Oh, we try to entice others but, well, it is summer and on Saturday mornings, so I guess I understand.
Barbra didn’t sell any books, nor did I. Our third member of the group, Debra sold one cookbook.
However, it was a good Saturday never the less. Another vendor we see each week brought over a young lady working with her mother in the booth next to his and introduced her to us as a fellow writer. She attempted to correct the introduction, by saying she wanted to be a writer, so we asked her if she has written anything, “Yes but by hand and no one has read it.”
“Well you are writer, not wanting to be, you are.”
The other vendor told her to introduce herself and ask questions, then left telling her she was on her own.
I am sorry to say I am bad with names when I first meet people, so I don’t remember her name. She is fourteen and writes fantasy with some aspects of scifi. Once she got over being scared of meeting writers with books on the table for sale, she asked many questions.
It was strange for me being on the other side of the questions giving answers while asking her about what she writes and what her goals are. I still see myself as a new writer, with only two completed books and two more in the works. I learned a lot about what I am doing from asking her what she is doing. Answering questions is another way to learn more about what you are doing.
It could be that I am not that far from being new and remember the questions I had, but I hope I helped; I know Barbra and Debra did. Moreover, I hope we encouraged her instead of scaring her.
It was fun talking to someone who has discovered they are a writer, a real writer. And it was interesting to learn that we were learning as much from her as she was hoping to learn from us.
One last thought and I am sure I’ll be thinking about this one for a while. This young writer is fourteen and doesn’t own a computer, never has, though she has plans to buy one soon. It set us all back. She writes the old-fashioned way and it is we older folks; we range from 61 to 89, that find this odd.
We hope she gets her parents to bring her to one of our meetings. She'll be welcome, and I look foreword to hearing her read her work to the group.