Well, for the first time in three years I made my way back to Jefferson, Texas for the wonderful Girlfriend’s Weekend event. And boy did we have a wonderful time. There was a moment sitting there listening to Fannie Flagg,
where I had this thought, “How did I get a seat at this table.” To be surrounded by some of literature’s most amazing authors and then to sit and listen to two of my literary heros, well, it doesn’t get any better than that for this little South Carolina girl who wanted nothing more than to be a singer… But I’m so glad there were different plans for my life.
My friend Kathy Patrick does such an amazing job with this weekend and it has grown exponentially since I was there three years ago with “The Will of Wisteria” and “Flies on the Butter”. Kathy has the largest meet and great book club in the world “The Pulpwood Queens” book club and this is the annual get together of all those girls. So, let’s just say that tiaras, hot pink and animal prints are flowing like wine at Jesus’ first miracle!
On Friday I got to be on a wonderful panel with some of the best writer’s around. Our panel was on “Character’s You’ll Fall in Love With”. I shared from “Hurricanes in Paradise” and read that first scene of crazy Winnie getting off of the plane.
The most beautiful moment was when my literary hero of some of southern literature’s greatest stories, The Great Santini, Lord’s of Discipline, Beach Music, Prince of Tides and his latest South of Broad, Pat Conroy took the stage with his best friend BERNIE SCHEIN of If Holden Caulfield Were in my Classroom: Inspiring Love, Creativity, and Intelligence in Middle School Kids! Those two were worth the price of admission.
Their stories were hysterical. Mr. Conroy even told of how he had convinced Bernie that his IQ was only 69 by changing the score which led to a 15 year “pay back” by Bernie that almost had Mr. Conroy not taking Barbara Streisands call when she wanted to make a film out of “Prince of Tides”. It was so good I had to call both of my brother’s (huge Mr Conroy fans) and share it with them.
