After I had taken care of the needs of my parents Monday in Oklahoma, I drove to Abilene and spent the night in a La Quinta room. Tuesday morning, I was interviewed by Gary McCaleb, former mayor of Abilene who now works for ACU, for his morning television show. It was a thirty minute interview, so it should be quite helpful in the promotion of my writing. I then spoke at a lunch banquet for Abilene Christian University’s English students who were graduating that year. After the banquet, I spoke in a creative writing class called, Christians and Creativity. The instructor, Al Hayley, is the university’s writer in residence. I found him sharp, intuitive, and generous. He has put together a great syllabus for this course. If you’d like to see it, email me at rickeyp@bayou.com and I’ll send you a copy. They had wanted me to read from my work, so for the banquet I read, “The Taking of Jim Limber” from Stories of the Confederate South, and for the creative writing class, I read a short story, “The Lost Bazaar.” About five in the afternoon, I began the 476 mile drive back to Monroe. It rained the whole trip, but I made it back without mishap, though I must have seen at least a dozen or so wrecks while driving through Dallas and Fort Worth.
Here is Abilene Christian University’s Web site if you’d like to know more about my Alma Mater. Be sure and check out the sculpture (which was breathtaking) called Jacob’s Ladder. http://www.acu.edu/