In the Real World

Back When I was dreaming of being a writer (all my  life) I imagined. And My imagination can really roll out a good one, it could have looked different. As a little girl my favorite book that I asked Mom to read over and over and over was Four Little Kittens. In the book the Mother cat who 'half-closed her green eyes' sat up and told the kittens exactly what kind of cats there were. A Ship Cat, An Alley Cat, A Farm Cat - and much later in the story after many hijinks we found out that the forth little kitten was really a House Cat. Well, I really, really am a Writer Cat  Since I spent a lot of time in my room writing stories and daydreaming, time at the beach on a blanket getting sun and further daydreaming, time hunched over the typewriter keys (oh, yes, I SAID typewriter) and daydreaming. I had plenty of time to imagine what the sexy, sassy, lifestyle of a real writer would look like.

The way it Could Have Been . . . 

8:00 -9:00 Wake up in Milan, Paris, Cairo - stretch and open to the door to room service which has delivered strong, fresh, pressed coffee and crepes. 

9:00 - Stare off the beautiful balcony of said foreign city into infinity gathering the inspiration of the ages from the smells and sounds and open vistas 

At Some Point - Write beautiful words of inspiration that move the souls of readers everywhere to cry and laugh and exclaim yes! yes! this is it~ (Whatever their 'it' may be)

Nap
Evening - Have a lovely dinner out with locals and writer friends also living and traveling on foreign shores and lands and experiencing the good life

And later that Night - Walk casually back to great old, hotel in the heart of the city.

True Nightynite - Order a nap cap and massage from room service

In the wee hours - read until the book hits me in the head

The Way It Really Is .  .
6:00 Wake up with cat meowing in my face
6:30 - Stumble to coffee maker with strong, cheap coffee
7:00 - Let out the Big Dog
7:03 - Let in the Big Dog
7:30 - Clean Up Hair Balls
7:40 - Try to settle into a little Prayer Time. Prayer is good. I like prayer.
7:45 - Walk Big Dog
8:30ish - Answer emails
9:00 - Stare at list of unfinished projects
10:00 - still staring - think about working on Novel
11:00 - Stare at pile of dirty laundry - think about doing laundry
11:05 - Read Facebook posts from friends - post 3 comments
12:00 - realize it's lunch and I should take a break
12:05 - find can of Tuna from the road
1:00 - Think about novel while having press meetings on phone
2:00 - Look schedule for the year
2:15 - Feel like I am forgetting something - IMPORTANT (LIke, should I be out of town?)
2:30 - Talk to Shellie about strange and wonderous ways to increase Book Sales
3:00 - Think about writing novel while returning emails
4:00 - Finally put on a load of laundry and clear dishes
5:00 - Wonder why room service hasn't delivered dinner
5:05 - Oh yeah, realize room service isn't coming
5:15 - Take something out to thaw

5:30 - Realize food is frozen solid - which reminds me of novel
5:35 - Order take out from Mexican Restaurant
5:40 - Let out Big Dog
6:00 - Drive to pick up food with Big Dog
6:30 - Answer emails
7:00 - Talk to sister on the phone
8:00 - Get out laptop to work on novel
8:05 - Let out Big Dog
8:08 - Let in Big Dog
8:15 - Watch PBS Special on National Parks (and then turn channel to watch 4 episodes of Malcolm in the Middle reruns
10:00 - Let out Big Dog for Last Bark
10:10 - Let in Big Dog
10:15 - Clean cat pan
10:30 - Read until the book hits me in the head


Obviously, at some point I have written a few words down. I've completed four novels, a small collection of essays and this wonderful collection of what I actually consider other peoples stories in Praying for Strangers: An Adventure of the Human Spirit. The fact is that my real writer's life is so different than I would have imagined back in elementary, middle, or high school that I don't know how I've managed to write a single word down. Ever. (Except for the blessed friends who have tossed me keys to remote rooms, houses, and cabins over the years and said - stay - Write!)

The glamour of my life is missing. No matter what the smoke screen of the website may look like on any given day. I'm trying to remember if I Paid the 'light bill' as we are hit by a power outage and I immediately think it's my fault. At some point I juggle producing and hosting Clearstory Radio and getting to talk to so many of my author friends on the air. Somehow, they are managing to write, eat, walk, talk and chew gum all at the same time. Me - not so much.

I'm still staring off into space. (Is that the middle distance I see?) and thinking about that novel in the works and how many words behind I am.  The City of Truth it is called. And someday in spite of the odds, the business, the money (or the lack thereof), and in spite of mostly myself - I will write every, blessed word of that story. In the real world.


River Jordan is a real writer in the real world whose imagination can take her to far away places where room service never ends and the hotel bookstore is always open.

Book Festivals

The Big News

First, the big news: my new Avery Andrews book Hush My Mouth, the 4th Southern Fried Mystery, hit bookstores this week. Yeah! I got my first glimpse of it stacked on The Happy Bookseller’s table at the South Carolina Book Festival. Great fun.

Book Festivals

Not until I’d published my first book did I know the wonder of book festivals. How did I miss this? Now I’m a passionate fan.

Most book festivals are free. Many states host one. Lots of cities or libraries hold local ones. For readers, they’re all fun.

Festivals Big and Small

So what goes on at a book festival? The South Carolina Book Festival, which was held this past weekend in Columbia, is one of the best. For three days, readers, writers, and booksellers all mingled. They sat in panels listening to writers tell funny or poignant stories about how they came to write their books, or stood in line to get a favorite writer to autograph his latest book. Or drooled over goodies from a new Southern cookbook. Or browsed tables laden with books looking for new titles by favorite writers or for a new writer who will become a favorite.

Some book festivals are gigantic, such as the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C. or the Edinburgh International Book Festival in Scotland. Others are small and intimate, like BookMarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

This weekend in South Carolina, I moderated a panel with memoirist Kim Sunee and Southern cookbook authors Nathalie Dupree and Sallie Ann Robinson. If you wanted to hear about how being abandoned as a child in a South Korean market led to a cooking memoir or the salacious inside scoop on mentions in Pat Conroy’s cookbook, you just had to be there!

Not surprisingly, mystery panels are perennial favorites at book festivals, as are cooking panels. What’s not to love? But lovers of books on history, romance, current events, gardening, or whatever else ignites passion will find plenty of delights.

I’ve met writers whose books I’ve enjoyed (such as a chance to chat with thriller writer Peter Abrahams about his children’s books or to spend an entire evening sitting next to mystery writer Nancy Pickard, one of my all-time favorites. [I have a photo of this -- but my eyes are closed and Nancy was cut out of the picture, so it really doesn't prove much of anything.]

Libraries also have festivals, some big events, some small and intimate. In Charlotte, the Novello Festival spreads its events over several weeks, invites the likes of John Grisham and Margaret Maron, and includes a special children’s event and local writers’ night.

The Center for the Book website lists contacts for most of the big festivals by both date and by state, but you may have to hunt for some of the smaller, local ones.

Visit the Bloggers

Want to try an upcoming book festival? Come visit The Virginia Festival of the Book in Charlottesville, Virginia, March 26-30, with me and blogmate T. Lynn Ocean. Walter Mosley and Jan Karon will be there, too – in case that’s a bigger draw for you.

Tell Us About Other Festivals?

Know a good local festival? Tell us about it in a comment below. Don’t keep it a secret!