Great news!

A publisher is coming to the Osterneck Auditorium for the Friends of the Library’s Author talk on Thursday at 7 p.m. Valerie Connelly is a book publisher of Nightengale Press. She is also an author of several books. She has written books such as “Sacred Night,” which is a mystery novel, “Sidetracks,” another suspense novel, “Arthur the Christmas Elf,” which is a children’s book; and “Calling All Authors: How to Publish with Your Eyes Wide Open.”

Ms. Connelly is so talented: She is also an artist, a song writer and a musician. She has several paintings that you can view on her Web site at www.valerieconnelly.com. Please come join me Thursday night to hear Ms. Connelly talk about her books and her publishing business.

I have a question to ask. Have you ever been to the beach when it was really windy and the sand is kicking up and pelting your legs so sharply it feels like a whole army is shooting needles at you through those blowguns? That was my last Sunday afternoon.

I thought that I would spend some quality time with my children at the beach. You know, running down the beach, kicking water at each other. Well, being in the water was the only way you could keep the sand from cutting you. Being the prepared mom that I am, I brought along bread for the kids to feed the seagulls. Big mistake! We were almost attacked by a swarm of seagulls. Really! They were diving toward us — flying over our head, wanting more bread. We had to take off running down the beach foolishly thinking we could get away from them. Then I had the bright idea of hiding the empty plastic bread bags in my backpack, which I did as we ran screaming. Finally the birds gave up. It was like a scene from that old horror movie, “The Birds.”

In other news, I had a lovely lunch at a great restaurant called TarPackers with my good friend, Mary Laura, in St. Pauls last week. I saw many of my new friends there. I also enjoyed a great play performance of “To Kill a Mockingbird” at Givens Auditorium. My children loved going as well. We are making plans to attend the upcoming Carolina Civic Center performance of “Cappella Pop” and “Gospel” on April 18.

Well, it is happening tomorrow. My older son is turning 16 on Monday. Please pray for my sanity. He will be able to drive without me in the car. Can I handle that? I’m not so sure. Who will be there to tell him when to slow down? I am very proud of him, I must say. He was inducted into the National Technical Honor Society recently. The school district had a great ceremony honoring these students within the county at the Southeastern Agricultural Center.

A bit of sad news, the library was hit with another 2 percent budget cut from the state, so I am struggling with the budget. Donations, whether in money or books, would be greatly appreciated. Memorials are a great way to honor someone or an organization. Memorial books have a memorial plate inside the front cover of the book which states to whom that book was bought for. I would like to take this moment to thank the following people for donating books to the library this past week: Agnes Alvis and Jane Link. Also, the Reviewers Book Club gave a memorial in the memory of Mary Hodge Shooter Wilson. And Bill Chisom gave a memorial in honor of Bobbie Britt. Thank you very much!

Tina Stepp can be reached at (910) 738-4859 or tstepp@robesoncountylibrary.org.