One thing I love about writing in so many different genres about so many different subjects is enjoying the “shelf life” of those books for months and years after publication.
Southern Writers on Writing (2018) is #48 in Regional American Literature Criticism on Amazon’s Best Seller list today . . . five years after publication with University Press of Mississippi. And when I sign new books at bookstores around the south, the person purchasing the book often hands me a copy of Southern Writers that she found on a shelf there.
Even though I have a new book that just launched on June 20, I’m still getting invitations to speak or lead writing workshops based on books that were published 1-6 years ago, which is so much fun. A few of those events are coming up. Here they are, and the books that inspired them:
Tangles & Plaques: A Mother and Daughter Face Alzheimer’s (2017)
I will be leading a Memoir Writing Class with “Creative Aging,” Arlington (TN) Senior Center July 27.
“Life Happens” with Kim Hegwood interview airing September 21. This will be a discussion about my long-distance caregiving for my mother, who died from Alzheimer’s in 2016.
Pilgrim Interrupted (2022)
Mississippi Christian Living Magazine Summer Writing Retreat, at which I will give the keynote and be a writing workshop speaker. Broadmoor Baptist Church, Madison, Mississippi, July 15.
Calvary Episcopal Church, Memphis—I will speak about spiritual journeys at the 9:15 a.m. class on October 1.
All Night, All Day: Life, Death, & Angels (June 20, 2023)
I will continue to update my EVENTS PAGE with upcoming events, including several for my newly published book, All Night, All Day: Life, Death, & Angels. This is an anthology so most of my events are panels with several contributors. We had a great time at the Memphis launch at Novel on June 20 and the “Mississippi launch” at Lemuria in Jackson on June 24. Upcoming events include:
July 26—6 pm CT—You Tube event with Well Read Magazine, including contributors Mandy Haynes, Cassandra King, Julie Cantrell, Claire Fullerton, and Sophy Burnham, with Robert Gwaltney.
August 17—12 pm CT—Friends of the Library event in Starkville, Mississippi, where I’ll be joined by contributor Nancy Dorman-Hickson.
August 19—Mississippi Book Festival, Jackson, Mississippi. Panel: Christa Allan, Johnnie Bernhard, Averyell Kessler, and Nancy Dorman-Hickson.
September 8-10—Alabama Writers Cooperative 100th Annual Conference, Birmingham, Alabama. Panelists are Wendy Reed and Jacqueline Trimble. I will also be teaching a writing workshop.
September 21—Pat Conroy Literary Center, Beaufort, SC. Panelists are Cassandra King, Wendy Reed, and Nancy Dorman-Hickson.
September 26—Kirby Pines Senior Living book club, the “Book Baggers.” 9 a.m. Memphis. Panelists will be Sally Thomason and Nancy Mardis.
October 28—Louisiana Book Festival, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Panelists: Johnnie Bernhard and Averyell Kessler.