Back to Back Books!
I guess you could say that last week had bookends. It started on Sunday with the Baltimore Book Festival, and ended on Saturday with the Collingswood Book Festival, and in between was a lot of work! And the best part was that by the end I had a lot fewer books, a lot more friends, and one more person in the car than we started with!
How did I manage that, you ask? Well, read on…
The Baltimore Book Festival starts on Friday afternoon and runs through Sunday, but I was only there for the last day. It was a busy weekend! Otherwise, you know I would have been there from start to finish. I call this event my Literary New Year’s Day because it always reminds me afresh why I do what I do for a living. When I am in a lively crowd of people who share in common a love of, curiosity about, or respect for books and writing, I feel recharged.
This year I had the pleasure of sitting in one of the Authors’ Tents alongside Mat Gill, who I met at last year’s Baltimore Book Festival. We hit it off so well last year that we’ve become friends as we both have “gone on to greater things” in the local literary community — Mat is now Vice President of the Maryland Writers’ Association, and I run their Baltimore chapter!
Speaking of which, Mary Jo held down the fort so that I could run over to the CityLit Tent — which is run by another friend who I met at a previous BBF, Gregg Wilhelm — to emcee a reading of works in progress by ten MWA Baltimore chapter members, including Mat, who is working hard on his next novel. Back at the Authors’ Tent, I met and talked with teachers, librarians, parents, uncles and aunts who about about the book and its cover (which, in this case, you can judge a book by… 
). As always, I left feeling sated and energized.
Then, the following Saturday, it was time to head on up to New Jersey for the fifth annual Collingswood Book Festival, which is the final event of a week-long literary celebration that is the largest of its kind in the state. And once again, we were hosted by Mary Jo’s Aunt Kathy, who generously up her house to two road-weary and hungry travelers with a trunkload of books to sell!
You may remember that last year’s event was “rained in” — for the first time, precipitation drove the event into the Collingswood High School, where we still had a great time and great sales. This year, the weather was bright, sunny, and warm, and just like last year, I sold more books than ever. It was funny, though, because during the morning very few people stopped by. Then, all of a sudden, in the afternoon it was literally non-stop — a couple times, Mary Jo, I, and my Mom were selling books to three different people at the same time!
Screech, hold it, back up there — did I just say my Mom was there? Yes, indeed she was, fresh from Santa Fe, New Mexico. She arrived in New Jersey the day before along with my Uncle Norm, and spent the night with Norm’s son Steve, who’s an Air Force pilot, his wife Michelle, and their cute little girl Ronnie. Well, the whole gang showed up at our booth all at once! It was a great surprise to see everyone, because they drove a long way to visit us. We had a fun time getting caught up on many things — it’s been a year and a half since we’ve last seen each other! My Mom stayed with us for the rest of the day, and then we drove back to Baltimore together wher she stayed with us for two fun days before continuing her “East Coast Tour” (our family is from Connecticut). What a treat all around!
And, as I said earlier, in the middle of all this, we sold sold sold! The people we met were always fascinating to talk to; we met people who have written their own books and were eager to meet fellow authors, people who remember the days when Navy airships flew over New Jersey from the Lakehurst base, and kids who were captivated by my little wind-up Zeppelin, which reflected the bright sunlight like a silver mirror. Right next to us was a big crafts tent where kids could play with clay, and the sounds and smells of the clay being worked brought back lots of fond memories from when I was those kids’ age. We got to meet the mayor and the owner of the bookstore — it seems like everyone in Collingswood is friends with everyone else, and it was just such a welcoming and happy place that I wish it could have gone on another day… or two… or three…
So, once again we packed up the car at the end of a full and happy day, and with fewer books and many more memories we drove on back home promising once again that we would be back next year!