Rekindling Kinship...Loving a Literary Life

Selfie with Molly Jo Realy, cookbook author

On April 23 I spent the afternoon with 35 other writers and artists at the annual "Meet the Authors" event at San Bernardino's Feldheym Central Library. Though I had a stack of books for sale with my stories, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Volunteering and Giving Back, and Not Your Mother's Book...On Travel, I didn't sell many. For me, that wasn't the point.

Large gatherings of local writers offer opportunities to network, exchange marketing tips, and make new connections in the literary world. They give us an opportunity to flock together with our own kind, other creative spirits who identify as artists. For me, that is an infusion of pure energy.

Molly Jo Realy's The Unemployment Cookbook caught my eye, and I paused to chat with her. I leafed through the book, smiling at the recipes similar to the ones I used for guidelines as a young wife back in the '50s and '60s, the kind of economical comfort food we all used to subsist on, in the days before we worried so much about gluten and calories. I bought a copy for a young engaged couple who might like to sample the dishes their grandmas made...but I'm not mailing it off until I have a chance to look through it more thoroughly.

Once again I had a display table adjacent to Beth Winokur, who writes enchanting books, and also is an artist. I traded books with
Beth...she chose my travel book and I picked

Beth Winokur

The Adventures of Abby and Sofia, The Willing Stone, perfect, I think, for my granddaughter. Though the girls in this book are in fourth grade, and my granddaughter is just finishing first, it will be perfect for her. Little girls like to read about girls about three  years older than themselves. Maybe this is why I fell in love with Jo March of Little Women when I was around 11 or 12.  Bet I read about Beth's classmates before it gets to the intended recipient.

Godfather of the Graphic Novel, Phil Yeh

Linda and Phil Yeh

It's always entertaining to reconnect with Phil Yeh, a friend since the late '70s when I  lived down the street and around the corner from the Cobblestone Gallery, early home of Uncle Jam, an arts magazine.
Phil continues to promote literacy with his murals and books...he's still working on finishing the Route 66 mural on the original McDonald's, now a museum, in downtown San Bernardino. His wife, Linda Adams Yeh, is the programs librarian for the San Bernardino library system, and always a gracious hostess at this event.

At the close of the day, I was happy to contribute several copies of a number of my books to the library. After a great meal at a local Vietnamese eatery, the Lotus, I headed back to Orange County, happy again to be living and loving a literary life.