My Life in Bookstores

Granted most writers and poets enjoy reading.  At least, I do!  In fact, I like to plan trips around bookstores (and pools)!  I feel at home if I’m out of town and find a new book to read (and sometimes a comic or a magazine, too!)

This led me to thinking about my favorite bookstores:

1) Tybrisa Books, Lenoir NC

2) Mr. K’s, Asheville NC

3) Mr. K’s, Charleston SC

4) Buxton Books, Buxton, NC

5) Afterwords, Dupont Circle Washington DC

6) East City Books, Capitol Hill Washington DC

7) Foggy Pine Books, Boone NC

8) Newsland Bookstore, Albuquerque NM

9) The Book Loft, Fernandina Beach FL

Where is your favorite bookstore?

Picture of Mr. K’s - Charleston SC:

Not Everyone was meant to Fly

You can take this “Not Everyone was meant to Fly” in so many ways.  It’s from a very old Amtrak train poster so in that context they’re comparing train travel to air travel.  

I have done both traveling by air and train.  I much prefer traveling by train.  I have a fear of flying.  I can do it, but I do not enjoy it.  I did like it when I was little running up and down the aisles, visiting the pilots, and looking out the windows.

The point is, you can do things that are best for you and still get the same results as perhaps someone else. I have never been an In the Box type of person.  I do things my own way.  I do that with my writing, too.  When I was in Grad school, I did PR and publishing and so I learned all about desktop publishing.  I ran my own poetry press at one time, and also published a poetry chapbook magazine.  I published “The Poetry Market Ezine” for 20 years.  I did try the tried and true ways of what writing and publishing are supposed to be according to all the books, articles and resources out there.  But those didn’t really work for me until later.   I still prefer doing what I do with my writing, my way.  My best selling poetry books are not ones published by Publishers (cause I have those too) but the ones I’ve published myself - I’ve sold over 1000 copies of my “Poetry in LA” poetry book that goes along with the same named Facebook page @poetryinla.  Because there aren’t a lot of best selling poets out there, I think that’s a pretty great accomplishment.  I doubt you’re going to read about the methods I used to achieve the sales with this book, though, in any writing articles any time soon.  It’s not the way everyone else does it, just like with traveling or transportation.

Flying can be so many things.  The last time I flew on a plane was in 2003!  Hasn’t stopped me from going places, though, as I’ve been on a few train and car trips since then.  I honestly enjoy traveling those ways and seeing the world how it is in other places.  You cannot do that in the clouds; although the view up there is amazing.

How do you do what you do with your writing that’s unlike what anyone else would do?  How do you like to travel?

Here are some pictures of “Almost Heaven West Virginia” from my trip there last week (by car)!