Baltimore Book Festival

My friend, Beth, called to invite me to go with her to yesterday's Baltimore Book Festival.  I'd never attended so I decided this would be a good opportunity for a new experience. 

 Looking down one street of
the Baltimore Book Festival

Beth also sent me an email with a link from the Maryland Romance Writers (MRW) stating that they were accepting the first page of your manuscript to be read aloud and critiqued.  She playfully dared me to do it.  Not wanting to back down from a good challenge, I accepted. 

We met near her office building, just down Charles Street from the festival, and walked the few blocks to Mount Vernon Square, the site of the Festival.  First, we checked out the used books but decided that we’d come back later since we didn’t want to lug them around all day.

Nathan Hale illustrates Charles Stanton
from his novel
"The Donner Dinner Party."

We found the MRW venue immediately so we wouldn’t have to search for it at the last minute, across from the three-dollar bookstand that we both wanted to revisit.  Walking on, we saw author of graphic novels, Nathan Hale, on the Children’s Stage.  He has a historical series for children called “Hazardous Tales.”  He talked about his books and the history behind them while he drew pictures to illustrate.  He was funny, well read and interesting and we thoroughly enjoyed his talk.  We looked for his books afterward but they had already sold out.

Peabody Institute Library
Books, books and more books

A tour of the beautiful Peabody Institute Library was next.  As a child, my mother took piano lessons at Peabody so I’d always wanted to see the inside.   Along with a book sale, there was an author talk in the library.  When Beth and I stepped inside, we both stopped, mouths opened.  I felt like the heavens parted and a choir of angels were singing.  Several levels of books lined three sides of a large atrium.  They looked like boxes in an old theater, with each box holding shelves of books.  I could spend the rest of my life there.  I took a picture but it truly doesn’t do it justice.

Mt. Vernon UMC

Next, we toured the Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church.  The stained glass windows were gorgeous and the parishioners friendly and well informed about their church.

Scrabble Game

Finally, we headed over the MRW venue.  I handed in my pages and we waited for a seat after the “Pantzer vs. Plotting” talk, which was lively and informative.  Beth wandered over to a giant scrabble game while I stood in the middle of a bush listening to the talk.

MRW Panel.
This bush is not as comfortable as it looks.

When the crowd turned over for the next event, we were able to sit.  After several wonderful submissions, mine was read.  I was told that it was well written but they wanted to me expand the description about the hero character.   

Mary Sue Seymour

Afterward, I chatted with agent Mary Sue Seymour and then at long last we visited the three-dollar book sale.  I only ended up with six books.  One of those was for my husband so that one doesn’t count.

After we dropped off our loot at the car, we headed to an Irish Pub, Mick O’Shea’s. I was glad to sit down since we’d been there for about six hours.  It was a great choice since the food and the prices were good.  

Beth at Mick O'Shea's

My husband raised his eyebrow when I walked in with a passel of books but I handed him a bag of cinnamon almonds and one of the books so that he wouldn’t say anything about yet more books coming into the house.  He smiled at me in that knowing way spouses have since he knew what I was doing, but he didn’t comment.    

Another step in the delicate dance of marriage.  But that’s a blog for another day.