Sweet Home Alabama

Good Morning! I am much more relaxed than yesterday, where I almost had two heart attacks, but traveling will do that to anybody. The first was when I thought that we weren't going to make it to the airport on time. The second was when I thought that we wouldn't make the connecting flight.

But made those flights we did. Where? To Mobile, Alabama. With who? My eldest son Cooper. Why? To speak to the Mobile Writer's Guild about Edges and my publication trials and tribulations.

Underlying that external anxiety was something more pervasive that has been gnawing at me for a while. It goes hand in hand with worrying that Madeleine L'Engle fans will be turned off when they find I am not her.

Would I be able to be myself in the South? Did I need to try to make people "like" me?  Did I need to pretend that I was something I wasn't? Would Carrie (Cox) be happy that she worked so hard to get me out there? Alabama is in the bible belt - it would be easy for me to play up my Christian background - a sure winner - but that wouldn't be my whole truth.

So dudes and dudettes, I told it like it is. Fo' sho'.

Told it like is, for me.

Because I had to give these peeps the respect of being myself. Here is a group of people, a GUILD no less, who are committed to writing and creating community. The best thing I have is my authenticity, and you know that I LOVE meeting people, I love being part of the human race.

Okay, so maybe I had a little diarrhea of the mouth. But it was so freeing! I got up in front of Southerners and talked about my belief in humanity, my own brand of spirituality, and my fascination with religion, the fact that it took me forever to say that I am indeed a "writer".

I sold a bunch of books, and got people really excited about the workshops I'll be doing all day on Saturday. How? Simply because I myself am really excited and passionate about leading workshops - I can guarantee a good time. For reals.

Today Cooper and I are going to Dauphin Island with our host Carrie and her son, and tonight we will meet with some more Mobile Writers for dinner on the Causeway.

Bring it!