In the frame with Pat Conroy, THE PRINCE OF TIDES & Steven Wallace when he was at Random House, and a note from Rick Bragg

William Gay's TWILIGHT was first called CUT FLOWERS

A manuscript page from William Gay's LOST COUNTRY

In the middle of the page, the paragraph from which William Gay took the title LOST COUNTRY

At a talk with Rick Bragg, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of ALL OVER BUT THE SHOUTIN'

...and a book signing.

With Darrelyn Saloom, author of MY CALL TO THE RING, at the Louisiana Book Festival

With Rick Bragg and some Atlanta Writers Club members

Singing to Tom Franklin, author of POACHERS, and CROOKED LETTER, CROOKED LETTER

With pal David Hicks and Jamie & Kelly Kornegay, owners of TURNROW BOOKS in Greenwood MS

With Rick Bragg, Jill Conner Browne, author of all the Sweet Potato Queen books, and John Evans, owner of Lemuria Bookstore in Jackson MS, and sometimes hailed as the Producer & Director of the Southern Literary Walk of Fame

With Heather Hickox & Stephanie Crowe of Page & Palette, my Fairhope hometown bookstore

Then there's this: When I got my degree in English and career day came and went without a job offer, I strapped on my tool belt and went to work as a carpenter, which segued into Bay 98 Construction company and 17 men on our payroll. I still have my tools, and a good deal of my strength. Here, I've been framing-up a little cottage I built recently. The old surgeon Tomas in Milan Kundera's THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING finds himself content to be a window washer and a farmer. And, for me, too, there is a certain contentment in this kind of plain work with my hands. As they say to aspiring writers: Don't give up your day job.