Warner Books editor Natalie Kaire (left) and publicist Elly Weisenberg flank the bewigged Pulpwood Queens book club founder Kathy L. Patrick at the Hair Ball, the Saturday night party for the 2007 Pulpwood Girlfriends Weekend in Marshall, Texas. Warner will be publishing Patrick’s inspirational Pulpwood Queen’s Tiara Wearing, Book Sharing Guide to Life later this year. Since the theme of this year’s festival was Hollywood, I went out to talk about my book, The Stewardess Is Flying the Plane, but mostly I just hung out and enjoyed the scene, meeting up with fellow New Yorkers Carolyn Turgeon and Rona Berg and getting to know a whole bunch of great writers as we hung out in the lobby of The Marshall, the downtown hotel currently undergoing a million-dollar renovation, and signed copies of our books between presentations and panels.
Check out the local news coverage in the Marshall News Messenger for stories from the weekend, including this shot of me taking a reading break before my event (though I could still hear everything going on on the main floor behind that black curtain). And I really lucked out, because instead of having to stay at the Motel 6 out on the highway, I met the owners of the Yellow Rose Inn, who very generously let me stay at their charming Victorian bed-and-breakfast just about five blocks from all the festivities. (If you’re ever in town for a Pulpwood Queens book club event, or for Patrick’s inspirational literary festival Books Alive!, you should definitely try to get a room there!)
The weekend even turned into a bit of a reunion—not only did I run into my old pal Kathi Kamen Goldmark, my presentation was immediately preceded by Cathyrn Michon, who I interviewed back in 2001, talking about her two books and her recently completed film, Cook-Off!, which she co-wrote with W. Bruce Cameron (the creator of 8 Simple Rules… for Dating My Teenage Daughter) and Wendi McLendon-Covey of Reno 911. It’ll debut at the Aspen Comedy Festival next month, but we all hovered around a TV to watch a five-minute trailer; it’ll do for baking what Best in Show did for dog breeding.
You can see more photos from the Pulpwood Girlfriends Weekend on my Flickr photostream.