Back to work tomorrow…

Hi everyone,

My sincere thanks to TINA HACKER for creating and circulating a new reminder of my talk in November to The Writers’ Place in Kansas City. If you would like to help, please share this with those you know who might like to attend the free evening event. Thank you!

I sent much of last week on the sofa fighting a bad stomach reaction to a strong antibiotic. Today I can walk without hunkering over like an old man — no comments or smirks allowed — and my gut ache is down to a too many green-pear variety. I hope that by tomorrow morning I’ll be back at work and start the game of catch-up.

Here’s a little guy that has been around my office for a long time. I’ve forgotten where I got it. I wrote my first PINK PANTHER book in 1975. When I can, I’ll tell you about that, and the other two PP titles I did.

The Writers Yearbook

NOTE: Yesterday I had the birthday party of a lifetime. David Harrison Elementary principal SHAWN DEWITT, librarian ANGELA KNIGHT, and virtually the whole school worked SO hard to make the day absolutely perfect for me in every way. I’ll have much more to say about all that, plus pictures, as soon as I gather all the material.

Hi everyone,

Last year I joined The Writers Place in Kansas City. I visited there once, years ago, and finally decided to seek membership to the group that describes itself like this: “The Writers Place, located in Kansas City, MO, serves the entire metropolitan area. Its mission is to promote writers, nurture an interest in writing and literature and reach out to wide and diverse audiences.”

I’ve been gone from Kansas City for forty-nine years, but it was my home from 1963-1973 and I still feel a certain kinship for the community. I correspond now and then with a few of my old staff members from Hallmark days and drive up for a weekend on rare occasions.

Each year an editorial committee at Writers Place gathers a collection of contributions from members and publishes an anthology of poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction. The collection “hosts a rich collage of works by several poets laureate, world-known storytellers and novelists, award-winning authors, and those who are at the beginning of their literary journey.” As a newish member, I submitted a poem from THE DIRT BOOK, “Now We Know,” and am pleased to see it appear in the just-out 2021 publication.

One of these days, maybe this year, I hope to make a trip to Kansas City to meet other members of the Writers Place and perhaps even make a presentation. I’d like that.