At the Reading Festival with Carla

I'm on the road, in New York, actually, typing on an unfamiliar hotel business center computer and in desperate need of coffee. I left my hilltop in Vermont last Thursday for beautiful Ft. Myers, Florida, and the Southwest Florida Reading Festival. It was the festival's 11th year -- 11 years of readers of all ages coming together to meet writers, talk books and have a day of fun. Thousands turn out, and it's never rained on festival day.

I couldn't have had a better time. The festival is run b...