Dream Eudora

Way back in high school, when I was a senior and working on a term paper in the library, a guy I had a crush on at the time came up to me and said I reminded him of "Eudora Welty in a spooky way." I was conflicted with how to accept this comment: as a compliment or as a disguised insult of some kind. I chose compliment as I admired Welty's writing, her strong will, creativity, observance of Southern manners, culture, and actions. The story of living in the South is written in every word of her novels and stories. And she was a successful author, which would make her a good "mentor" for someone who aspired to be one.

In this dream I was driving along a country road, maybe somewhere in the Mississippi Delta or maybe in an undetermined locale that had southern landscape elements. I saw a car by the road, steam and smoke rising from under the hood, a woman somewhere in her 50s standing by it. She was wearing beige and her hair was styled like it is in this photo. She had a large purse. I pulled over, asked her if she needed a ride, and she thanked me. I helped her get a couple boxes of books from her trunk into my trunk. She'd just published another book. A novel. I don't recall which one, if ever I knew in the first place. In the dream, I knew who she was but I didn't let on that I knew. I had several of her books. We talked a little bit but we were mostly quiet, enjoying the countryside. I don't know what we talked about; I never remember exact phrases and conversations from my dreams, just the idea of it. I woke before we reached our destination, wherever that was according to Ms. Welty.
I've never had a dream before about authors, real authors, or authors that I admire. I have not been reading anything by Welty and no one has mentioned her name to me recently. This cameo appearance in my dream is completely unrelated to anything going on in my life right now. That's interesting to me because it seems that would validate it more as a message from within my psyche or desire or dreams or the collective consciousness. A message I should take seriously. What is the message? From one successful Mississippi author to one unpublished aspiring Mississippi-roots poet:
Get back to your writing, dear. Get back on your path.