Monthly Archives: May 2015

Neighborhood Bookstore, Forgot My Camera

I was invited to participate in an event at someone’s home with a group of authors. The address was provided, so I asked Mr. Google how to get there.

Mr. Google misdirected me. My phone isn’t smart, but I am, and I found the house. (Was it a plot to keep me away??)

You know that saying about “keeping up with the Joneses”? In this neighborhood, these folks definitely were The Joneses – what a fabulous front yard! There were meandering paths, areas of river rock in different colors, almost unmowably shaped patches of perfect lawn, serpentine curbing dividing the spaces, an area called “the orchard” with a variety of fruit trees, pots of blooming zinnias, a small fountain, a blooming mimosa tree, Chinese pistache trees, and that’s just the part I remember! Oh, colored umbrellas, lots of colored umbrellas, red, yellow, green, blue, and probably others too.

The 10 or 11 other authors had paperback books that sold for $10-25. There I sat with The Cabins of Wilsonia for $80. Ahem. I sold one, sold some notecards, and met some wonderful people.

You never know. . . some of them own cabins in other places, one may need an illustrator for her next book, one was the mom of a former drawing student who reassured me her boy didn’t go bad (he was on the edge when he was in my classes and I was worried), and it WASN’T HOT OUTSIDE!!

All in all, it was a pleasant afternoon. Next time, as I pull out of my driveway and have the camera conversation with myself, I’ll go back and get it.

Local Authors Book Signing Event

Since self-publishing has become relatively easy – maybe if it doesn’t involve 278 drawings and learning to use Adobe InDesign and Photoshop and a scanner and finding a printer and choosing your own paper and designing your own cover and dealing with a company that bids improperly and blames the customer – then perhaps it is easy. . . I wouldn’t know about that sort of self-publishing – but I digress.

Since the boom of self-published books, there are many people with their own book to sell. There are many just in Tulare County alone, which is rather astonishing given the fact that we are the 3rd least educated county in the state of California.

Excuse me. There I go again. . . What I meant to tell you is that I have the privilege of being included in a group book signing event in Visalia at someone’s home. Here is the invitation, because YOU are invited.

The Cabins of Wilsonia is my book. You probably knew that. 😎 It has many drawings, because it is a story of a cabin community told in pictures and quotes from cabin folks.

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Mr. Google, who knows all, can tell you how to get here. I will be asking him myself.