May Daze for Booklovers

Tonight I'll be at the Chewelah Golf and Country Club, signing books with my stories for a fundraiser for the Libraries of Stevens County Foundation. I'll be one of ten writers hoping to interest the general public in our wares.I've done readings before, at literary teas and other gatherings, and conducted workshops in writing for anthologies. But this Book Fair is my first official "book signing" event.

One of my late husband's old friends remarked that he'd known a writer in the '90s when the Chicken Soup for the Soul series was new, who packed suitcases full of books carrying his stories, and dragged them from one literary event to another.

"Must be hard work," he'd remarked. "Imagine having to hawk your books to pay the mortgage."

 Fortunately I've other sources of income to pay essentials, so don't have to depend on writing for anthologies for those basics. But I'm delighted to sign books and chatter with readers if it supports a good cause. I can't think of a better one that keeping our libraries open in these hard times. So I've filled my suitcase with copies of half a dozen recent Chicken Soup for the Soul titles, and will hope I've chosen wisely. I'm taking:

• Think Positive
• Grieving and Recovery
• Grandmothers
• Inspiration for the Young at Heart
• Say Hello to a Better Body
• Say Goodbye to Back Pain

The event will run from 6 to 8 pm, and includes a silent auction. I believe its a bodacious way to spend an early May evening!