Strange...when I click on Review instead of Edit, the Blog is right where it should be...

David Baldacci spoke for over an hour today at Trinity Ecumenical, and he was SO funny! He told the most delightful stories about his writing, about encounters with people in airports reading his book, about writing his books (14 bestsellers!), about living at Smith Mountain Lake, about his kids...I am SO glad I went. Tickets were free, but collections were taken up for both the Moneta Branch of the Bedford Library, and the Westlake Branch of the Franklin County Library.

When it was mentioned that it had taken two years to get Baldacci there as a speaker, he said that whatever was collected, he would match...then he grinned, saying that might have made the 2-year wait bearable!

I bought a copy of his first-ever book and left it at the library for him to autograph, rather than stand in a very long line. Tickets were numbered, and I would have had to take #211 in line. I'm not able to stand and stand as yet, so that was the simpler plan.

We also had been asked to bring a 'gently used' book, paperback or hard cover, to donate to a charity he and other writers contribute to, promoting literacy to children without books to rely on.

I believe he also participated in an evening dinner program, but I'm not certain. We are so fortunate to have David Baldacci as a summertime neighbor and as someone who values libraries enough to assist in fund raising for them.