Thanks for a Great Signing! Plus New Website for Weeping Willow Books

With Haydee Perez

(Haydee Perez photo)

Shout out to Mary Sheldon and Penny at Tecolote Books in Montecito, and to all the folks who came out for my book signing on Saturday, July 22. It was a lovely afternoon, and I appreciate your support so much.

And hop on over to the new Weeping Willow Books website and check out our books and forthcoming titles, including our anthology, Unmasked, Women Write About Sex and Intimacy After Fifty. You can sign up to receive our monthly newsletter here.

Join us Saturday, July 22, at Tecolote Book Shop!

On Saturday afternoon, July 22, I will be at Tecolote Book Shop in Montecito, CA, to read from and sign copies of my newest collection of poetry and photographs, Ireland, Place Out of Time. Come join me from 3-5 p.m. for conversation, wine and appetizers. 

Tecolote is at 1470 East Valley Road, in Montecito, near Santa Barbara. If you can't make it, you can order my book here.

The Pony on the Point

A poem and photograph from my latest book, Ireland, Place out of Time (2017). Order your copy here.

The Pony on the Point

His face turned to the wood, the black pony
blends into the almost dusk,
cold descends upon the steppes

a single homestead stands
out against the rocky cliffs
above the sea

Grasses nearly obscure him
we see only his neck thick with fur and mane
his dark eyes pools of light through the mist

Stock still, he considers us, strangers
at the overgrown gate, as my camera
finds him in the unforgiving landscape

My Interview with "Literary Gumbo"

Fred Klein interviews an award-winning writer, editor, coach, and founding director of the Summer Writing Institute at Antioch University, Santa Barbara, Marcia Meier. Directed/Edited by Ken Baxter

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed once again by Fred Klein, host of TV Santa Barbara's show Literary Gumbo, which is a weekly look at the world of writers and the publishing industry. It's always such a joy to sit down with Fred, who was director of marketing at Bantam Books Publishing House for many years.

During our conversation, we got to talk about all the recently released and forthcoming books through Weeping Willow Books – both my books and those of my clients – including:

• Ireland, Place Out of Time, by Marcia Meier, 2017
• Sharkbait, A Flight Surgeon’s Odyssey in Vietnam, by Guy S. Clark, MD, 2017
• Yuko, Friendship Between Nations, by Dick Jorgensen, (forthcoming)
• Unmasked, Women Write About Sex and Intimacy After Fifty, edited by Marcia Meier and Kathleen Barry (forthcoming)

I hope you enjoy your taste of Literary Gumbo. You can watch other Gumbo author interviews here.

Join me at my book signing - July 22

Tecolote Book Shop in Montecito, CA, will host me for a book signing in celebration of my newest collection of poetry, Ireland, Place Out of Time, on Saturday, July 22, from 3-5 p.m. 

This work of art was inspired by my trip to Ireland in October 2015. The sixteen poems, paired with my photographs, depict varied experiences encountering the rugged natural landscape, ancient ruins, the Irish people and their many sheep, and other travelers along the way.

I hope to see you that afternoon! Tecolote is at 1470 East Valley Road, in Montecito, near Santa Barbara. If you can't make it, you can order my book here.

Celebrate Your Public Library

My essay, “I Found the World in a Library," has just been published as part of the anthology, Library Book: Writers on Libraries, compiled and edited by Santa Barbara’s Steven Gilbar. 

Each essay in the collection, which celebrates the Santa Barbara Central Library’s 100th anniversary, explores the author’s personal stories about the Santa Barbara Library or how libraries have shaped their lives. I wrote about my hometown library, Hackley Public Library in Muskegon, Mich., which greatly influenced me as a child and sparked my love of reading and, by extension, writing.

Authors who have contributed include both native-born and Santa Barbara-based writers, like Fanny Flagg, Sue Grafton, Pico Iyer, and Gretel Ehrlich, as well as all the living Santa Barbara poets laureate Perie Longo, Chryss Yost, David Starkey, Sojourner Kincaid Rolle, and the current laureate, Enid Osborn. Nationally known authors Neil Gaiman, the late Ray Bradbury, and Ursula K. LeGuin are among the contributors, and the foreword was written by Santa Barbara’s T.C. Boyle.

Copies can be found throughout the library system and at local bookstores Chaucer's, The Book Den and Tecolote, as well as on Amazon. Proceeds go to the library. What a gift it is to have access to free books! Read more about the anthology here.