I love the picture that conjures up, of Dr. Wessels up to his knees in the creek, with a line of box turtles and snappers waving their little turtle heads and singing, “As I Went Down To the River To Pray”. As long as the Holy Spirit doesn’t descend on any of them in the form of an eagle, it’s a happy little scenario.
What I mean, of course, is that we are kindred spirits in that we both brake for turtles crossing the road. Then we differ. I favor moving them to the side of the road they’re facing. He favors taking them someplace where there is no nearby road. I’m like, what if they have wives and children waiting for them? Like, “Daddy went out for a pack of cigarettes and never came back.” He believes that is unlikely.
The Southern Indiana Writers had a book signing yesterday. Many of us came, but few of the people who showed great enthusiasm when I told them about it actually showed up. We did sell some books, but not many. Maybe a library is not a particularly good venue for us. We’re working with Magdalena’s on an event for July that sounds like a lot of fun. More details as they emerge. It was kind of pathetic–Karen was standing there trying to work out the details with us and we were all talking at once, mostly at cross-purposes. It’s like herding cats. We WILL work it out, though.
MA
writing prompt: Write a scene where somebody has to baptize a turtle.
Here is where I post my personal stuff and free stuff: Flashbacks (the Hot Flash archives), recipes and free stories, and where I ramble on about whatever happens to fall through my mind. I also have a 
4 comments
Comments feed for this article
May 31, 2009 at 10:14 am
Joanna Foreman
As one of the Southern Indiana Writers I saw our signing at the library yesterday as being very successful, considering that people come to the library to borrow books, not buy them. I’ve got a nice-sized deposit for our bank account tomorrow, anyway. And I saw Magdalena’s communication with Karen not as pathetic, but as an inspiration, an open-door to begin discussions among members. Cross-purposes? No merely brainstorming, sending out ideas, creative ones at that, for what might possibly be our next event. Rome wasn’t built in a day, to use a common cliche. I agree that turtles crossing the road should be brought to the side of the road. You can lead a turtle to water, but you can’t take its family with you.
May 31, 2009 at 11:45 am
marianallen
You’re right, Joanna–we DID do well, considering that people come to the library for FREE books. Our success at the library was, though, relative, taking into consideration the number of people who said, “I wish I had brought some money, but I didn’t expect to need it.” Which is what I meant when I said that I wondered if the library was a good venue for us. We did a lot better at the Chautauqua, where people KNEW they were going to drop some coin.
I stand by “pathetic”, though–I always feel sorry for people who are used to linear communication when they get in the middle of one of our brainstorms. WE know that cross-purposes=cross-pollination, but it doesn’t always sound like that to people who aren’t used to us. heh! When one person is talking menu and another is talking schedule and another is talking some other aspect, it can SOUND disconnected, when it’s really a network that all needs to work together, so why not discuss it all together? I really like all the ideas for the event that are bouncing around the list. Go us!
May 31, 2009 at 1:58 pm
T. Lee
We need to find a few more venues like the Chautauqua, too. That not only worked well for sales, but for meeting people, too.
May 31, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Carol
I wanted to come visit, but again, I had no car as hubby needed it to drive to work. Maybe next time.
Carol