Sometimes there’s a theme that can be attached to a given month in my life. I’ve had sports months, travel months, wedding months, and kid months. A literary month best describes the last 29 days. This literary adventure began on April 8 with the Ohioana Book Festival at the Sheraton Hotel on Capitol Square.  I spent most of my time strolling through the hotel’s huge ballroom where over 100 authors had their books for sale. The high point for me came when I met Krysten Lindsay Hagar, a Facebook friend who is published by Clean Reads just as I am.  We chatted about our writing experiences and went to a special YA room where Krysten took part in a panel discussion about writing and publishing fiction for teens. 

In addition to her, I also met Robin Yocum, a writer who owns a public relations firm in Westerville. Robin does publicity work for the McConnell Arts Center (MAC), and a few days earlier he contacted me for information regarding my author presentation at the MAC.  That brings me to the second main event of the literary month.

Sometime ago, I wanted to hold a ceremony that would shine a spotlight (at least locally) on my YA novel, Fast-Pitch Love. Two and a half years ago, when Clean Reads published the novel as an ebook, I didn’t feel comfortable holding a book launch party as some authors do. Back then, the book only existed in cyberspace, and even if someone purchased it for a Nook or Kindle, I couldn’t autograph it or even put it on display. But last summer the book became eligible for publication as a paperback, and that gave me an idea: How about an official “unveiling” ceremony for the print version of the book?

My big day at the MAC came on April 20. I did indeed “unveil” the book by pulling a little cloth off a copy in front of my audience. But I also gave a talk on how the book came to be written and published, and followed that with a couple of readings. But the best part of the evening came when three students from Thomas Worthington High School did a dramatic interpretation of a softball scene from the book. By giving a voice to Jace, Martha, and some of the softball players, the students brought the scene to life in a new and vibrant way.

The last event in my literary month came yesterday with the annual Columbus State Writers Conference. I staffed the table for the GEM-C Writers of Columbus State, passing out informational flyers about the group and conversing with conference attendees. I didn’t have time to listen to any small-group sessions, but I did hear keynoter Maggie Smith’s presentation. I know Maggie a little, and she never fails to deliver a powerful message. Besides reading a few of her poems, she offered poets four guidelines that would seem to apply to prose writers as well:

(1)    Be sensitive to everything happening around you; free yourself to write what you think and feel and not just what you know.

(2)    Hone your craft; devote time to it.

(3)    Keep your wildness; don’t censor yourself to soon; take risks.

(4)    Do your work.

With my stepdaughter Sarah’s wedding fast approaching and my daughter Ruth and her family visiting from Indonesia, I won’t have too much time to write my new book or market my old one for the foreseeable future. But I hope it isn’t too long before I have another literary month.