Leslie Anne Tarabella Southern With a Gulf Coast Accent

I’ll have two separate stories in the paper this week about my interview with Fannie Flagg. This first one tells about the craziness leading up to the phone interview (nothing’s ever easy, right?), then the second story is about what I learned from talking with the popular Alabama-born actress and author.

Don’t forget, her book comes out today and she’ll be in Fairhope next Tuesday, speaking at the Civic Center! Click HERE for details.

So . . . here’s the first story. If you click over to the AL.com page to finish reading, at the bottom of that page, you’ll find another link to the second story. I’ll also post that story here on the blog later. (As always, thanks for reading and sharing!!!).

When I got to the part of Fannie Flagg’s first book where Daisy Fay was crowned Miss Mississippi and couldn’t think of a thing to say when the microphone was shoved in her face, except for a naughty phrase, I literally laughed so hard, I fell off the bed and landed on my back, wedged between the bed and the wall. My husband crawled over to the side of the mattress and peered down at me, which made me laugh even harder.

That’s a sign of a good storyteller, and it’s also why I was double-dog excited to get to interview Fannie Flagg regarding her latest book, “The Whole Town’s Talking.” Although Ms. Flagg, or “Fannie” as I can now call her (name-drop, name-drop), no longer owns a home in Alabama, she still comes to visit friends and spends time writing in Fairhope. The popular author and actress now lives in her adopted state of California to be near work contacts.

Fannie’s publicist contacted me to arrange a phone interview (Oh! I was hoping it would be in person, couldn’t they just fly me out to California for the day?), and got my number so the author could call me. I don’t know why in the world they wouldn’t let me have her number. I told them I would only use it for emergencies, like if I needed her recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes. I’m sure no one has ever asked her about that.

Expecting the call at 3pm, I made sure I had everything ready. Wait, was it 3pm my time, or West coast time? Should I take notes on the computer or use the recorder on my phone? Dang it! I couldn’t figure out how to make the recorder work while I talked. I needed a glass of water in case I got choked up, but it spilled everywhere, so I had to run around cleaning it up.

With 5 minutes left, my husband’s dog, Doug, started barking wildly at the front door. He was going crazy over a fly, so I got up to shoo it away, only to see him swallow not a fly, but a bee. “No! Bad boy! Spit it out!” He must have understood, because he opened his mouth, and out flew the bee, but not before giving him a sharp sting. Doug howled and pawed at his snout, then . . . click HERE to finish reading the story at AL.com