Last night my wife, Lane, and I attended the Florida Authors
and Publishers Association annual awards banquet in Disneyworld. It was held at
the conclusion of their annual convention, which we were unable to attend due
to the fact that we had conflicting commitments. We had rented a condo on the
beach in St. Augustine and invited the kids and grandkids to come stay with us.
Most of them were able to spend at least a little time with us, and the week was
quite enjoyable despite the fact that Lane and I caught colds. With all the
hacking and coughing, I managed to give my cold to our daughter Laura before
she flew back to her home in Columbus. After everyone left, we had one day of
just lying around the condo recuperating, and then the next morning we got up
and drove back to Lake City, unloaded our beach stuff, loaded up our awards
banquet stuff, and hit the road going to Orlando. Anyone familiar with the
geography of Florida knows that we did not take the direct route from St.
Augustine to Disneyworld and added about four hours travel time to our trip.
We got to the hotel just in the nick of time to shower,
dress, and find the convention center. There were only thirty minutes left of
the pre-banquet happy hour, which was just as well. I saw one person I knew,
and she did not remember me. It wasn’t long, though, before we had met and
talked to a number of interesting people. The less said about the meal the
better. I found myself wishing that they had gotten the meal catered by Sonny’s
Barbecue rather than Gaston’s Gourmet Confections (the name has been changed to
protect the innocent). The dessert, however, was excellent. But I have never in
my life seen smaller slices of cheesecake. I took two slices and found myself
wishing I’d taken a third, but I was trying not to act like a backwoods ruffian.
My book, Prairie
Defender: The Murder Trials of Abraham Lincoln, was entered in three categories and it medaled in all three. First,
Prairie Defender won a Gold Medal in
the category of Biography. I was extremely proud that I didn’t trip over anyone
going to the rostrum to receive the award. I did grin like a mule eating briars
for the picture, though.
Second, the book won a Silver Medal in the category Adult
Nonfiction. Lane had warned me about my silly grin on the first go-around, and I
tried to smile normally. Didn’t have much luck, though.
The third category was Politics/Current Events. I was kind
of hoping for a Bronze Medal in that category so I could have one of each type.
No such luck. The book won another Gold Medal. This time I think I managed a
better smile.
We met a lot of interesting people who have led
interesting lives, and they all seemed to be quite accomplished in their day
jobs. Next year we plan to schedule our beach vacation around the FAPA
convention.
It just occurred to me that Lane wasn't in any of the pictures. There are two reasons for this omission. Reason 1: She was behind the camera. Reason 2: We were both so doped up on cold medicine we weren't thinking straight. As evidence of Reason 2, when we left the hotel this morning we drove off and left my CPAP machine in our room. I didn't notice the omission until we had completed our four hour drive and were unpacking the car. Luckily, the hotel called, and they're mailing the machine to us. I'll only have to do without it for a few days.
No comments:
Post a Comment