The good energy of a local bookstore

on Independent Bookstore Day

I’m part of a group of writers called WOW (Write On Windsor) that meets bi-weekly at Storytellers Bookstore on Ottawa Street in Windsor. Linda, the store owner gives us the space at the front of her shop with the comfy couch and over-stuffed chairs. When her machine is working, she also provides coffee.

(This is me, in the “writer’s chair”)

Linda hosts us for the same reason she runs a brick and mortar bookstore in a world dominated by online sales- she loves books, and she loves readers, and writers.

There’s a section on Linda’s shelves, very close to the cozy area where our writing group usually gathers, dedicated to local authors. My book is in there, as are books by several people I have come to know.

I sold a book in her store today, almost by accident. I was on my way to our writer’s group meeting, which was moved to the basement this week, because another local author was set up for a book-signing. That’s something else Linda loves to host.

Stephen Gaspar, a Windsor author who’s produced at least a dozen mysteries was there to talk about his latest, The Book Club Murders. He described it as a cozy mystery with a hard-boiled detective story woven throughout.

Stephen told me his amateur detective is an avid reader who co-hosts a book club. She’s drawn to investigate the murders of one of the members, and a local bookstore owner. A strange book falls into her hands, that inspires weird dreams, which in turn seem to offer clues.

This seemed like a perfect book for Independent Bookstore Day. Except for the part about the murder of the bookshop owner!

Stephen’s quick summary of the plot rang some bells for me. My first mystery was about a reluctant sleuth who stumbles his way towards solving a crime with the aid of a mysterious journal. He also has evocative dreams.

The series I am building is called The Rev. Thomas Book Mysteries, and each will feature a book within the book. In the one I’m currently writing, the book is a journal being written as the story unfolds, by Tom’s daughter Hope who is helping him solve another murder, in another church.

I don’t buy a lot of books these days, as we are down-sizing, and learning how to live as retired people. (I love the library!) I made an exception, and bought The Book Club Murders.

I wanted to support and encourage the author. I’ve been the guy at the table, hoping to sell a book. In fact, I’ve been that guy in Linda’s store.

It seemed an apt way to mark Independent Bookstore Day.

I’d just sold one of mine, so had the cash in my pocket. I’d stopped at the sales counter to say hello to Linda, and met another frequent visitor to the store. We kind of recognized each other, and ended up chatting, as so easily happens in that store.

I wound up showing her my book, and telling her about it, and she was interested. It’s wonderful when this happens in an organic way. Selling isn’t my favourite part of authoring.

After those happy moments, of connecting with a new reader, meeting another mystery writer, and buying a fun book, I went down to the secret basement headquarters of WOW.

Actually, Linda’s basement storage room is a brightly lit space lined with shelves laden with her inventory.

We listened to Patrick read the newly refreshed first chapter of his work-in-progress, a fascinating memoir of surviving and thriving beyond mental illness.

Our practice is to take turns reading our submission, then all the members offer constructive, positive feedback.

When my turn came I read the latest draft of chapter 14 of The Book of Christmas Joy. It’s about an emergency executive meeting, held two days after a church matriarch and major benefactor is found dead in the sanctuary, lying in a pool of her own blood, under a fallen Christmas tree. Even so, I was going for some humour, and it was good to try it out with my colleagues.

They didn’t all pick up on all my brilliant dry humour, but offered some encouraging words, and pointed out some sentences that needed work. Two of the lines they noticed, I’d felt weren’t working, even as I read them aloud. Which is why it’s great to have a safe space to share the work, and look for ways to make it better.

I already knew that most of writing is re-writing.

I’m learning, happily, that writing can be a little less solitary, and more collegial than I’d ever imagined.

It was specially cheering today, to be in that space of shared writer’s energy, as we celebrated Independent Bookstore Day.