N.M. Kelby was kind enough to loan me her Flip video camcorder during the Pulpwood Queens Girlfriends Weekend book festival, so I was able to shoot this footage of author Melanie Wells reading a short passage from her latest novel, My Soul to Keep, which explains some of the motivations of Peter Terry, the antagonist in an ongoing series of spiritual skirmishes. (Sorry about the sound quality.) Then her best friend, singer-songwriter Trish Murphy, sings the first half of a song called "Johnny Too Blue." The two best friends frequently go on getaway writing weekends together, and I'm hoping they'll start up their "Thelma & Louise" blog and talk some more about their creative lives.

Here's another video from earlier in the day, when Wava Everton, the best friend of Rosemary Poole-Carter (foreground left), opened a panel on Southern literature by singing "Blue Bayou," with author Rickey Pittman on guitar—what I understand to be a spur-of-the-moment performance. You can also spot N.M. Kelby, Kim Sunee, and, way over to the right, Will Clarke. The camerawork's a little shakier on this one, but I get to hang on to the Flip for a few more weeks, so I'll get better, maybe.