Way Back When…
Way back when, in November 1999, just a few weeks after the publication of my first book (Red Roses Mean Love), I was interviewed by Jill Vejnoska, a features reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I was really excited about it, and Jill was extremely nice and witty during our phone interview. She told me the story would be in the Sunday paper, on the front page, “unless there’s a war,” she joked. A few days later a photographer from the paper came to the house and snapped some pics to accompany the article. Totally cool! On Sunday morning, I ran outside to snatched up the paper from the driveway. Back in the house, I pulled out the Living section and looked on the front page.
No story, no picture.
My stomach felt like it crashed to the floor. I turned to my DH and said, “Holy crap, we’re at war.” I rifled through the other sections of the newspaper to find the main section to find out what country we were at war with. And this is what I saw:
No war. Me. Yes, that’s ME. Sitting at my desk. On THE front page of the AJC. I about passed out. I had no idea Jill had meant THE front page of the paper! My husband and I couldn’t believe it. I shook my head and said, “I bet I’m the only Yankee who’s ever been on the front page of the AJC without having committed a heinous crime.”
Needless to say, we bought about 20 copies of the paper. I laminated the article and have it in a frame along with a cover flat of Red Roses Mean Love, as well as the pages from the New York Times and USA Today when I hit those print lists with the anthology It Happened One Night. The frame hangs on my office wall and I get a tingle of pride every time I look at it. And I tell you all this because I’ve kept in touch with Jill all these years, but we’d never met. Until yesterday. She’s doing another story about romance writers and she came to my house to do another interview. We marveled over the fact that the last time she interviewed me, my son was in third grade–and he’s graduating from college this Friday. Here’s a photo of Jill and I standing by the framed article of our last interview.
She told me the story won’t be on the front page this time 
but that’s okay. We had a terrific time together and it was great to meet her in person. I’m not sure when the article will be in the paper, but I’ll keep y’all updated.
So, lots of excitement here at Casa D’Alessandro–newspaper interviews, my parents arrive on Wednesday, and on Friday we’ll see our baby boy graduate from college–I really can’t believe it. What have you been up to? Ever been interviewed? How did it go? Any graduations coming up for friends/family? Seen any good movies? What’s going on in your life? Enquiring minds want to know!
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