Crafters Creations Holiday Bazaar Lakewood WA

I spent yesterday at the Crafters’ Creations Holiday Bazaar at Lakewood Community Center (where I also play pickle ball three days a week).

 

I was tickled pink that Cathy and Kevin from Lutheran Church of Christ the King and Bill and Gail from B&G Sponsored Events stopped by to say hello to me during the day.

 

I was thrilled to reconnect with Cheryl Young, another vendor at the event. She sells home-crafted jewelry. She gifted me with a masculine-looking jade necklace on a leather string. (Last year she gave me a masculine-looking bracelet made of stones.) I gifted her with a copy of YAY-SAYERS: The Good Guides. She will have a couple books coming out pretty soon. One is a book of poetry; the other, a book of accumulated wisdom. When they debut, I’ll let you know.

 

And Gerri Bennett, owner of Evergreen Embroidery, someone I haven ‘t seen in ages, was there, too. She does amazing embroidery. She has done all of my professional embroidery over the years…

 

Gerri Bennett’s table at Crafters’ Creations

I also met a lady with a dear friend who’s transgender (FTM) and is being given a really hard time at home. His family isn’t acknowledging his truth and he’s despondent. She bought Womb Man (I gifted her with two additional books–YAY-SAYERS and SETTLE FOR BEST–to help her deal with  her own challenges. She’s a terrific lady and I hope we stay in touch.

 

I sold three books, I think: DeForest Kelley Up Close and Personal, Let No Day Dawn that the Animals Cannot Share (smaller edition, not the coffee table size one) and YAY-SAYERS: The Good Guides, so I made my money back on the table ($35.00).

 

Then I bought a pizza, some chips and a cola, so that put me back in the red for the day, but I had a really great time.

 

I never expect to sell a ton of books (unless I’m at a TREK or Kelley venue), but I usually sell two or three. I don’t go to venues that cost a lot of money (table space) up front because I realize how unlikely it is I’ll recoup the money, but I almost always make some good connections that may result in copy writing or editing jobs later on, so I consider it good outreach.

 

Oh! Speaking of Kelley venues, the Toccoa Georgia Chamber of Commerce is trying to get enough sponsors for a DeForest Kelley 100 Year Birthday Celebration that they can fly me there to meet attendees, answer questions, and sell some Kelley books.  That’s very exciting.

 

The Toccoa celebration won’t be until spring, which is a good thing because I hope to get my chest-masculinizing surgery sometime in January and that will give me plenty of time to heal and get back into the swing of things.

 

And Treklanta wants me to send them ten copies of UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL and THE ENDURING LEGACY of DeFOREST KELLEY for their convention in the spring. If the dates coincide, maybe I can attend that one, too… (They have about 300 to 350 attendees, all told, so ten copies of each title should be enough. That’s one for every 30 to 35 attendees, not all of whom are coming to celebrate De’s birthday.)

 

I will probably do the Lakewood Crafters Creations event every year. I have a really great time there and the vendors are truly exceptional. I took a lot of photos on my phone. I’ve shared some of them above.