Library Fun!
Greetings!
I hope you're all having a good summer (Or winter in the Southern Hemisphere.) July is high summer in Northern New England. I have squeezed every ounce of enjoyment of it I can—including a weekend trip to northern Maine (Aroostook County) with my husband. This first week in August signals the turning of the season from summer to fall when the air turns poignant.
Ask the Author: Blaisdell Memorial Library, Nottingham, NH
My first library event in July was an author panel with two of my fellow Nottingham authors, Jim Kelly, an awarding science fiction author, and Tom Eid, a nature writer. I had taken two flash fiction workshops with Jim, sponsored by the New Hampshire Writers’ Project many, many years ago.
As we chatted before the event began, I told him that I still don’t have the hang of flash fiction, despite workshops, textbooks, and a flash fiction group. He informed me that he still teaches the workshops, and he does the exercises with the participants. He manages to keep his stories at 1,000 words. Then he revises them afterward, and they end up being 1,200-1,300 words. Well, that’s a fine how-do-you-do, says I!
James Patrick Kelly - strange but not a stranger
The title of the library event was "Ask Me Anything." Everything was fun and games until some guy in the back raised his hand and asked about generative AI. (We should have known!) That particular question aside, it was a wonderful, relaxed conversation with people curious about what exactly we writers do and how it all works.
Tamworth Author Fest: Cook Memorial Library, Tamworth, NH
The second event was at a library I’d never visited before in a town I’d never been to. Following our GPS, we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, but we got there with no wrong turns or mishaps. As you can see, the library is a beautiful building.
Tamworth Author Fest included a keynote speaker, two panel discussions (fiction and nonfiction), author readings, book sales outside, and a raffle of books donated by the featured authors. They went all out!
Keynote: “Fiction in the Time of Climate Crisis”
In Writing News
In writing news, I’m still in poetry world. (So many ideas—resistance is futile!) I’m currently working on a poem inspired the number of deconsecrated churches husband and I pass by when we’re out and about.
Till next time—
Take good care,
Liz
The Cook Library looks really cool!
So nice to see your photos and updates here on Substack! Those live, face-to-face events are so special.