This afternoon, I’m writing this at a little coffee shop called The Courtyard, in Abbeville, Louisiana. Abbeville is a few miles south of Lafayette. The atmosphere of the café is so Southern that I can’t help but love it. They have free wireless, but as luck would have it, “the little box died” and the manager said they were waiting for another. I’m doing a reading from Stories of the Confederate South at 6:00 at the Golden Corral Steakhouse, but as I arrived at 3:00, I decided that exploring the quaint town of Abbeville would be a better option than sleeping in my truck. As I meandered my way to the town square, I came upon this coffee shop. Great coffee, and plenty of metal tables and chairs fill the inside of this very old building. There’s plants, a nymph statue with a fountain, and a huge, very old safe in the corner. Six tall bookshelves behind me are filled with paperbacks. Someone reads in this town. The café evidently has some sort of book club (allowing trade-ins) and the books are for sale. As I’m the only customer at 4:00 in the afternoon, it’s hard for me to judge how effective their efforts to promote literacy are. The café even has tables and chairs outside for us smokers (truly, a dying breed). Yet, the temperature is in the 90’s here today, so I opted to stay inside where it’s cool.

Tonight, I’m scheduled to do a reading and play some tunes on my guitar for the local camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. I’ve decided to do the reading first tonight, so I can be sure to have time to sell some books and promote my children’s book coming out in the spring. Next post, I’ll tell you how the reading went and what I learned from the experience.