As the Sycamore Grows named in USA Best Books 2011 Awards.

Award-winning finalist in USA Best Books 2011 competition among books published in 2010 and 2011 from major and independent publishers in the U.S.  Sycamore named finalist in the Women’s Issues category.

This award brings Sycamore’s tally to SIX literary awards. Previous awards were top honors in Narrative Nonfiction, Memoir and the Southeast Region from Reader Views Literary Awards and International Book Award finalists in two categories.

#1 Best seller---ahead of The Help

Little Professor Books in Birmingham, AL, announced As the Sycamore Grows was its #1 best seller for the past week.

I found it on the sidewalk in Wickenburg, Arizona, two years ago, a dollar bill folded into a tight wad. When I straightened it out, I found a message sending me to an online address. The site tracks each sighting of the dollar and asks each finder to drop it off somewhere else so it will continue it’s journey.

So—I’ve launched two copies of As the Sycamore Grows, one called Ginger and the other Jennie, as travel books. They each left Atlanta over the weekend and, if people follow directions, we’ll keep up with them as they travel from reader to reader.  Instructions are taped inside the front cover and the front of the books are marked.

What do you think? Any bets on how far they’ll go? Or for how long? Send your estimates here. A prize for the one coming closest  in miles by this date 2012.

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JUST IN:

Kathy Striplin

Barbara Patton, Jennie and Janet Smith at Heritage Gifts, Opelika, AL

Heather Champagne's margaritas, fajitas and deep book talk

Met Betty Pridmore, rekindled friendship with Barbara Patton, former mayor of Opelika. And surprise of surprises, Dee Dee Ellis Harper came to my book signing. Dee Dee and my little sister were playmates many years ago, and memories tumbled down with Dee Dee’s visit.

Then a meeting via Skype with Anita Buice’s book club in Carrollton, GA, while Cliff the editor of the Opelika newspaper and Janet waited at a restaurant. And on to Carrollton the next day to see Liz Enney and Rick North’s antique cars with Gadsden friends Joanie and Bill Leach.

One of Liz' vintage cars

Then home. Only to leave a few days later for Birmingham and a similar fast-paced couple of days. A night with Sandra Berman, lunch with Della Fancher, an interview at the Southern Jewish Life magazine offices about my book Hanukkah Trivia, then a book club talk over fajitas with Heather Champagne’s group. And the next day a signing at Little Professor and lots of hugs and chats with friends such as Bette Anne Bargeron, Carol Poyner, Linda Garrard Butler, Nancy Delaney and others. And most especially Robert Roebuck, age 3, with parents Rob and Meg, then Missy Roebuck Nolen. And credit goes to Mary Roebuck for drumming up a crowd. And thanks to Terrell Spencer, the handiest of men, for repairing a display banner that a MIT engineer declared unrepairable. Great fun, everybody. And thanks.

And now home again. Repacking. Ready to head out again.

No stick. Something big and black, a part of the car hanging down to the road. The black plastic that houses whatever sits at the front under the engine.

Sunday morning and 30 miles into a 300 mile trip. I had to fix it right then and there. So I duct taped it back in place and drove to the beach. Worked like a charm. I didn’t give it another thought until I was in the shower two days later. That’s when I noticed the towel.

To back up, Janet Smith, a long time friend now living in Opelika, volunteered to be my PR agent through lower Alabama, mainly because she’s either related to most of the people there and good friends with the rest. She mapped out a route that began with a reunion of her girlhood friends in Geneva in the eastern corner of the state and proceeded across to Orange Beach, Fairhope, and Mobile in the west.  All lovely southern ladies, gracious hostesses, lovely homes, all new to me.

As was the Dry Clean Only towel at the home in Fairhope. Now what do you do with a towel that requires dry cleaning? Can it get wet? I wondered as I stood dripping in the shower, thinking about my duct taped car in the driveway.

At Orange Beach, I spoke to the Friends of the Library. Great meeting, several long time friends surprising me by coming, and a good attentive audience. President Pat White should be a publicist since she plastered the coast from Pensacola to Mobile with news announcements and press coverage.

Afterwards invitations came from other groups in the area, so I’ll go back the first week of October to speak to a writers group, at a book store and to the Unitarian congregation in Fairhope.

The duct tape held until three days later, just before time to return home. By then the blazing summer heat, not to mention that of the pavement and the car’s engine and exhaust lines and who knows what else, all had made the tape turn loose. This time I looked for help.

I programed my GPS for the Honda dealership and it took me directly to Thompson Chevrolet, which turned out to be fortunate since they screwed the black piece back in place. Cost me $37 and about that many minutes. Probably far less than the Dry Clean Only towel cost.

As usual, the conversation moved back and forth from Ginger’s experience to that of domestic violence overall. We talked about patterns that follow families and how abuse takes many forms. Becky pointed out that not all her patients had suffered physical violence. Some women are so restricted in their use of money and/or where they can go that dental care may be neglected.

One woman was quite certain she would never submit to such control by another person, and she probably would not. Vivacious, self-assured, confident, she wouldn’t be the target of an abuser.

But yet another woman spoke up, as so often happens. “You don’t know,” she said. “You haven’t had someone pick away at you until you had no sense of self left. I know. I came up in all that. “

Jennie speaking to Professional Women of Atlanta's Dress for Success

for Success, the Professional Work Group. A very attentive group with much lively discussion afterward.

I raided my closet of Carlisle leather and snakeskin belts to give as door prizes. Here Barbara Stone finds her size in a wide brown snakeskin with a big buckle. Barbara wants to take up writing, now that she’s retired. She’s lived all over the world, was once married to an African prince, and she says she has amazing stories to tell. She already has her MA degree, so she knows how to write well. Turning those skills into writing for publication are all she needs now.  

Dress for Success will hold a Garden Party fundraiser at The Mansion on Peachtree on June 5, and there’ll be a prize for the finest hat. Since I’ll be out of town, I offered to let someone wear my Sycamore hat, the one I wore to the Big Hair Ball in Texas.  Lucy LaVoulle volunteered. Lucy and I are about the same height, so she just might wear the whole costume. We’ll see.

Former Agnes Scott classmate Virginia Philip set up this talk. Virginia is past president of the group.

As the Sycamore Grows is an award winner in Narrative Nonfiction and also in Women’s Issues.

Entries for the competition came from around the world and included books published from 2009 to the present.

Listen in!

Barry Eva-Jennie 4-20-11

To hear other conversations with Barry Eva visit the website for his show on Blog Talk Radio and search for “Jennie Helderman” to find the audio for her other 3 talks with him.

Erik Hines Interview 4-18-11