The first ESWA appearance at the Baltimore Book Festival was a success. Association president Jerry Sweeney organized shifts of about twenty of our 250 writers who offered a good representation of the diversity of titles we produce.

I met so many writers, publishers and readers! Special appreciation for Kim Cooper, James and Ashley Cooper, my mother Mary Drescher,my sister Pat and her daughter Abigail for visiting. I loved seeing friends Katherine, Regina, Brooke, Donna and Mary Ann. What fun!

Hopefully the 2nd Lilac Hill collected stories will be available this week.

Jerry at BBfest

Lunacy and the Baltimore Book Fest

Rushing around as school begins contributes to the nuttiness of this time of year—I get it—I prepare for it every summer. Not enough evidently.

I am in charge of the ESWA tent on the first day of the Baltimore Book Festival.  We are using our cells to make and track book sales during the event.  I just caught myself thinking that I wasn't worried about my Smartphone battery lasting the whole day because I could just walk into Mount Vernon Books and charge it for a while. I had this whole scene in my head where I’d get a coffee and take a break in the little bistro area in the back and enjoy watching patrons come and go like I used to when I lived in Baltimore. I actually wondered if Jane Gibson would be working the shop. After all, I have been living on the Eastern Shore for nine years and time has not stood still.

There are two major problems with this scenario:  fact and fiction. The fact is that the festival has moved far away from Mount Vernon Place and the Washington Monument due to construction in the area. The  Inner Harbor locations will feel quite different. The fiction problem is alarming--Mount Vernon Books exists in two of my novels, not in actuality. There has never been a book store on Mount Vernon Place with a bow front window with two entrances like batting eyes. The closest bookstore which closed years ago was Louie’s, but it was closer to the Basilica. Jane Gibson and her bookstore have never existed except on the pages of my books. So I need a new plan in a real space with actual electrical outlets.  Such is the mania of the writer’s mind this time of year.