Do Everything You Can For Everyone You Can

As most of you know, I just returned from a long roadtrip. I’m still trying to catch up on my sleep, in fact.

The best part about a road trip is meeting new people and reconnecting with “old fans.” If you’ve ever met me, you know that I’ll do just about anything for my fans.

I changed the spelling of a character’s name to coincide with the name of a young woman, a fan, who was clearly having problems in her life, perhaps even developmental delays.

I pose for photos, which is fun. However, on days when I’ve been traveling non-stop and I don’t look great, I must admit I cringe a bit when folks snap the shutter. But that’s my vanity, which isn’t important here.

I sign anything and everything. If someone is at all interested in my signature, I’m willing to share it.

I send supplies to charity auctions at my fans’ requests. (I might have to start limiting this because the postage is expensive, but for the time being, I do what I can. Occasionally, I’ll take a miss because I’m too busy to check out the charity, but whenever possible, I’ll participate.)

I answer questions, although I won’t give away what happens next in my series. (Okay, I lie. I have assured a couple of fans that Gracie will be the longest living Great Dane on record.)

I consider their ideas, and boy, do they have a lot of good ones! My friends at the Barnes & Noble Booksellers Book Club in Fenton, MO, suggested I add a new character. They want to see someone who is “scrubby Dutch” in my books. “Dutch” in this case is a mispronunciation of “Deutsch,” a mistake that’s been perpetuated in the St. Louis area. “Scrubby Dutch” references German immigrants who were incredibly house proud and tidy. I had hesitated to use the term, because I feared it was a pejorative. However, my readers assured me they’re proud of this, and they urged me to include it. I will!

I give out bookmarks. If you have a book club, and you send me an address, I’ll get you as many bookmarks as you have members.

And I’ll try to visit you or your group. (That's a photo of me with Melissa. She's been a pal for quite a while. I was thrilled to come to an event her mother put together with help from Megan at the Mooresville Public Library in Mooresville, Indiana.) I’ll even scrapbook with you.

Recently, I read a comment by Bill Hodges that sums up my philosophy:

Years ago I hit on the idea that there was something I could do for everyone I met, and it was my responsibility to find out what that was and do it. To that end I taught my children a simple rule: “Do everything you can, for everyone you can, and do it before you need them.” Over the years I have tried hard to help my friends and colleagues in any way possible and I have found their generosity flowing back to me has been humbling.

Isn’t that a lovely sentiment?

You can add Bill to your “friends” at Facebook by looking him up under the name: William N. Hodges.

One Remarkable Day

Written by: Lori Vonada, Venus, PA

I have the honor of being friends with a magnificent group of five scrapbookers! Even though there is 20 years between us, scrapbooking is not the only thing we love to do together. We love traveling and shopping together and enjoy endless hours talking and visiting with one another. Even though these women live two hours from me, they are my very best friends.

Last summer one of the women in our group, Kim Englert, came across Joanna’s first novel, Paper, Scissors, Death: A Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-N-Craft Mystery, while she was working at the circulation desk in the Northland Public Library. Kim bought the novel, read it, and placed it in a bag along with the supplies to create a scrapbook layout and passed the bag along to a friend in our group, Lori Smith. Lori read Joanna’s first novel, purchased and read her second novel, Cut, Crop & Die: A Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-N-Craft Mystery, put together the supplies to create a scrapbook layout, and passed the bag along to me. I read both books and passed them along with more layout supplies to the next friend in our group, Jan Dineff.

Before I passed the books and layout supplies along, I noticed in the back of one of Joanna’s books that you could write to request bookmarks. I wrote Joanna a letter but honestly never expected to hear back from her. Not only did I receive the bookmarks from her, but I also received autographed book plates for all of us and a wonderful letter personally written and signed by Joanna. In the letter she provided information about a festival she would be attending in Pittsburgh the following May. I read the letter to our group at a crop at our local scrapbook store, Scrapbook Super Station. (Wasn’t that the most appropriate spot?) While we were there that evening, we ran into another friend, Raelene Ellenberger. We told her about the letter. As luck would have it, she had met and talked to Joanna at length just the week before at Scrapfest in the Mall of America. What was the chance of that?!?! We decided we had to meet Joanna!

I wrote Joanna another letter and told her all about our group. This time she e-mailed me. In the weeks to come, Joanna and I e-mailed back and forth multiple times to set up a luncheon meeting while she was in Pittsburgh for the Festival of Mystery. Five of us met Joanna on Tuesday, May 4, in Oakland, PA, and went to the Union Grill for lunch. Joanna is such a remarkable person! (I’m not just saying that either…She truly is terrific!) She brought us each a goody bag filled with scrapbook supplies and our favorite item, the “I {heart} Kiki” pin! She brought along copies of her latest novel, Photo, Snap, Shot: A Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-N-Craft Mystery, and took the time to autograph them for us. Although Joanna would not tell us if Kiki is going to end up with Detweiler in the end of her series, we learned so much from her about the writing and publishing business. I was fascinated with what she had to say. She took the time to pose for numerous photographs as we walked through the University of Pittsburgh campus on our way back to her hotel after lunch. (Check out all the great photographs below!)



That's the Cathedral of Learning on the University of Pittsburgh's campus.



Here I am with Joanna.




And here's a photo of our group.

We are already looking forward to reading Joanna’s fourth novel which will not be released for another year! (The wait will be horrendous!) Joanna – thank you for spending the day with us! It was a day that will be cherished for years to come. The time you spent with us was truly enjoyable and memorable! (Check out the scrapbook layout I made honoring our day with Joanna below!)