In Memoriam, Ken Kahn
This morning, I was the featured speaker at an event sponsored by Westlaw (a major vendor to the law librarian community), in honor of Ken Kahn. Ken was a law librarian with the Public Defenders' Office; his dreams of publishing a book were cut short by his untimely death last year.
The event was held at Bread and Chocolate, a great bakery over on Capitol Hill. I read from GUIDE (a fun little section from the beginning, where Jane Madison has a rather disappointing meeting with her boss.) I took questions from the group, who wanted to know about writers' groups and my writing routine, about how much money can be made in writing, about where I get my ideas, about developing characters and plots.
The setting was a bit chaotic - Bread and Chocolate is open to the public of course, and there were other patrons around us (including one very active toddler!) The waitstaff served up brunch while I was reading, but they did their best to be unobtrusive.
Everyone was relaxed and enthusiastic, and (I hope) a good time was had by all. I brought along some copies of SEASON OF SACRIFICE, so that people could carry away a "prize"; people seemed honestly thrilled to get the books. West's library relations folks do a great job at building community, and this was a great example of how to bring people closer together.
I didn't known Ken, but I know many people like him - folks who want to write, folks who have researched and written great books, but who haven't found the ticket to publication. Yet. I hope that my speaking today might encourage some of the attendees to follow through on their writing dreams. Or, at least, encourage them to read :-)
Mindy, who really enjoys being part of the local librarian community
The event was held at Bread and Chocolate, a great bakery over on Capitol Hill. I read from GUIDE (a fun little section from the beginning, where Jane Madison has a rather disappointing meeting with her boss.) I took questions from the group, who wanted to know about writers' groups and my writing routine, about how much money can be made in writing, about where I get my ideas, about developing characters and plots.
The setting was a bit chaotic - Bread and Chocolate is open to the public of course, and there were other patrons around us (including one very active toddler!) The waitstaff served up brunch while I was reading, but they did their best to be unobtrusive.
Everyone was relaxed and enthusiastic, and (I hope) a good time was had by all. I brought along some copies of SEASON OF SACRIFICE, so that people could carry away a "prize"; people seemed honestly thrilled to get the books. West's library relations folks do a great job at building community, and this was a great example of how to bring people closer together.
I didn't known Ken, but I know many people like him - folks who want to write, folks who have researched and written great books, but who haven't found the ticket to publication. Yet. I hope that my speaking today might encourage some of the attendees to follow through on their writing dreams. Or, at least, encourage them to read :-)
Mindy, who really enjoys being part of the local librarian community
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