The case for Indies

I love Indies.
I have three that I go to regularly:

Logos, here in Santa Cruz, has an AMAZING used book section for kids, as well as TONS of adult books and an amazing music section.
I love having a place where I can trade books in and find gems!

Bookshop Santa Cruz, in, well, Santa Cruz, also has a great used section, but TONS of new books as well. They also have really fun events, from author visits to book trivia night!

Hicklebees, in San Jose, is my first Indie love. I don’t have an exact number, but I think they’re 95% children’s books. They have amazing authors and illustrators come, walls that are signed and drawn on, and a great bathroom.

I love the community that surrounds each bookstore,
the people you meet there, and the books you stumble upon.

This post is going to be about Bookshop Santa Cruz
and all the fun that came from just two hours there.

I went there Tuesday to attend a poetry writing workshop
with Patricia Vecchione.
This workshop intrigued me because,
in the description,
it mentioned we would be taking inspiration from children’s books.

First, she read us three picture books,
then we wrote our own poems.
(I’ll share mine with you later,
as well as the books,
since it was so fun that I want to give the poetry workshop its own post :))

I wrote about books and painting,
and in doing so,
discovered another woman there painted.

Connection number 1:
We chatted about her paintings after the workshop.
She uses watercolor.
I used to be afraid of watercolor because I felt like I couldn’t control it,
then decided I didn’t need to be in control all the time,
and why not just use them and let it go? (yes, cue singing the song here!)

She laughed and told me the paintings she does are actually VERY controlled!

Next, I talked to Patricia.
She teaches poetry to children,
and I chatted with her about my favorite kidlit poetry books,
as well as the March Madness Poetry tournament.
“Can you email me that info?” she asked.
Connection number 2.

The only man in the poetry writing group mentioned
that he had a seven year old son.
I asked him what his son likes reading these days.
“Oh, we just finished this one called A Wrinkle in Time if you’ve heard of it.”

I told him I had read it, and asked him if he had heard of The Phantom Tollbooth.

“No,” he said, “probably too new.”
THAT made me laugh.
I told him about it then remembered I had picked up an extra copy
as stock for the Little Free Library I want to start soon.
Connection number 3.
“I’ll send it to you,” I said.
“We’ll make sure you get it back,” he said quickly.
“No,” I said, “you can HAVE it.”

He was so excited and gave me his address right away,
but asked, “Can you send it to my son? He’ll be excited to get something in the mail.”

We chatted about chess (his son loves to play) and I told him I’d include a small card in the book with the title of a Billy Collins poem about chess, and another book I’m sure they’ll like, called, When You Reach Me.

As I was talking to him, I saw this book on sale:

I was so excited that I had to stop talking and pick it up!
I read this book (a library copy) a few months back and loved it.
Handlettering and typography are quickly becoming a hobby for me.
I remembered mentioning it to my neighbor who does AMAZING handlettering work,
then saw there were two copies.
Connection number 4.
I bought the other one for him,
and will give it to him the next time I see him.

Next, I headed over to the info desk,
where I had a nice chat about this book:

It was on Bookshop’s Summer Reading list for kids,
and I bought two copies from them earlier this summer.
Cynthia Kadohata was at the SCBWI conference,
so I got both of them signed,
one as a giveaway and one for me.

I lent the one signed to me to a young friend.
She read it, but didn’t get the whole story…
literally!
The book jumped from page 163 to page 197;
one block of text was repeated twice
and she missed out on a lot of the story!

Connection number 5:
I explained this to the man at the info desk,
and we tracked down four more copies they had in the store.
Two were fine,
two had the same problem.

“Just check your other one and bring any back that are defective,” he said.
I was happy to hear this because I didn’t have the receipt,
but he said that wasn’t a problem.

Finally, I headed to the checkout lane with my purchases:
Two copies of Just my Type,
one copy of The Shadow Hero,

Connection number 6:
 Gene Luen Yang, the author, is coming to the store so I’ll meet him and get this copy signed!
and one copy of The Happiness of Pursuit.

Connection number 7:
Chris Guillebeau, the author, is coming to the store so I’ll get to meet him too and get this copy signed)

At the checkout, I saw this book on display:

I picked it up randomly before flying back East this summer and LOVED it.
The sign said she was a local author.

“I didn’t know she was local! I LOVED that book!”
By the book there was a little plastic holder with cards.
You could write your well wishes to her and Bookshop would send all the cards along.
Connection number 8:
I snagged one so I could write some words and return it to the store soon.

Connection number 9:
when I got back to my house,
I shared my poems with my boyfriend and my housemate.

And Connection number 10 is this blogpost.

One night.
Two hours.
and ten connections come from that!

I admit it,
I’m guilty of sometimes buying books on Amazon.
Sometimes I’m lazy, sometimes it’s price, sometimes it’s an ebook.
Honestly though, it’s maybe 2 to 4 books a year, at the most.
I buy at least 40 books from indies.

I want the Indies to stick around.
I NEED the Indies to stick around.
And these connections I made could only be made from going to one.

I can recommend books via social media (I do and will continue to do that)
but I also love going out to meet new people in my community.

Sure I can give books away on my blog,
but it’s great to also be able to see the person I’m giving a book to as I say I will
and see the surprise on his face.

Sure, I can search for books that I love to see when they go on sale,
but there’s something SO EXCITING about stumbling on one when you least expect it.

I love Indies.
I’m going to continue to support them and have fun doing it.

Until next time,
KE