Book compiles teacher's musings on life

If there's one lesson Lucy Adams has learned, it's that Mama is always right.

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After years of reading the shenanigans of Adams' children in her weekly newspaper columns, her mother is "laughing now ... because she always told me that someday I would have kids just like me."

Adams said that ever since the debut of her column in The McDuffie Mirror, her mother has cut out every column and saved it. The columns -- which also appear in The Columbia County News-Times -- have been published in a book so readers can have their own collection.

If Mama Don't Laugh, It Ain't Funny , was released Dec. 1. Adams, a second-grade teacher at Augusta Preparatory School, will hold a book-signing at noon Monday in the school's upper library.

Adams said the book is a collection of her funniest columns about family life, children and marriage and is divided into chapters of related themes and includes some never-published material. She said she was excited to receive copies of the book recently and see her face on the cover.

"The best thing is it goes into the Library of Congress, so it's permanent," she said. "My name is etched in history, and anybody can go look it up from now on ... I'm immortal."

The syndicated columnist's career started when The McDuffie Mirror went to Thomson in 2003. She said she toyed with the idea of writing for the paper but wasn't sure until her husband urged her to just try it.

"He said the worst they can say is no," she said in a telephone interview. "So I took some sample columns and I dropped them off at The Mirror office. And then I called Jason (Smith, the publisher) back, and I called Jason back, and I called Jason back, and I called Jason back and I pestered him until I got an answer. And his answer was yes."

In the beginning, her columns appeared in the paper every other week until Smith suggested she write weekly.

"From the first week (we) began including Lucy's column, her words have been one of the most-talked-about parts of the newspaper. ... Lucy is smart enough to make fun of herself and sharp enough to make sure everyone will enjoy her slices of life. ... I've never regretted taking a chance on her," said Smith, former news editor for the News-Times.

Adams' popularity as a humor writer spread as other publications picked up her weekly column.

Titled Life's Little Lessons, the 600-word column now appears in a half-dozen newspapers in the Southeast.

When a publisher from 3 Palms Publishing called and requested she write a book about parenting, Adams said she was "stunned."

"I thought I can't write a book telling other people how to parent, when the longer I do it, the harder it gets for me," she said.

After some thought, she realized that her columns, though not "a sure-fire plan," were about parenting and family life. The publisher liked the idea of compiling them into a book.

After 15 years of marriage to Brad and rearing four children, ages 12, 10, 8 and 6, Adams has many stories to tell.

The 163-page paperback book tells Adams family anecdotes from fielding children's question such as "What's worser, Daddy gassing or being in love?" to using cats to hunt down AWOL hermit crabs to euthanizing pet watermelons.

The book is available for $14.95 from www.ifmama.com and on Amazon.com. Audio excerpts also are available for download from Adams' Web site.