coming up: travels with charlie

Cool tonight, and darkish at 5:30. One day home for me. After a meeting this morning and a lovely girls-lunch-out (with the newest little girl in attendance!) at Farmburger in Decatur, I returned home to get ready for tomorrow's travel.
But I didn't pack. Instead, I filled the coal hod twice with ashes from the last of the winter fires, swept the hearth, and lit a fire in the fireplace. It's May 17th, and I have a fire. In Atlanta. Cool.
I popped corn. I made Spanish coffee. I washed the grapes and sliced the cheese and found my favorite banana bread recipe in my favorite old cookbook.

And I contemplated the next project.
Thanks for all the great comments about hand work. Isn't it amazing how we gravitate to it, even in this electronic age. It soothes us. It centers us. It used to be essential for survival.

Maybe it still is.

Thanks to the wonderful teachers at S.L. Mason Elementary School in Valdosta, Georgia, for the fabulous work day yesterday, and special thanks to instructional lead teacher Tina Nunn, who worked with me for months to make the writing day come together for all of us.


And now... switching gears -- come see me tomorrow night, 6pm, May 18, at Octavia Books in New Orleans, where I'll be talking about and signing Countdown! I'll be at Page & Palette on Thursday night, May 19, in Fairhope, Alabama. I'm traveling with Charlie Young, Scholastic's Southern Sales Rep Extraordinaire. We're set to hit the road with sixties tunes and stories -- come with us.

More from The Big Easy. Stay warm tonight. Be as reasonable as I am; put whipped cream on top of your Spanish coffee.
Posted by Debbie Wiles at Tuesday, May 17, 2011
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7 comments:

  1. L.WrightMay 18, 2011 at 11:21 AM

    Deborah,
    You are so very down-to-earth...which is why I love your blog. You enjoy simple pleasures and you share them with your reader, especially food photos (love em) I like that you are a "process" all about the journey person. Have a great time on the road.

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  2. Debbie WilesMay 18, 2011 at 12:29 PM

    What a lovely and kind thing to say, Leslie. Thank you. I'm going to try hard to remember your words when I get caught up in the frenetic day-to-day on the road! Hope you are well. xoxoxo

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  3. AnonymousMay 25, 2011 at 10:49 PM

    Deborah-

    I really enjoyed your book Countdown. You mentioned it is one of three. When will the second be released? Also, what would you say the theme of Countdown is?

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  4. Debbie WilesMay 26, 2011 at 5:00 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  5. Debbie WilesMay 26, 2011 at 5:01 PM

    oops. try again.

    Glad you enjoyed Countdown. Book two, 1964 Freedom Summer, is scheduled for 2013.

    I'm not good with delineating theme in any book, maybe because I don't really understand it in the way it's taught or described. Also, in my own work, I often don't know what I'm writing about until I write it. In Countdown, I was thinking about the ravages of war and the challenges of peace. I wanted to write about hope. Hope this helps. Thanks for writing.

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  6. SeanMay 26, 2011 at 11:41 PM

    Deborah-

    Will Freedom Summer be based off of Countdown. Will Franny, Jo Ellen, etc. be involved some way?

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  7. Debbie WilesMay 27, 2011 at 12:58 AM

    Hi, Sean. There's a completely new cast of (wonderful) characters populating book two in 1964. We will, however, see and hear from Jo Ellen. She is a freedom worker, volunteering for SNCC in Greenwood, Mississippi during Freedom Summer.

    Deborah

    ReplyDelete

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