Fannie Flagg / Features / Untitled Books

"The first thing we did after renting a car was to stop at a restaurant called The Cracker Barrel and eat some good old-fashioned southern food. I had fried chicken livers, fried okra, corn bread, turnip greens and black-eyed peas..."

Fannie Flagg

Fannie Flagg, acclaimed author of Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, logs the first week of her American tour promoting her new novel. It was a week brimming with southern charm and grits and fried chicken - and the occasional slice of pie...

Thursday

Today is a very busy day, tomorrow morning I leave my home in California to start a six-week tour for my new book I Still Dream About You and I am still not packed. In the coming weeks, I will be visiting about 15 different cities in 10 different states. I am happy to be going to so many places and meeting so many people.
When writing a book, I have to be alone so much of the time, I really look forward to getting out of my office and into the world again. What I am not very happy about is the fact that as of this morning, I have not lost that extra ten pounds I had hoped to lose before the tour started. And so the new clothes I bought a few months ago especially are now going to be a little too tight. Oh well, nothing to be done about it now... And just how do you pack for six weeks? The car is coming at six am to take me to the airport and I can't find my cat Henry.

Friday

Good news. I found the cat, and he is now at home with the cat sitter and doing well. This morning my friend who is going with me on the tour picked me up and we drove to the Los Angeles International airport, about two hours from Santa Barbara, to catch a plane to New Orleans. We drove along the Pacific Coast Highway and it so beautiful to see the sun come up over the ocean. More good news, our plane left right on time and thank heavens there were very few bumps, (I am a very nervous flyer), and we even landed a few minutes early. I was surprised to find the temperature in New Orleans was in the eighties, hot and humid. When I left California this morning it was in the sixties and cool. The first thing we did after renting a car was to stop at a restaurant called the Cracker Barrel and eat some good old-fashioned southern food. I had fried chicken livers, fried okra, corn bread, turnip greens and black-eyed peas... so much for my diet. To my credit, I did not have dessert. But if I had, I would have had either the homemade lemon icebox pie with the graham cracker crust or the coconut cake. After dinner we drove on to my home state of Alabama, about two-and-a-half hours from New Orleans, where I will be doing my first two talks and book signings on Tuesday, the day the book goes on sale.

Saturday

I woke up in a wonderful little town in south Alabama called Fairhope, overlooking Mobile Bay. I walked out on my balcony and was greeted by a flock of Blue Herons and pelicans flying by. After enjoying my coffee and having three telephone interviews, I had to get ready to go to lunch. A year ago the Fairhope Public Library held a charity auction and one of the items bid on was lunch with me, and today I went to lunch with the lady who bought me and three of her friends. I had a wonderful time. The people in Alabama are so sweet. I had fried chicken and biscuits with honey - and key lime pie. It looked too good to pass up.
Later that afternoon I drove to Magnolia Springs, a charming little town about ten miles from Fairhope, to visit my childhood friend Frances Cleverdon. Magnolia Springs is located on the Magnolia River, a crystal clear river, and it is one of the last towns in the United States that still has mail delivered by boat. There is only one street and it is lined with lovely old oak trees with Spanish moss hanging from all the branches. I wrote about this town in A Redbird Christmas and the lead character in the book was named after my friend Frances. We had a lovely visit and she cooked me some cheese grits. Delicious. And oh... I forgot... just a small piece of red velvet cake.

Sunday

It is beautiful here on the bay, the temperature is around 78 degrees and this morning I went to the little Unity Church. I love this little church. It is entirely nondenominational, all people from all walks of life are welcome.
One of the hazards of flying is other people's germs and unfortunately this morning I felt as if I had a cold coming on, so I stayed in bed this afternoon to rest up for my big day on Tuesday. I enjoyed watching the shows on PBS. They had a wonderful special on the British monarchy and I really enjoyed it. I love the clothes, the uniforms and the pageantry. I can't speak for all Americans but I for one miss not having a Queen.
The sunset over the bay tonight was so lovely. I saw many ducks and geese flying by. And then later as the stars came out, I could see the twinkling lights of the city of Mobile across the bay. I wish I could stay here another few days.

Monday

Woke up sneezing. Oh dear, I have a cold, and not only that, this morning I got an early call from my publisher in New York to tell me that one of the bookstores where I was going to do a book signing had suddenly closed. This is happening a lot more lately. With the advent of e-books on top of Amazon, bookstores here are in big trouble. It is sad to think that one day so many bookstores might be gone. I may be old-fashioned but I love bookstores and I love real books. I don't want to browse online. I want to go to a real bookstore and talk to real people.
Tomorrow will be my first big event, a luncheon for nine hundred people in Mobile, before going on to the Civic Center in Fairhope. It will be a hectic day. This afternoon I have to pre-sign 800 books for the luncheon...

Tuesday

Today was the first official day of my book tour. This morning we drove to Mobile and I arrived at the big Convention Center where the luncheon was being held. It was great - Southern women are the best audience; they love to laugh! Afterward we drove back to Fairhope, and at 5 in the afternoon I went to the Civic Center and pre-signed another 600 books. When I arrived I saw the local bakery had made eight large sheet cakes for the audience to eat, each with a picture of the cover of one of my books.
I almost didn't get to make my speech. Just before I was to come out on the stage, I went into a little room off the kitchen to change my clothes and the door locked behind me and would not open! Finally, at the last minute a man with a key ran in and let me out. The signing was such fun. One of the characters in my book is a former beauty queen and a lot of the women in the audience came dressed as beauty queens, wearing long gowns and tiaras. Dame Edna would have loved it.
I signed books until ten that night and left with four boxes of candy. One lady brought me twelve cupcakes. What a fabulous day.

Wednesday

We packed up the car and drove north, all the way up the state to my hometown of Birmingham. Along the way we stopped at another Cracker Barrel where I had chicken and dumplings, corn on the cob, lima beans and fried apples... with vanilla ice cream on the side. The book signing in Birmingham should be interesting, I Still Dream About You is set there, and I have heard we will have a big crowd at the bookstore. As the name suggests, Birmingham has strong links with Britain. It was settled mostly by English and Scots and the architecture looks more like England than Alabama because of its roots in the iron, coal and steel business. That's got me thinking about the Queen again. I think we need one. In fact, I'd be perfectly willing to reign if asked...

Thursday

Woke up in Birmingham overlooking the city. I am dressed and ready to go by 8am. I have a radio show and two television shows to do this morning, and then meet with the mayor to receive a key to the city. We go to one of my favourite restaurants for lunch. They have the best barbecue in the state; also the lemon pie is delightful.
The signing went very well. So many old friends came to say hello. I didn't get back to the hotel until around 11pm. Tired but happy. Many people brought me homemade jam and jellies and one a pecan pie. Well... up early tomorrow and on to Nashville, Tennessee for another signing. So far I must have signed over three thousand books. My right hand hurts... but that's fine.
I have been in the South for one week and my clothes feel tighter than ever. What happened?

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I Still Dream About You is published by Chatto & Windus.
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