Leslie Anne Tarabella Southern With a Gulf Coast Accent

Speaking to groups has perked me up because I love the benefit of meeting readers. It also makes me happy when I receive notes like the one below. This man lives in Louisiana and is referring to a story from We Don’t Push in Fairhope.

Leslie Anne, I can’t tell you how much I have enjoyed the stories in your books-stories about the South, about the bay, about going to church . .  . stories about your boys, and community spirit. Your Campers in Love story brought tears to my eyes, such that I had to momentarily put my book aside and go wash my face.  You are a really gifted writer who can see the good in humanity, and share it with others. – D. M. 

All this to say, sometimes it’s nice to get positive feedback, especially when you feel burned out.

This is the silliest painting I did this summer, and it may be my favorite.

Here’s a list of some of the things I did this summer

• Googled important things like: What happened to singer Adam Ant? 
• Baked a Strawberry cake from a recipe found in an old church cookbook.
• Did a detailed cleaning of my chandelier – expecting a new crop of thousands of little rainbows this fall when the sunrise shifts directions ever so slightly. It’s like waking up inside of a diamond.
• Cooked big batches of bolognase to freeze
• Sorted through literally over a thousand old photos – and paper documents my mother had in storage. I called them “boxes of sadness” because most are memories of people no longer here. A heavy-hearted task and I still have a small storage room yet to sort. 
• Tended to my garden and prolific fig tree.
• Went swimming almost every day it wasn’t lightning.
• Ruined my skin in the sun, even though I know better.  
• Threw a 106th birthday party for my friend Jule.
• Moved Jule to a new Nursing Facility closer to her friends.
• Taught Jule how to use a cell phone. (ongoing). 
• Took care of my mother, which involves searching for her phone most days. 
• Was the guest speaker at the Fairhope Elementary West back-to-school kick-off rally.
• Spoke at a wonderful church in Mobile for their ladies’ ministry launch dinner.
• Started a new writing project for children.
• Brainstormed an idea I love, for another book but frustrated it’s not coming together faster. 
• Signed books at Books-a-Million in Gulf Shores.
• Won a humor award from The National Association of Newspaper Columnists. Their comment was, “Tarabella takes me right into scenes full of animation and hilarious shenanigans. Very entertaining!” Hmm. I’ll take it.
• Took an online sewing class to learn how to insert zippers. 
• Took an online painting class to learn that I’m doing it all wrong. 
• Painted some pictures that are goofy – (see above and below) but I don’t care because they make me laugh. 
• Read some books. (Fannie Flagg’s new book, O. Henry classics, re-read Alabama Moon and others)
• Stayed as busy as possible to avoid confronting my writer’s block. 
• Realized it’s not really writer’s block, but writer’s exhaustion. 
• Started working on new newspaper columns. Finally.

And now that fall has arrived and tourists have gone, I’ll start walking on the beach. 

I hope you had a wonderful summer and are ready to tackle the busy fall and wintertime schedules.

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Here’s the latest newspaper column from Lagniappe News in Mobile, Alabama – it’s called, “How to stop the Spitting.” Yes, – yuck.