Wish You Well

The other night I got to meet best-selling author David Baldacci! 

He was in town to speak at the West Kentucky Community & Technical College about his book Wish You Well.  WKCTC has been promoting the book along with several activitites as part of the One Book, One Community project.  Basically, they hopd to involve the local community to read the book and to promote and encourage reading as an essential life skill.  The college had several essay contests for middle & high school students as well as within the college community, and they brought Mr. Baldacci in to speak to local students, talk about his books and of course, to sign copies of Wish You Well.

I got involved in September during the kick-off for the One Book, One Community event as it was held on the front lawn of the museum.  Since the novel is set in the mountains of Virginia in the 1940s, the event hosted various crafts and traditional arts of the period.  Activities included, basket making, caning, folk music, canning, rug making, clogging and, of course, quilting.  As for my role, I set up a community quilt - a large frame with cheater cloth (fabric with a pattern pre-printed on it) - so that people could come and try hand quilting some stitches into the quilt and see what it was like.  I sat outside quilting with JS for most of the morning, talking to visitors and encouraging them to try a few stitches.  We had kids and adults from all over - even a couple ladies from Belgium! - sit with us and add some quilting of their own.  It was a good event and it fell during BBQ on the River, which meant great food and music too!  I could think of worse ways to spend a Saturday at work.

I helped out at the VIP reception prior to his talk and got to meet him briefly.  He was very personable and he spoke well about how he became a writer, his stories and the Wish You Well Foundation which supports reading & literacy across America.

I must admit to you dear reader, that I have not actually read Wish You Well or anything else by Baldacci.  (oops).  With the push to have the community read the book, there were no copies available anywhere that I could find.  I felt a bit out of place listening to people talk about the book since I didn't have clue as to what went on in it.  However, I enjoyed meeting the author and contributing my small bit of help to the events and have added Wish You Well to my reading list.  :o)