Georgia Indie Book Faire

We were invited to attend the Georgia Indie Book Faire in Albany, Georgia March 7. It took me weeks to prepare everything for the Faire. Heber, my husband and the second half of our publishing duo, had no clue what I was doing. I designed and/or printed brochures, business cards, QR code handouts, QR Code stickers, and thank you stickers. On top of that, the videos were time consuming and required new skill sets. I had two or three already done, but had to put together one for each of us that generally introduced all of our work while playing some music in the background. I also designed a trailer for Carrie's Song, my award winning novel on Carrie Crawford Smith. I had to learn how to string those five videos together to play on a loop. In addition, I had to decide which projector and projector screen would work for the space. I did all of that with the help of Gemini and ChatGPT. Some of their advice and guidance was invaluable. Some of it I had to adjust. But it was a real eye opener that I could learn things by asking AI for help. Then, there was all the stuff that had to be ordered besides the electronic equipment -- bags, banners, poster, book stands, projector stand, projector screen, brochure stands, table cloth etc. After we arrived and began setting up, Heber understood everything. He understood even more when we began to get visitors to our table. The video that ran on a loop attracted visitors. I set it up on the wall behind us. I had no idea what the space was like. I was discouraged that we didn't have a screen to hide the crates and bags we used to carry everything inside the building. Next time. But it seemed that visitors weren't too bothered by it. We made several friends while there. I was surprised and heartened by the people who wanted to talk. I wanted to listen. It was so intriguing hearing the various stories from people from different walks of life. One woman said she was rethinking being a white woman with privilege. Another two women told us of their retirement activites. They were so pleasant and engaging. One of them encouraged me to go ahead and cut those squares or stars that I want to use to make a quilt. I've had the material sitting on the shelf in my study, but just can't get up the nerve to make the first cut. Because of her, I'll try. Another man visited and asked me about the different name I had published under. When I first published A Home for Easter, I thought maybe some indigenous family and some African American relatives on my father's side might object to the story. So I used Kate Ayre Campbell. It was a nod to my indigenous ancestry and to my father's Scottish ancestry, but at the same time, kept me out of the history directly. After I'd published it, I realized, no one really cared. I was having a tough time getting people to read the book. So I began to use my real name -- Dale Marie Taylor -- for everything I published under historical fiction. The first set became The Apple Hill series of books. After A Home for Easter, I wrote Hester's Journey, about Easter's daughter. She served as a nurse in the U.S. Civil War; I strove to tear apart stereoptypes about Confederates as well as Union soldiers. I also wrote of women who fought in the Civil War. Though it was not permitted legally, many women dressed as men and fought valiantly. The third book in the Apple Hill series is For the Love of Minnie. I wrote it with no little amount of trepidation as it was getting closer to the time that those who were still alive could remember. (Spoiler alert) Family lore on my father's side had it that her lover killed her. But which lover was it? Was it the white James Rhea or mixed race Henry Dabney. The Rheas would have us believe that it was Henry. I'm dissapointed in the way I developed Henry in this story. My doctoral research was on mixed race people and how the media and society polarizes mixed race individuals as villains or as non persons. Henry is not a bad person, but he is mischievious. I'll do better next time. The next book will be about my grandmother, Nellie. Her husband was murdered tragically. I want to tell her inspirational story of survival. I met her once when I was teenager. My parents separated when I was young, so I did not get to know many of my father's family until I was an adult. Better late than never. Carrie's Song in a separate Flight of the Heart series is about my great grandmother, Carrie Crawford Smith on my mother's side. We had a little bit of tension in my mother's family about how to handle that story. My grand uncle Melvin claimed that Carrie was abused by Edward, her husband. But I did not find evidence of that. I went ahead and began the second book in that series by beginning with Edward's story in The Music They Made. Many people assume that since my stories are named after women that there are no male heros. Edward's role puts that notion to rest. The story opens in Cuba just after Edward has survived the explosion of the USS Maine. Edward's story blends into a story about the two of them making their home in Chicago. Like many other African Americans, they moved from the Nashville, Tennessee area to the north in hopes of a better life. Many non fiction books have been written about the anguish and odyssey that African Americans experienced as they migrated from the south to the north. Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns expresses this well. I do so by focusing on the individuals who experienced this migration in a close up and personal manner. It has been a journey telling these stories. Much research goes into the effort. However, I do enjoy the work and the outcome. Peace.