From Panels to Pages
San Diego Writers Festival April 5, 2025
It was a gloriously sunny Saturday as I headed over the bridge to Coronado and the Sixth Annual San Diego Writers Festival. It was early, seven am. With a blue sky above, the sea sparkled an impressive two-hundred feet below me.
Arriving on the island I was overjoyed to find easy parking on the street by the high school, one reason I wanted to come early. I found my way to the entrance and signed in with the Volunteer tent and picked up a turquoise T-shirt and ID lanyard. Already, the tents were assembled with folks unpacking books, products and signs: a bustle of activity everywhere.
I headed to the Adventures-by-the-Book tent to drop off my five books for them to sell on consignment. Susan was in the middle of a pile of boxes, surrounded by waiting, white-dressed tables.
Receiving a nod, after asking if I could help her, I dropped my book bags under a table and started unpacking books, hundreds of them! It was fun to see all the authors, the titles, the differing sizes and thicknesses. There were hard covers, soft covers, glossing covers, satin covers and linen covers. Covers with plain designs and intricate ones and even ones with a pattern printed on the edges of the pages. I kept my brain on the author’s names as we arranged them in alphabetical order from left to right.
Thank you, Susan, for letting me into your book world for a moment, where I could savor the smell of paper and newly printed pages. I couldn’t help but think of all the work behind every title, millions of hours of neural activity to think of a story, to find words to communicate and create it; finally boarding a publishing train with more and more work to produce a finished product.
An hour later I needed to find my way to the Winn Room in the Library as I was the volunteer room manager for the events taking place at this location. The Coronado Library is a truly beautiful venue, and the Winn room is surrounded by glass on three sides. I introduced two separate events, both with nearly a hundred attendees. Being a room monitor allowed me to be part of both presentations, each of them filled with inspirational and practical information for us all.
I was happy for the lunch break and could appreciate the speaker’s lounge with all the snacks and beverages arranged invitingly.
The afternoon interviews on the main stage with Tembi Locke (From Scratch) and Ed Begley Jr (To the Temple of Tranquility…And Step On It!) were delightfully human and real.
And then it was time for the panel discussion with Lisa Cheek, Bridey Heidel, and I : Voices of Change: Memoirists Redefining Their Lives. It was moderated by Jessica Keith, another memoirist who writes about life altering adventures.
The classroom was filled, and I enjoyed speaking about the writing process as well as hearing from Lisa and Bridey about their experiences. We were able to have a Q&A section in our talk, allowing audience participation and interaction, with rewarding conversations. Thank you to the panel and Jessica for being a thoughtful and considerate moderator.
And it was the end of another fabulous festival, thank you to Marni Freedman and her team for once again providing a rich day full of opportunities for growth, introspection and connection.
Bay Books Author Signing Event April 6, 2025
Thank you to Bay Books for hosting me on a gorgeous sunny Sunday in Coronado. If you are not familiar with the island, Sundays are busy, with streets and sidewalks filled with cars and people visiting our local resort town. Thank goodness I used to work on the island and knew where to find a parking place. Car safe in a shady spot, I loaded books into my wheeled crate and made my way five blocks to the storefront.
There was a folding chalkboard sign in front, announcing the author signing event and a round gold table with a reserved sign on it. I poked my head in the door of the store and briefly checked in with the cashiers, Lani and Amy. They had long lines of customers to attend to: a good sign.
Setting up my banner, a pile of books and my pen from Dr Melanie, people stopped by to say hi. Thank you to my friends who came to visit and to buy books, and to the new friends I met that were interested in my story.
