Hanging Out in Southern Kentucky

Hey, y'all!

I just got back from the Southern Kentucky Book Festival in Bowling Green, KY. And oh, what fun it was...to actually sleep late...and yeah baby, drink a Cosmo (or two) after one whole year of sweat and starvation, trying to get rid of the baby fat.

Now just where in the world is this place, you say? Well, Bowling Green -- which is one of the prettiest places I've ever seen, with the nicest people on Earth -- is about an hour north of Nashville, TN. And whoa, what a great time! A hundred or more authors, all hanging out, signing books and giving talks...and giving moi, yours truly the newbie author, an education about the publishing industry. Talk about scary! This business is as tough as uncooked grits. Enter at your own risk, people.

Although, I must admit, it wasn't much of a hardship meeting Scott Turow and his sweet girlfriend. As luck would have it, Scott just happens to be ex-law partners and close friends with one of my old bosses, Russ Bradley, from Geneva, Switzerland. Nice guy, too. And still a lawyer, bless his little heart.

Ditto for Rick Bragg, a Pulitzer Price winner whom I actually sent a fan letter too, way back in 1997, after reading his amazing memoir, "All Over But the Shoutin'." Rick was just the nicest man you could ever imagine, too. Sweet as pie -- not a stuck-up bone in his body.

I also spoke with Cassandra King (Pat Conroy's wife), whom I had interviewed the previous week for a story in the Athens Banner-Herald (great paper, edited by my darlin' friend, Courtney Pomeroy). And finally, I met the venerable Christian author, Janet Oke. For those not-in-the-know (as in, me), it's pronounced "Ja-NET" and "Oke" (rhymes with hoke). Good thing she told me.

So, well (pronounced "WAY-yull," if you're in my family), I made some great new friends and hung out in the hotel lobby 'til all hours of the night (okay, so it was just midnight, but for this mother of an 18-month old, that's LATE, y'all!). And making new friends is always worth the price of admission -- especially for writers, who spend their days alone, toiling in front of a computer. Unless you're me, of course, in which case you WISH you could spend your days alone, instead of being hounded for PBJs, bagels and trying to shake a kid off your leg so you can send just one more email to your publicist...who no doubt feels the same way about YOU and you do about your toddler.

Hey, it's the circle of life (and love 'ya, Lisa!)

So take a gander at some of my new best friends (below, in no particular order), who write all sorts of things, for men and women, both fiction and non-fiction. Better still, buy their books and send 'em an email to tell 'em how great they are. We all need a little encouragement every now and then, right?!

• Melanie Lynn Hauser, "Confessions of a Super Mom" and "Super Mom Saves the World"
• Cheryl Strayed, "Torched"
• Kristy Kiernan, "Catching Genius"
• River Jordan, "The Messenger of Magnolia Street"
• Tasha Alexander, "And Only to Deceive"
• Adrienne Martini, "Hillbilly Gothic"
• Hana Shank, "A More Perfect Union"
• J.D. Rhoades, "The Devil's Right Hand"
• Michael Largo, "Final Exits"

P.S. I plan to feature some Q&As and book reviews with these fabulous writers, so stay tuned!

With Southern love,
Annabelle
http://www.southerngirlsguide.com/