My first stop is the National Storytelling Association tent, next to the Mail Pouch building, now a craft shop, so that I can finally see the book that contains a chapter penned by moi. An exciting moment, made even more so by virtue of the ultracool name tag reserved just for the authors in attendance. I am not taking it off. I want to be buried with this name tag! Of all the many nametags I've had to wear, this one is most sublime indeed!

From this point on, it will be stories, stories, and more stories, seasoned with some communing with fellow storytelling friends. If there's a heaven on earth for storytellers, surely Jonesborough is that heaven. To be transported back in time to Main Street America, in those distant days before anything more diverting that visiting with neighbors on the streetside benches is the perfect prelude to full immersion in this age old artform.