Every year at this time I begin to have a little anxiety over attending the Decatur Book Festival and 2014 is no different. Am I missing someone I really want to see? Or will I be seeing someone I really should have missed?
Sure you can try to have a strategy, but it takes a lot of prep work. Going to the DBF web site and clicking on the various tracks such as Graphic Lit, Business and Economics, or my favorite, The Civil War is one approach. Another strategy is just clicking on the links of various writers, the majority I have never heard of (but I like the little bios of the unknowns). This clicking sensation is like trying to find something good on television, but we all know what a capricious master serendipity can be.
Since regular readers of this blog know that I have been "Getting My Sherman On" all year, you can expect that at some time I will be there arguing with the experts at the Civil War venue. But if you really want some good Civil War info, stop by the University of Georgia exhibitor's booth and ask to see Barry Brown and Gordon Elwell's travel book Crossroads of Conflict: A Guide to Civil War Sites in Georgia. Tell them The Book Shopper blog sent you and then watch them scratch their heads in bewilderment.
Other than checking out the Georgia State University enclave (they have a good size contingent of writers and lit magazines), and the book art exhibit at the Decatur Arts Alliance, I am not sure what else I'll be doing. Perhaps I should take the same approach as I do at the Decatur Beer Festival (as shown below): "Put on your favorite pretzel necklace, line up, and prepare to drink it all in."
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