comments. I'm off to visit a school this lovely May morning.
Hope you will enjoy your day, Milam

About time, huh?!

We've recovered from our Authors Gathering-----AND from our grandson Emmett's 5th birthday party . . . well almost!

Yesterday, because Abigail and (our son) William's yard was totally destroyed when a massive 100-year old oak tree crashed to the ground last week, we had Emmett's "Prince" party at our place.

Jamey and I lost count of the number of guests who came to honor the adorable birthday boy. In addition to Emmett, who was all decked out in his golden crown and Prince Charming costume, there was a real honest-to-gosh prince who did magic tricks for the children, along with a jumpy-jump with a sliding board, turns in both Jamey's 1949 Ford pickup truck and on the new pool ride, and some last minute surprises including "fireworks." Thanks, Uncle Jay.

Big brother Loftin was appropriately costumed as the purple prince, while Mommy and Daddy came as queen and king! Many of the attendees also dressed for the occasion as the beyond enthusiastic Prince Emmett welcomed his fellow princes and princesses, a knight or two, and Robin Hood himself.

BUT I AM SUPPOSED to be writing about professional topics. Right? SOOOO, here's an important announcement about an event this week:

THURSDAY, MAY 6, FROM 5 TO 7, FRANKLIN COX, the popular author of "LULLABIES FOR LIEUTENANTS" and I will be signing books at EAGLE EYE BOOK SHOP IN DECATUR. Try to drop by. A terrific independent book store, it is located at the corner of Clairmont and North Decatur Road.

As information: George Scott of Eagle Eye, hosted one of the very first Atlanta book signings for Kathryn Stockett, the now most famous author of "The Help."
***On a personal note, I'll always be thankful to my cousin Kathleen Plucker for flying down from Indiana to visit her best friend and take us both to meet Kathryn speak that evening.

I need to sign off because the men are here to pick up the jumpy-jump. Hmmm, perhaps George, you should have a jumpy-jump delivered for our event? It's a crowd pleaser!

Hope to see some of you on Thursday, Milam