Change…to be or not to be

We all face changes in our lives. Some we like and others we feel we could live without. The older we get the more challenged we feel with change, the harder it is to make the adjustment.

Recently, a very large challenge came into effect within the literary field…..e-publishing. This is actually not new, just one of those things that sat on the back burner for a number of years, waiting patiently for a ride to the front. It needed a conveyance, transportation to the front line.

Back in the middle 1990, e-publishing was established and the literary world laughed about publishing an e-book. Whoever heard of reading a book from a computer? Who would want to do such a thing? Those who chose to try something new were put down and sales were minimal. But e-publishing survived and held its ground, waiting patiently for the right vehicle.

Today, the year of 2010, the trumpets blared, the confetti flew through the air and loud voices proclaimed victory. The reason was the development of the Kindle. An e-reader of all e-readers. There were others before Amazon’s Kindle, but once this device surfaced, the public jumped on the bandwagon. An easy way to carry a multitude of books in one small container. The avid reader was excited.

The question is….will this replace the actual handheld book, whether it be paperback or hardcopy? I doubt that the change will be that drastic upfront, for many people enjoy holding a book in hand, collecting that specific author’s book for a personal library, or whatever the reason we scan the bookstore shelves. I personally enjoy reading from a book, but I do believe I would find the e-reader convenient. So why can’t both survive in our world of the 21st century? We are in the making of a historical change. How will it affect our libraries?

Here is a question I pose to my readers. How do you feel about the new adventure of electronic readers? Are you game to try something new? To be adventurous. Let me hear from you.

Elmer Kelton, One of the Greats

As you all may know, Elmer Kelton died on Saturday in San Angelo, Texas. What a terrible lost to the western readers. He was a great person who enjoyed being part of Western Writers 0f American, where he served as president some time ago.

At 83, he was still going strong in his love for writing. His first book, Hot Iron, was published in 1956, and his most recent completed book, Texas Standoff, is due out next year. If you would like to read more about Elmer Kelton go to Reporter News.

Kelton won over five Spur Awards, wrote over 62 western book, and I feel honored that he reviewed my last book, Winds of Change.

We will miss him and his wonderful western stories. Here, here, to a great story teller.

Make My Day

My grandmother, Dorothea Anna Ostwald, bequeathed me her Seven Hundred Album Verse poetry book, copyrighted in 1884. It is by J. S. Ogilvie Publications, who published many of the Horatio Alger books, and eventually became Avon Books (founded in 1941) that we know today.

The lovely poems inside my antiquated book were written for the purpose of filling the pages of a friend’s autograph album, which was very popular back in the late 1800’s to the mid 1900’s. Now our children and grand children take these books to Disney World to obtain Character signatures.

I have my grandmother’s album full of loving and funny poems written by her friends and by my grandfather as he began courting her in 1907. I find myself laughing at some of the verses and admiring the penmanship of long ago.

Come spend time with me as we tiptoe once a month through the pages of the Seven Hundred Album Verse book.


I dip my pen into the ink,
And grasp your album tight.
But for my life I cannot think,
One single word to write.