Charleston Chew

I am in the Holy City again and it is beautiful here.  I had a great time at Blue Bicycle Books--thanks to Cameron and Jonathan for being such great hosts!

Blue Bicycle Books on King Street

Here are a few of the oddities Clovis and I have stumbled across on our travels so far.  We have come across some pretty great antique stores, like this one in Augusta.

Here's an old Farrah Fawcett mug.

Here is a very serious warning to both past and future shoplifters.

And here is Clovis on a purple blanket!

Hotlanta!

The weather was the exact opposite of hot while I was in Atlanta.   Here is a frozen fountain from near my hotel.

And this being the land of Gone With the Wind, there were plenty of reminders of that everywhere young Clovis and I went.  Here is some memorabilia we found in a local antique shop...

What more appropriate place to have an event than the Margaret Mitchell House.  What a dream come true!

I had a GREAT conversation there Monday night with wonderful novelist and truly incredible person, Susan Rebecca White.  One of the great things about this tour has been meeting so many great people.  Susan is definitely one of them!

And the great team at the Margaret Mitchell House--Kate, Joanna, Trevor and everyone else.  They made the event so special.  Given my longtime fascination with Gone With the Wind and the echoes of it that play a big role in The Rebel Wife, it was a wonderful "coming home".  We had a great crowd and I made some great friends.

With Joanna and Kate at the Margaret Mitchell House

Here is my escort for the visit, Esther Levine.  Esther knows everyone who is anyone in the writing/bookselling community in Atlanta.  If you are looking for someone to give you the inside track, Esther is the one!  She even let me bring Clovis on our store visits!

With the wonderful Esther Levine!

I got to sign some books!

 And George at Peerless Books in Alpharetta even asked me to sign a table!

Thank you everyone who came out Monday night!  And thank you so much to Mom who came down from Nashville and my BFF Megan who came all the way from New York!!

Great Things in Greenville

Greenville is the first stop on my book tour!  The wonderful Greenville News did a great profile on me and the book.  My favorite take-away is "A new kind of Southern novel emerges".

I had no expectations of the city, but have been really amazed by how beautiful it is.  Main Street is lined with shops and tall trees strung with lights.  The Reedy River Falls are dramatically lit with a suspension bridge offering a walk above them.  There are restaurants and theaters and a beautiful setting in the Appalachians.

I was so thrilled to go to see a hilarious play, Life After Oprah, at the Café And Then Some last night--thank you Maureen and everyone!!

I also had a great time today at Fiction Addiction.

Thanks to Jill and her mom for believing in my book!  One of my favorite book bloggers, Bermuda Onion, dropped by and took some video--keep an eye out for it on her blog.  And I got the chance to talk with some really great people who love history.  Here are a couple of them.

The wonderful Vanessa with me and Clovis!

Marty and Me!  I had such a great conversation with her and her husband!

And I am so happy to have Clovis with me.  His favorite part so far has been the gorgeous hotel!!

Pub Day!

My first novel, The Rebel Wife, is published TODAY by Simon & Schuster.  This is a dream come true.  I keep saying it over and over again, and it stays just as true.

What better way to celebrate this incredible landmark event in my life than with a video of Clovis?  I've been taking some "wake-up-time" movies of him, but the one this morning is one of the best so far.

And here are some pictures of The Rebel Wife that have begun to pop up all over the country!  First, at a Barnes and Noble in Manhattan.

Next, at Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee, right next to Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus!

Winter Styles

 I just finished another sweater for Clovis and wanted to put some pics of it up.  Sleeves are longer this year!  And I think the blue-green is a good color for him.  It's a waffle-weave with snaking cables on the sides.

Here's the one I finished a few weeks ago.  A multiple snaking cable.  Very nice.

Wild Time at Wild Dunes!

I had my first author event--it was a great day of firsts at the absolutely beautiful Wild Dunes Resort in Isle of Palms, South Carolina.  The day was sunny and beautiful on the beach surrounded by dunes and palmettos.  The event was sponsored by the resort to benefit Trident Literacy, a great community-based non-profit that promotes literacy in low country South Carolina.  What a great cause!

I shared the stage with three amazing local writers and women.  Dorothea Benton Frank, whose new book Folly Beach explores the life of another Dorothea, wife of 1920's Charleston Renaissance writer, DuBose Heyward.  Dorothea was a playwright herself, but allowed her husband to take the spotlight.  They worked with George Gershwin on Porgy and Bess (based on DuBose's book Porgy).

Nathalie Dupree, amazing cook and entertainer, talked about her new book, Southern Biscuits.  I bought a copy myself and can't wait to give it a try.  I have had her shrimp and grits and they are sensational.  Definitely check out this great cookbook about a truly Southern institution.

And the great Mary Alice Monroe moderated our at times raucous talk.  Mary Alice is a passionate environmentalist who weaves the natural world into stories about women awakening to their own inner strength.

It was such an honor to be on the stage with these ladies!  It was my first professional author event.  The first time I saw the printed hard-cover of The Rebel Wife.  The first time I signed the book.  The first time a copy of my book was purchased.  An incredible number of firsts.  Here I am with the guy who bought the very first book, Scott, all the way from Michigan!

I had tea with Table 6, clearly the best table in the room.  I had such a great time with the wild and wonderful White Sisters from Bainbridge, Georgia.

Wow, what a launch!!  Thank you so much to Amy Stevens of Wild Dunes and Dr. Frances Welch of Trident Literacy and the College of Charleston for a great time and a great cause!

Taking Out the Trash

I spent New Year's with many wonderful members of my mother's side of the family and I have to talk about what was an incredible highlight of the trip--a tour by Nash Trash Tours!  The talented and lovely Jugg Sisters--Sheri Lynn and Brenda Kay.  And these ladies know how to give a tour - singing, dancing, history, celebrity gossip, scandal and the hard lessons of alcohol taught right before your very eyes - all on a big pink school bus.  What else could you ask for?  Here are some pics from our amazing tour.  If you are ever in Nashville, you must do this!!!

Sheri Lynn and Brenda Kay Jugg

The whole New Year's clan

Those lovely ladies and me.  These are memories I will cherish for a lifetime.

Okay, enough about those hillbillies!  Here is a painting I found in Hartselle, Alabama.  I bought it for Clovis!

I think there is a real resemblance!