I did not spend my Saturday raking leaves. I don't have leaves. I have drunks. I would like to rake them -- over the coals. Instead, I've taken to just adjusting my hours to suit theirs. Which means I don't sleep Thur-Sunday. I am very productive though. I wrote from 8 a.m. till 4:30 am. Saturday. Yes. That's 4:30 a.m. Then I drove downt to Charleston, SC, for the Lowcounty Women Holiday Book Festival at the Citadel Alumni House, hosted by the Center for Women.

It felt good just to get out of town. It's the only way I can get away from the noise and working.

So many women. So many authors. So many books. I had so much fun, exchaning stories with Anne Rivers Siddons -- who said she got do tongue-tied when she met John Updike that the only thing she could thing to say was You did good. Patti C. Henry told Anne about how she got so excited to meet her in Oxford, Ms. years ago that she was stumbling over herself. I reminded Anne of how we met years ago when my first book came out with Mercer Univ. Press.

Then, Patti introduced me to Sue Monk Kidd (Secret Lives of Bees), and we chatted about spiritual journeys. Patti just finished reading Dance of the Dissident's Daughter, the non-fiction book that Sue penned. It's a thinking book.

Also visited with Mary Alice Monroe who is under deadline right now and with Beth Webb Hart. Hart and I talked about being women of faith in the writers world.

There were plates of pinneapples and strawberries, brownies and wheat thins. Got to see Patti Morrison from Mt. Pleasant Barnes and Noble and chat with her. Met some other wonderful writers, got to do some shopping myself and all in all was reminded that oh, yeah, I love hanging with the girls...

Meghan Henry, Patti C. Henry, Sue Monk Kidd and that's her hubby peeking over the shoulder.

I haven't seen Anne Rivers Siddons since 1998 when we were both at a dinner for Mercer Univ. Press. It was good to catch up with ARS again. I told her I used to count the words in her sentences. I found one that was 85 words long. I have read everything of ARS. Love, love her. She is a sweetheart.

Look, Konnie, are you jealous? It's me with your favorite author -- Patti -- and her beautiful daughter, Meghan.