This Is Like The Night Before Christmas

We're down to the wire with the "Books & Bar-B-Q" authors' event, and it's like the night before Christmas. We're trying to make sure that everything goes smoothly and the event is a big hit with the community. However, as you and I both know, sometimes a monkey-wrench gets thrown into the mix.
We've had two disappointments...one: Ray Houston from Sylvester, who is Poet Laureate of the Yancy Independents, will not be able to join us. And two: Amy Blackmarr from Savannah has had a family emergency and will not join us either.
But we carry on, knowing that there are many authors who will be at the event to shake your hand, talk to you about writing, and show you an end product of all their hard work.
There are several authors from Moultrie that we are honoring and I know you'll want to meet.
Charles Gay is one. He served in the U. S. Navy and is retired from the Moultrie Police Department and Sheriff's Department. He writes about his memories of living near Ellenton, GA as a child, sharecropping with his grandfather, and meeting his wife of nearly 50 years. His stories even include a killing on the courthouse square in 1912 and how God has worked in his life.
Dr. Michael Helms has been pastor of Trinity Baptist Church for umpteen years. He published his first book in 2006 and has a second accepted for publication in 2010. He's been a weekly columnist for The Moultrie Observer since 2000, and he's won eight writing awards from The Amy Foundation, the latest in 2008. This event will be one of the last Dr. Helms will attend in Moultrie. He's moving to Jefferson, GA within the next couple of weeks.
Ed McMinn recently moved to Moultrie. He's a retired pastor with more than 20 years in journalism and communications of all types, including founding the Leesburg Ledger, a weekly newspaper. He's been a teacher at Valdosta State University and Middle Georgia College, and is a speaker with awards in journalism and sports photography. His devotional books are praised by "die-hard" fans from colleges and universities.
Joshua Nobles will be moving also, to Montana; so this will be his last event in Moultrie. He uses the pseudonym "Iyan Igma" and has published more than 1,000 short stories and poems in four books, as well as publishing a "twisted" cookbook. He's currently completing several children's books. He's also been a big help to us here at the library and we'll miss him as a staff member.
Clyde Short and Janice Short are husband and wife, and both are writers. Clyde's first book, a biographical-historical account of his time in the U. S. Air Force, was published in 2007. He's just completed his second book.
Jan published her first book, a book of Christian poetry, in 2007. She's also completed her second one.
Vera Jones Stinson is now living in Moultrie with her daughter, Melody Jenkins, our director of the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library System. Vera began her book about growing up in Appalachia when she was 90 years old. She's now 98 and going strong.
Melody co-authored the First Presbyterian Church's history with the then-Library Board chairman Bert Harsh. Her new book, "Colquitt County," will be published this June and is loaded with pictures.
Well, that just about wraps it up.
Oh, don't forget...the library is closed on Monday, May 25th, for Memorial Day.
We'll look for you on Tuesday, May 26th, at "Books & Bar-B-Q."