Writer friends, pass it on.

Today Facebook's memory was a good one.
It was a link to a post I'd written WAY back, on a group blog of southern writers.

But the message is still true. 
I couldn't have published a single book, possibly not a single essay, or book review, or even those little poems when I was nine years old -without the help of friends.

HERE'S THE LINK to the essay. 

(And here's the photo accompanying it. My friend Leslie's porch, where our writing group enjoyed a day in the "mountains" and lunch on the porch.)

Things I Love: Old and New

Can you think of anything better than a Writers Reunion?
My original critique group, sans one important member, happened to be at the same place at the same time yesterday.

So I dusted off (figuratively speaking) two favorite old things, my tomato server and a silver compote. Not to mention a story or two.

They are favorites because they were wedding gifts I've used a lot.
And love a lot.
The tomato server was a gift of my grandmother's lifelong best friend, who shared her "S" initial with me and gave me her engraved server.

The compote came from one of the funniest ladies I've ever known. Annie B. Gipson.
When I was a middle-grader, I worked with her and we laughed all the time.

 Here's the reason we gathered. Our friend Leslie Guccione was in town.
Look at those yummy New Jersey tomatoes!

 Here we all are!
Lee Stokes Hilton, Leslie, and Kay Kaiser.
(Lee's excellent food blog can be found
HERE.)









The GLORY BE M&Ms fall into the realm of new favorite things. Leftover from one of my last school visits.
And the idea came from an amazing Mother Daughter Book Group dinner, a connection made through a teaching colleague many years ago when I worked in Baltimore.
A job I loved.
With people I truly loved (and still do!).

Such good memories.
Now I'll stop strolling down memory lane and get back to the fabulous writing ideas this group generated. 


(You may be interested in this post, about one of my trips back "home" to Baltimore.)

Pinterest Party

Three of us from my old New Jersey critique group gathered to master Pinterest. We all had Pinterest accounts but weren't sure how best to use them. Book stuff? House stuff? Recipes?

We looked to the experts. But our Shout Out via Facetime didn't connect. We were on our own. Fortunately the HELP menu on Pinterest is helpful.

Here we are.

Working away, with our computers glued to Pinterest.

Fortunately, Lee Hilton was one of the group.  
(She's a food blogger!)
And a really good cook. We ate well, rewarding our hard work.
Kale chips, fresh guacamole, sour cherries from the Summit Farmer's Market.

Check out our Pinterest boards.
Leslie Davis Guccione
Lee Stokes Hilton
Augusta Scattergood

(Tip: Search our names, then click on PINNERS to find our boards.)

We're all there now.
We went nuts pinning and repinning. No pin left unturned!

Buster Brown

Often when I travel to a school or library to talk about GLORY BE, I bring along a shoebox. If you've read the story, you know Glory and her sister save their treasures (and play poker, but I really try not to over-emphasize this activity...) inside their Buster Brown shoeboxes.

I was thrilled to find this one on eBay.

It came stuffed with match covers from all over the world. Which were kind of fun, but I had to air the box out for several days. (It smelled.)

I tied it with a purple ribbon, stuffed it with my own treasures, and took it on the road. The box has served me well. I love it.



But I was getting worried. Even though I have a handy-dandy, waterproof bag to carry my Junk Poker box and its treasures around in, it's traveled from NYC to Missouri to Mississippi, twice, all on various airplanes.

My talentedly artistic friend Leslie suggested I decoupage the box to make it sturdier. But since that's not happening until she moves closer and does it for me (hint hint), I decided to stalk eBay and try to find another.

It arrived this week.
It's not nearly as pretty as the first, but it will do for now.

I have to wonder: What do the nice folks who put these things on eBay think.
Geez, I bet somebody will buy a small little shoebox for ten bucks, plus shipping.

Or
This will never sell, but we'll put it up there for $5 and charge a ginormous amount for shipping and see who bites.

Either way, I now have a Junk Poker treasure box. And a backup. All is well.

For more on "treasures" found in books, 

check out my friend Leslie Davis Guccione's blog today!

A Thing I Love: Thanks, Leslie

Bookmarks!
Made of shells collected when she visited us in Florida and tiny bits of sea glass from her own beach. And of course, packed in a box that's hand-lettered with one of my favorite GLORY BE chapter titles.

Possibly related posts:  

Bad Bookmarks?

Beautiful Bookmarks

Come on by!

And check out the treehouse. AKA The Chick Palace.

This morning, Leslie Davis Guccione is over at A GOOD BLOG, my group blog of very esteemed Southern writers.

Here's the link:

http://southernauthors.blogspot.com/2012/02/augusta-scattergood-welcomes-celebrity.html

Click on over there for some excellent writing advice and the inside scoop on writing THE CHICK PALACE.

Related posts: Favorite Quote on a Thing I Love 

 Learning to SEE 

FAVORITE fonts, anyone?

If you aren't already a follower of my friend Leslie Davis Guccione's blog, you must read today's post. Not only is Leslie a writer, she's an artist. So when she writes about FONTS, she knows what she's talking about.

Her CUT AND PASTE zinger put me in mind of Eudora Welty. Cutting and pasting her typewritten pages. Literally.

So click on over to Leslie's post today. A real treat.  
(yes, that's it, right here.☚ )

Here's a teaser, though it doesn't do her blog justice without the pictures and font examples:

 I went through a dozen hard covers, from the life of Churchill to The Cider House Rules. 1 from the library, 5 or 6 from the book exchange at the dump, a few Christmas gifts, and another bought for my NJ book club.
To my surprise, I only found 3 with font information & each was: A Note on the Type. Disparate titles...

Now, I just looked at the title page of the first two books on my huge pile of potential review books and found font info on each. And the title page of GLORY BE says text set in Adobe Caslon. I don't know what that is, but I know it looks great!
(But my examples are kids' books, so maybe it matters more. Or maybe because my books are all brand new, and book designers are now sharing more.)

Now click on over and follow all of Leslie's links and have fun thinking about how your book is, or might be, designed.

The Chick Palace Has Arrived!

For all you Nook people. And for those of you with iPad Nook apps, too.
I am about to offer you the best present you will receive during the holidays. Well, certainly the best book present.


Go immediately to the Barnes and Noble store and  
download THE CHICK PALACE.



You will love it as much as I do.
Terrific story.
Great characters.
Writing that will make you go Oh Wow.
Over and over again.