We’re back in North Carolina after a whirlwind week in Mississippi. We left last Friday, February 17th at 5:00 a.m. and arrived in Holly Springs around 4:30 p.m. CST. It’s a day long ride down through South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and then into MS, but since I have a passion for these states known as the Deep South, what better route is there?
Now I’m back home, I want to share about the events I had to promote THE EDUCATION OF DIXIE DUPREE. There were three – one with Square Books, which had been planned for about four months, and the others (newspaper and radio interviews) came in because of that – which was great – I loved being able to make the most of the time I had there!
The first event was on Saturday, a newspaper interview with Sarah Smith of The Daily Mississippian. The Daily Mississipian is a paper run by the students at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, otherwise known as Ole Miss. For those Rebel followers, we all know the chant used during football games, and for those who don’t, this is the history of “hotty toddy, gosh almighty!”
The newspaper has been in print/circulation since 1911, and is entirely run by the students at the school. Sarah met me at The Southern Eatery in downtown Holly Springs. It was a relaxed and easy-going conversation and Sarah came prepared with great questions. I got a sweet tea, and she ordered water. I coerced her into letting me buy her a dessert after the fact (chocolate pie!) once the interview was over. I got some too – and a banana pudding.
Here is the interview, done in typical journalism fashion, with lots of quotes. I swear I never know if I made sense after the fact, but Sarah made sure to write it as if I did. After the interview, it was my mother in law’s birthday, so we celebrated by going out to eat – and yes, I had CATFISH. Notice the liberal dash of pepper on that coleslaw. This was in Red Banks. We were supposed to go eat in Byhalia, but the place was jam packed and more coming in the door every second, with a thirty minute wait.
Sunday and Monday were supposed to be relaxing days. Unfortunately, because of my Little Dog’s previous bout with pancreatitis (recently diagnosed, and treated six weeks before) the stress of the trip caused a flare up. So, on Sunday, off we went to the vet. And yep, he got another bout of it, and yep, he had three shots, and yep, that meant the rest of the week, I had to “wrangle” with him twice a day to shoot some nasty medicine down his throat. I felt so bad for him! Other than hating that, he recovered nicely and ate like a horse most of the time.
Monday was truly a rest day. Yay!
THE BIG EVENT, the one I’d been anticipating since November was finally here on Tuesday, February 21st. For those who write and dream, this was absolutely a dream come true. Something like four or five years before, when I was standing in Square Books, the owner, Richard Howorth was there and my MIL mentioned that I’d written a book. At that time, I think I had my agent, but of course, the book had not sold yet. I won’t ever forget what Mr. Howorth said, “well, maybe one day we’ll see you here.”
And, look – that happened.
This photo was actually after the “official” event at Off Square Books, the location where they host authors.
I’ll let the pictures do the talking about the actual event itself:
Before I knew it, it was all over. I’ve never had an hour go by so fast. Square Books had me sign all of their inventory, and then, off we went to eat at Ajax Diner.
The very next day, we had to get on the road around 9:30 CST to head to Memphis TN for the radio interview with WYPL, 89.3. I found out from the show’s producer their station is syndicated – wow! More coverage for Dixie Dupree in Arkansas, Colorado and Ohio.
I spent about an hour there, from 11:00 to 12:00 or so, and after I finished the interview, we had to get takeout from Corky’s of course! You can’t go to Memphis and skip the barbecue!
That was Wednesday, which left Thursday and Friday to recover – literally – because somewhere along the way I also picked up a COLD. It’s not a bad one, just enough of a bother to make me feel off kilter.
That said, since my father in law was a judge for about thirteen years in the field trial championships, he, my MIL and my husband headed to the Ames Plantation in Grand Junction, Tennessee on Friday where they saw the presentation of the National Championship award to the best bird dog for this year’s Bird Dog Field Trials. Here are a few shots taken of Ames Plantation and the winning dog, Lester’s Sunny Hill Jo.
I’ll be hunkering down to pick up where I left off with my writing now this is behind me. I had all good intentions of working on my latest project, but I managed to only nit-pick at it while I was gone.
All in all, this was such a wonderful trip, with not only a lot of great exposure for the book, but, a nice visit with family and friends.
I wish I could go back and do it all over again.
I’ll be sure to post the link for the “Book Talk” interview when it airs – I think that will be sometime around late March.
So, so exciting. Glad your little guy is feeling better.
It was very exciting 2N’s. He’s having an off day today, but hope he’ll be back on track soon.
Sounds like a fantastic trip, except for poor Little Dog and your cold. Hope you’re both feeling better.
It was, Beth! And yes, my poor little Mister man, he’s had a rough few weeks! Me? I feel like I’m drugged – I never take anything, but I felt bad enough yesterday, I broke down and took two Sudafed, and today, thought processes are sluggish. Ick. Thank you!
I have goosebumps, Donna! What an amazing trip. I’m soooo happy for you! Sending many healing blessings to you and to Little Dog! <3 <3 <3
I had goosebumps the first time I went into Ames Plantation. Brrrr! 🙂 Thank you for your most kind and healing thoughts, Lilac! <3 <3 <3
HUZZAH!!! Wonderful trip, thank you for letting us all tag along. Especially nice to see as lately when I’ve come to see your blog I was getting the server error thingy again. 🙁 So hi again! And hoping now you get to rest a moment … before the NEXT whirlwind.
Hey Diane – I was told by the people who re-did the blog if that happened, it might be b/c visitors kept an old link? For instance, I got the server error when I just now typed in http://www.donnaeverhart.com – and two sites come up – one is the old one. The way you can tell which one is the “old” is if there’s an “https” at the beginning. I.e. when I typed http://www.donnaeverhart.com, and chose one of the sites (it says USA Today Bestselling author…) it sends you to this: http://donnaeverhart.encarolina.com/ …whereas the NEW one is this http://donnaeverhart.encarolina.com/ (notice there is no “s” at the end of http…)
But yes! It was a wonderful trip. Things should actually be slowing down for promo on DIXIE now – I have a book club in April and then another book event in May, but other than that – I’m writing!
Thank you! That fixed me right up. I was not happy, missing out on your blog.
ONE of the friends I gave Dixie to for Christmas finished it night before last. Here is how effective your writing is, Donna: she is still in recovery. I’m taking my reading slowly – both savoring and also saving it, because it is not easy reading. I ended yesterday at a lovely, even funny moment (after she’s been reading Catcher in the tub), and am resting, waiting for more …
I’m glad that helped! I couldn’t figure it out either – until I did a “test.”
OMG. Your friend! Well…I hope it’s a recovery b/c she thought it good, not bad. 🙂 It is NOT an easy read. And yes, that Catcher moment – ha! I did try to offset the dark with lighter moments. Ah, my little girl Dixie…she seems like a daughter to me.
Yaaaasssssssssssssss!!! Love it. Loved every bit of it like Mississippi catfish. Great memories flashing through my mind when you brought up Hoddy Toddy, Gosh Almighty. I used to trek down to the Grove at Ole Miss for a football game once a season for a few years when a friend had a kid there. Great times.
Your trip sounds A-MAZING! If you could see me right now, you’d know the look of jealousy. So happy for you that it turned out so well, which is a great thing after all that time of planning. Curious about one thing. When you mention that Square Books had you sign their inventory, how many books do they keep on hand? I wouldn’t have thought it’d be very many cuz it’s so easy to order more if someone wants one. So just for the fun of it, I’m gonna guess … um … let’s see since you were giving a talk it was probably higher than normal … so I’ll say a dozen, cousin. (I was really thinking nine, but the rhyme thing persuaded me to guess 12.)
Ah, The Grove. Yes, been there, done that. My FIL had season tickets for quite some time – he’s a HUGE Ole Miss fan. He’d been going to their games for about 50 years, and then gave up the tickets because it was too hard on him with the walking etc.
The trip WAS amazing! And the best part was, I think we ultimately had about 25 folks show up for the event – mostly family/friends, but there were at least four in the audience I didn’t know, who just dropped by. As to the books – OMG. It was WAY more than that – I was actually surprised. I want to say it was somewhere like…30, or 40. They just kept stacking them beside me. I’m not sure if that even counts the inventory in Square Books itself. (the events are held at Off Square Books) I went in there after the fact (as that pic shows above) and there were MORE books there!
Awesome!!!
Why did I think I was going to come here and discover a cover reveal for Bittersweet?
Wait, don’t answer that. There are all kinds of hideous answers to that question, and I can’t think of nary a good one. I’ll go home and write a little, then come back later to check in. Yeah, that’s all the answerin’ I need.
IDK – but there WILL be one on Friday! Deep South Magazine has agreed to do it, and when I get the link, I’m going to post it. I love the cover, and can’t wait for everyone to see it!