Author Christine Hardy at the Book Aslyum

                                                           

A fellow member of the South Jersey Writers Group was at one of my favorite book stores doing a book signing. Christine Hardy has short stories featured in several anthologies starting with  “The Gargoyle Cat,” for Tall Tales and Short Stories from South Jersey (our group's first anthology) 

                                                               

Here is some information on Christine Hardy's other works:

                                                        

 

A Bard Day's Knight      “The Dragon in the Kettle”

When the illegal dragon’s egg heating a young blacksmith’s forge hatches, she tries to sneak the baby dragon out of town in a kettle, but babies, especially fire-breathing ones, never stay where you put them for long.

                                                             

                                                       

  Reading Glasses “The Beach House”

After her best friend Pooja drowns in Ocean City, NJ, Amber is haunted by Pooja’s ghost as the U.S. faces yet another nuclear standoff with North Korea. Too wrapped in grief to take the threat seriously at first, Amber discovers that the two events are linked in a way she couldn’t possibly have imagined, and not just she but the entire planet is running out of time

I did an interview on her about this story here: http://www.hypotheticalpress.com/ 

 

                                                             

 

DIFFERENT DRAGONS II “Bessie’s Return”

When Marsh takes his niece on her first roller coaster ride at a historic Lake Erie amusement park, he discovers it’s being plagued by the not-so-mythical Ohio lake monster, Bessie. Marsh recruits the park employees to help drive Bessie back into deeper water with help from an unexpected source: a fiberglass dragon who doesn’t always stay on his track.

                                                                   

                                                              
                                                         
Rosemary and Jeff, the wonderful owners of the Book Asylum always supply a tray of delicious cookies for each book signing event. Great deal if you ask me. You get a great book to read, support a budding author and feast on cookies and great coffee.

                 Laurie                             Christine              Marie                                      

It was a perfect day to spend with a friend and other members of our group. If you want to learn more about the South Jersey Writers' Group go here: http://www.meetup.com/South-Jersey-Writers/ and here: http://south-jersey-writers.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

If you want to learn more about the Book Asylum go here: http://www.thebookasylum.com/

Part Two of The Book Asylum with Author Laura Kaighn

               

 

There is a little shop up in Blackwood, New Jersey that sells old and new books. The Book Asylum is located on 26 N. Blackhorse Pike and I’ve been to this little gem several times in the last two years. There is something special about this little shop that also hosts a café with damn good coffee, teas and bakery goods. Yummy! And, the reason for this good feeling is due to the owners Jeff and Rosemary Moore. You can find my interview of them, here.

                                                                

Today, I’m interviewing Laura Kaighn, who is a published author, a professional storyteller and a pretty amazing woman. Best of all, she is a very good friend. Laura and I both belong to the South Jersey Writers’ Group, but she is also co-facilitator of The Book Asylum’s Writing Group. This is Laura’s site: http://www.ladyhawkestorytelling.com

Steampunk Granny Chats with Author Laura Kaighn

Marie: “Hi Laura. Surprise! I wanted to interview you before you began the meeting with the group. What is the name of your group here at The Book Asylum?”

Laura Kaighn: “We call ourselves “The Book Asylum Writers” or the “Asylumites” for short. Word doesn’t like how it’s spelled, but I said the heck with it.”

Marie: “How often does your group meet, here?”

Laura: “Actually, there are two parts to the writers’ group. Mine, in which we focus on writing, critiquing, feedback and little mini workshops on the writing process and concepts such as plot and character development, and all that stuff. We meet on the first Thursday of every month. There is another woman, who is a retired art teacher named Pam Laurenzi. She comes in for journaling. She gets them writing, but it’s not organized where they have to have a theme for the night. Pam gets them to write and they share what they’ve written around the table. All positive feedback, and they have a good time. And that’s it.

                                                                  

So, depending on what you want to experience as a writer or to grow as a writer, you decide if you want to come to one or the other, or both. It’s very open, and Pam is very good. She’s a sweet lady. She switched days with me because I was originally doing the third Thursday, but that is when the South Jersey Writers’ Group meets. Pam was willing to switch with me so that I could attend the meetings while she was here doing her thing here. That’s the writing group, I call myself the co-facilitator because I bow to her since she was here first.

It started with Johanna Swank. She’s a member of the South Jersey Writers’ Group. When she was finished with her workshops, she asked if we wanted to stay as a writers’ group. Everybody thought that was a great idea. At that time, I had poked myself in towards the end, and she asked me if I could take over. First it was only going to be the one night when she couldn’t make it; but before you knew it, I was here. I’ve been here every first Thursday.”

Marie: “How many people are there in the group?”

Laura: “Overall, we have around twenty-one, but luckily not all twenty-one people show up for the meeting. I keep in contact with them through e-mails. We have a core group of about five writers that are here pretty much every time. And again, some don’t necessarily come to my group. They’ll go to Pam’s because they are interested in just journaling without any end product, like a book or memoir.”

                                                             

Marie: “So, on your end are you trying to help people get published?”

Laura: “Well, just to be better writers. I help them with whatever they are interested in. I have an entire list of topics that we’ll touch upon from time to time. If they have an interest, I’ll put together a bunch of stuff. And then we’ll do a writing exercise. I’ll show them examples, or they’ll give me examples. We’ll critique and go over where their weakness and strengths are: grammar, punctuation, dialogue, character development. You know, whatever. So I’ll periodically bring that list up again and say, “Okay! We’re just playing ‘Swap & Share’ all the time and reading aloud.  Now, let’s get back into the writing process. What do you want to attack, next?”

I know that I’m going to have to touch upon Point of View again, because that’s a bit complicated for those who are interested in writing fiction. We have a couple of people that are interested in memoir, but not a lot of poetry. Even my other group at the Margaret Heggan Library; they’re not really interested in poetry, but memoirs mostly and autobiographies. One member over there is writing a cookbook with family stories. She keeps getting sidetracked with her ninety-three year old mother. I said to her, “You better get back here.” It’s a diverse group between the two venues and I enjoy their company. I learn from them as much as I think I guide them.”

Marie: “You’re a busy person because you have several books published and you are busy doing book signings and also doing presentations. When is your next presentation?”

Laura: “I don’t have anything scheduled at this point. But because it is the beginning of the year, that is the topic that I’ll be broaching with both groups. I want to know what they want to take away from this and what instructions I can guide them through that will make them stronger writers. We will be picking more topics. I have a list of strengths and challenges. What I do is: I’ve collected their works in a recent assignment. I took them home, checked them over and made a list of where I saw that they needed help. We are definitely going to be touching upon dialogue, grammar rules, using good verbs, good adjectives, strong subjects and all that stuff. I’ll do sentence structure and dividing up sentences so they aren’t rambling on. Just those things that I saw some needed help on.”

Group Member, Claudia: “I tend to ramble.”

Laura: “I do too. I end up with long, long sentences and then when I go back to proof-read, I go, “You’ll run out of air by the time you get to the finish. It’s time to break it up!” So, yeah, that is what we do a lot of. We write, and then we look at our writing. It’s not just writing, “Oh this is wonderful. I love it.” You need more specific feedback if you want to get better. We help each other with the critiquing. But once in a while, I’ll bring them all home and give them a more thorough once over.

If you are a strong writer, yourself, you can step back a little bit and see some things that other people missed because they are focusing on the story or focusing on the grammar and it’s hard to do both, plus focus on the dialogue and word choice and sentence structure. That’s why there are four different editors to go through when you get a book published. There is the copy editor, the line editor, the proof reader and...”

Marie: “The developmental editor, right?”

Laura: “Yes, exactly, which is the first one to see it. That’s a lot to think about. So, I do what I can.”

Marie: “Well, you’re having fun and it’s a great coffee shop/ book store to have these meetings at.”

Laura: “Oh yeah. Jeff and Rose are such wonderful people to have us here, and they let us talk loud.  When we are at the library, we’re in the conference room. So we just shut the door and we laugh and don’t worry about anyone shushing us or having the librarian shaking her finger at us.”

Rosemary: “I love when they do Mad-Libs.”

Laura: “Yes, we do Mad-Libs. When I did substitute teaching, I always had at least three activities just in case the teacher didn’t leave materials and I couldn’t do a lesson. I would say, “Hey, let’s do this.”  I always had my goody bag, like these which I got from ‘Toys R Us’ while Christmas shopping.” Laura hands me one of the flip books to look over. “One is Story Starter, the other is Silly Starters and this is Creative Thinking. It’s slated for grades first to third, but you just throw it out and write a journal entry. It’s challenging.”

                                                                 

Marie: “I know you do storytelling events. When is the next event?”

Laura: “It’s not a public event because of it being so early in the season, but I’m happy to say that Rabbit’s Tale and Other Rites of Passage has been accepted by the Spring Hills Senior Living Centers, and there are eight facilities, mostly on the east coast from Florida up to Connecticut.  Once a month, they are reading, sharing and doing activities based on one of my stories. Last month, for December, it was “Dad’s Charlie Brown Tree” because it was Christmas. This month, in fact next week on January 12^th, I’ll be going to the Cherry Hill facility and reading “Tornado Child”. It’s the story about my three year old little sister who got into my room and wrecked it. In February, because of Chinese New Year, I’ll be doing the story, “Holding up the Sky” which is based on a Chinese fable. “

Marie: “Are there any public events?”

Laura: “In the summer, I’ve already booked a program for the Burlington County College on July 15^th for the summer reading program. It’s at 5 Pioneer Blvd. in Westampton and here are the directions.” http://home.comcast.net/~ladyhawkestorytelling/site/?/event/view/110/

Marie: “People can check on your calendar of events on your site?”

Laura: “It’s not up yet, but there will be more events posted between now and then. The only ones that I post on my website are the ones that are public.”

Marie: Thank you Laura for taking the time from tonight’s meeting to chat with me. For all my followers out there, you can find all of Laura’s works here:  http://home.comcast.net/~ladyhawkestorytelling/site/?/page/Writer%27s_Portfolio%3A_A_Collection_of_Works/

The Book Asylum: Not Your Average Book Store

                                                                   

There is a little shop up in Blackwood, New Jersey that sells old and new books. The Book Asylum is located on 26 N. Blackhorse Pike and I’ve been to this little gem several times in the last two years. My sidekick Dawn Byrnes and I are members of the South Jersey Writers’ Group and responsible for selling the group’s first anthology Tall Tales and Short Stories from South Jersey.

                                                                    

But, I’ve also published my book, Roof Oasis, this year. It’s the first in an apocalyptic series with a twist. As fellow member and friend describes it: Romeo and Juliet meet “The Walking Dead” written by Jules Verne. Yeah it’s good and I’ve had the pleasure of selling my books at The Book Asylum several times in the past few months.

There is something special about this little shop that also hosts a café with damn good coffee, teas and bakery goods. Yummy! And, it always feels like you entered a magical place every time you step through the door. The reason for this good feeling is due to the owners Jeff and Rosemary Moore.

                                                                   

Why did Jeff and Rosemary take the chance, in this shaky economy, to open their own bookstore? We find out from this delightful couple in my interview.

Marie Gilbert: “What encouraged you to open a bookstore? What led to you opening this bookstore?

Jeff Moore: “Do I have to talk, now?”

Rosemary Diepold Moore: “It was your idea?”

Marie Gilbert: laughing “Yes, please. Was it something you always wanted to do?”

Jeff Moore: “I just always liked books, but it was a weird thing. I bought a couple of books for myself on line and I thought, “This doesn’t seem so hard. What could be involved?” So, I started talking about it a little bit.”

Rosemary: “Selling them on line, though.”

Jeff: “Yes, thinking about selling them on line, what was involved, and originally I did think about selling books online. That’s the way a lot of books are sold nowadays, online, but you still have to store them somewhere. So, one day we were walking down the Pike and.”

Rosemary: “You were. You didn’t take me until later. It was like surprise!”

Jeff: “You weren’t with me the first time?” both he and Rosemary laugh. “Well, I don’t like to play all my cards at one time. Yeah, and so this was for rent, it was this side of the shop. And we talked about it, called and asked questions. Did we have books, then, the first truckload?”

Rosemary: “Not yet.”

                                                     

                                      

Marie: “So you saw this store and did you know immediately? Usually a building will call to you.”

Rosemary: “That side called to me.” Rosemary points to the larger section of the shop.

Jeff: “I don’t know. This side was kind of dumpy. It was really messy.”

Rosemary: “Messy blue and white.”

Jeff: “We had the books at home and the price was right. It was pretty reasonable.”

Rosemary: “If you notice, this side is smaller and we didn’t have the back part to it, yet. It had been empty for a while so we started bringing books in without shelves.”

Jeff and Rosemary: “Well, first we met Nick and Bert. They are the landlords and the nicest people on earth. It’s sheer coincidence that we landed up here, but they are the nicest people.”

Marie: “It was meant to be.”

Rosemary: “Bert is usually at the writers’ group. She comes, but not tonight. She’s away right now.”

Marie: “So you had no shelves?”

Jeff: No, we did this all backwards. We had a truckload of books, brought them in and piled them up in here (the smaller side of the shop) and didn’t have any shelves. I saw some shelves on Craig’s list and bought them. They were shoe department shelves from Sears, and it just didn’t work.”

Rosemary: “You had to put them all together. He was here at 10:30 late at night trying to put all these shelves together and, a skunk comes and pays him a visit.

                                                                     

Marie: “Oh no!” We all laugh.

Jeff: “It was the summertime and I left the door open and the skunk walked in, walked around the store, then walked back out again. I didn’t do anything, didn’t move. I just sat there.” We all laugh.

Marie: “Oh my God. He may have brought you luck.”

Jeff: “I guess.”

Rosemary: “Well, it made him come to the realization that hey maybe we should look into that side,” pointing to the larger room.

Jeff: “Actually that side was occupied, but the lease was up. We decided we wanted it but it wasn’t available. Two days later we got the call.”

Marie: “How much time between the time you rented this part and the time you got the call.”

Jeff and Rosemary: “We got this side in September, but we got the other side maybe in October or November because we opened in December.”

Rosemary: “Yeah, because we moved all the stuff over to the other side and didn’t use this side at all. The owner put this side up (coffee shop side) for rent again. We didn’t do this side until a year later in order to make the coffee shop.”

Jeff and Rosemary: “This door was closed and we only did business on the other side. After Jeff moved all the books to the other side and the owner put this side was up for sale, but after this side was empty for a year, then we decided to use this place for the coffee shop>”

Marie: “Perfect! Now, does having a coffee shop here in the bookstore help bring in more people?”

                                                               

Rosemary: “I think so. There are a lot of people who just come in for coffee or they’ll come in to use their lap top or to sit here and just write. We have a screenwriter who comes in. He’ll just sit here for hours, doing work.”

Jeff: “They (bookstore & coffee shop) piggyback well together.”

Marie: “How many years has the store been opened?”

Rosemary: “It’s been four years in December.”

Marie: “Are you happy with your decision to open the shop?”

Jeff: “Yes. I was a little worried about the money. It was quite expensive, but.”

Rosemary: “But, not that much more because of the extra size and the owner let us fix up this room, which was a mess, the way we wanted.”

Marie: “Besides the bookstore and coffee shop and allowing people to come in and do book signings...”

Just then Author/Storyteller/ and fellow member of the South Jersey Writers’ Group Laura Kaighn walks in to say hello. Here is Laura’s site: http://www.ladyhawkestorytelling.com/ Part two of my story of The Book Asylum will feature Laura and the writing group that she oversees there.

                                                          

Marie: “Hi Laura, surprise! I’ll be interviewing you next. So Jeff, besides selling books and coffee, you began to live music here. When is it and does it help to bring in more people?”

Jeff and Rosemary: “We have music every Friday night except for the holidays. January 16^th is our next night for music. For the most parts, the live music has brought in more people, but I think in time, as more people become aware, it will develop because of people coming in to hear a band they’re following.”

Marie: “Well, I’ve been spreading the news and every time we do a book signing here I mention your bookstore on my blog. I have people, like my neighbors, that hadn’t realized there was a book store up the Pike. One of my neighbors, sometimes works from home and is now thinking of taking the ride up here to do his work.”

Rosemary: “There are a lot of people that live within a mile of us or close by that come here. We had two different couples that came in today and it was the first time for both. One of them said, “I’ve rode by here fifty million times, grew up here and never knew this place was here, now I will be back.” He began asking questions about what we do and I told him about the writers’ group, the general writing, the music and that we wanted to do a Poetry night coming up soon and, we want to do an open-mic soon. He said, “You just totally described my dream, a coffee shop and a bookstore. I know where I’m going to be coming.”

Marie: Besides promoting you on my blog, I have a friend who has an online newspaper, NJ Penn. I’ll let him know about you, too. Now, do you post a schedule of events on your Facebook page?”

                              Casting Shadows Trio                                                               

Rosemary: “I do put it on Facebook.”

Jeff: “We’re not scheduled out right now, but do know about some of the people that are coming to perform, like the jazz group, Casting Shadows.”

Jeff and Rosemary: “Casting Shadows, a trio will be playing on the first Friday of every month starting in March. And, we have a piano duo who wants to come back maybe every other month. They stay near the front window and we have all different kinds of music from rock to country to Celtic Irish Band. If anyone wants to know, just call us up (phone # listed on Facebook page) and ask who will be featured for each Friday night.”

                        Clan Suibhne Celtic Irish Band                                                       

Marie: “You can also send me the schedule and I’ll share it on my Facebook page and Twitter.”

Jeff: laughing “We don’t know how to twitter.”

Marie: laughing “Will, I do and I’ll spread the news. Rosemary, I have a question for you. When Jeff said that he wanted to open a bookstore, what was your first reaction?”

Rosemary: “Well, because it’s not the main source of money at first I thought he was doing it for a retirement plan because when he first got all the books, he realized that he still needed a place to store the books. It wasn’t helping us having all the books at home. So, that’s when he, on his own, started looking around and then he took me and said, “Look!” and I said, “Yes....?” There were sheets on the windows and it was for rent. He said, “So what do you think?” I’ said, “About what?” He said, “A bookstore!”

Marie: “Were you nervous?” We are all laughing.

Rosemary: “I was surprised, but it sounded like a neat idea and at first it was a part time idea because we both worked. When it got to the point that it was safe enough for me to leave my job, we opened up full time and it was definitely worth it doing that.”

Jeff: “It’s been two years that we were able to have day hours.”

                                                              

Marie: “Rosemary, people do identify with you being here all the time.”

                           My favorite picture of Jeff & Rosemary

                                                            

Rosemary: “Yes, he’s never here because he is always working.”

Jeff: “I’ve moved on.”

Rosemary: She and Jeff are laughing “That’s what he thinks.”

Marie: “Jeff, tell me more about your book restoration, because that is very interesting. It’s so important.”

Rosemary: “That’s a side job, and again, it is a side job, but we would go to Virginia and he would take classes. He has been doing this on the side, but eventually he’ll do more.”

Jeff: “I want that to be my retirement job.”

Marie: “Did you have to buy special equipment to do book restoration?”

Jeff: “I’ve been buying tools and stuff for the last two years, maybe longer. We have a lot of old books and they have value, but not enough to send them out to be fixed.”

Rosemary: “That’s what made you start when we wondered what to do with the books, was it worth fixing up and getting the money back. But he said, “If I learn to fix it up myself...”

Jeff: “It was my time and I liked doing it. It was a no-brainer.”

Rosemary: “He just did one and it was the History of the Bible. It was from 1868. A customer found it in the trash it had no front cover.  The restoration was to take it down to just the actual pages and restore it using the techniques I learned at CatTail Run Bookbinding classes over the past several years.  We were both very pleased with how it turned out and our customer donated it to his church.

Marie: “Well, it’s important to let people know that you can do this, especially if this will be your retirement job. There are a lot of people who have old books.”

Jeff: “Yeah and people will just show up and not know that we do.”

Rosemary: “I have people calling up asking if we know someone who does book restoration and I say, “Yeah.”

Marie: “I’ll get the word out for you.”

Jeff: “It’s enjoyable to do, so yeah.”

Marie: “So this bookstore was a good life choice decision for you both.”

Rosemary: “Yes, but this side, the coffee shop, made it work. I worked in a Deli and in Customer Service. I like working with food. This doesn’t have all that yet, but maybe someday. That’s the plan, but the coffee shop and bookstore work well together.” Jeff agrees.

Marie: “Well, I do know that, after going to your chain coffee shops, I feel that I get better service here and Rosemary will even offer a free tray of cookies or slices of cake whenever I’m doing a book signing here. Rosemary, you make people who come into this place feel so comfortable.

I know from experience that it is nerve racking to do book signings, because I have to be “ON” all the time and sometimes I’m not feeling my best, but when I come here, you make us feel so comfortable. That’s why Dawn and I love coming here and it doesn’t matter if we didn’t sell any books that day, we are having fun hanging out with you and Jeff.

Rosemary: We are in the process of starting book clubs and also story time with children,” pointing to Laura. “Laura is a good storyteller. I just want to have different things going on.

Jeff: “People have been asking about Poetry, too.”

Marie: “One of our members, Jord Fox, does poetry and he might want to do something here, like a Poetry Night.

Jeff: “Let the poets in your writers’ group know about this and we can get something off the ground with this. Plus, I do have big plans in the works for our bookstore, but you’ll have to come back and interview us in three to six months to find out what it is.”

Marie Gilbert: “I can’t wait to find out the big secret in a few months, but for all my readers out there, drive or take the 400 Patco Bus to The Book Asylum on 26 N Blackhorse Pike for one hell of a great cup of joe, plenty of books to buy and, great service. Here is their Facebook Site https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Book-Asylum/127684793971983

I’ll be doing part two of The Book Asylum’s Writing Group in a few days.

A Day in the Life of Steampunk Granny

                                                           

Last night I was with a dear friend and her friends from Drexel. Loretta is more like a sister to me and we’d become friends when we both worked at the Academy of Natural Sciences.

                                                                 

We were heading over to the Helium Comedy Club in Philly to see comedian Joe Matarese.

                                                                 

      

Joe is an amazingly funny guy and his take on growing up Italian and Philadelphia was not only right on, but hilarious. Check Joe out on his web page www.joematarese.com

                                                                  

                                                              

Today, I was at The Book Asylum in Blackwood, New Jersey for a book signing. Rosemary and Jeff have made this quaint little gem a place to come and lose yourself in their large collection of old and new books. But this is not just a book store. Rosemary can whip up the best coffee in town and I’ve been told that she makes one hell of a Chai tea.

The Book Asylum has music on Friday nights and it hosts a writing group on Thursday nights led by author Laura Kaighn aka Lady Hawke. Check out her site: http://home.comcast.net/~ladyhawkestorytelling/site/

I intend to do an interview of Rosemary and Jeff to find out why so many people love to spend hours at their place. One couple even has a reserved table. Say hi to Kevin and Rebecca.

                                                       

Rebecca was the first one to buy my book and you all know my tradition. I have to get a picture.

                                                             

 

Laurae also stopped in to shop and I took her picture too.

                                                           

 

I sold a few books, had some great coffee and chatted with delightful patrons of the shop.

I would say it was the perfect way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Steampunk Granny and Super D at the Book Asylum

                                                                          

                      Steampunk Granny and Super D at the Book Asylum

This past Saturday, Super D (Dawn Byrnes) and I were doing what we do best; selling books. We were at a quaint and lovely little gem in Blackwood New Jersey called Book Asylum.

                                                                             

Rosemary and her son Jason welcomed us with open arms and trays of goodies as we began to set up our books.

                                                                       

                                                                                 

Dawn and I were selling the South Jersey Writers’ Group's first anthology, Tall Tales and Short Stories from South Jersey. I was also selling Roof Oasis, my first book in an apocalyptic series.

                                                                                   

Roof Oasis is an apocalyptic tale with a twist and tells the story of twins Michael and Lucy and their fight against a malicious leader who wants total control of the world and will do anything to achieve this goal. Both books can be purchased from Amazon.com and Amazon/kindle.

                                                                              

My granddaughter Kathryn is visiting from Wyoming. She wants to be a writer and since she and my grandson Nathan are spending the next ten days with me, I thought that Kathryn would enjoy learning about the other side of writing; marketing your book.

                                                                                             

We'll be selling our books in August at The Crescent Moon in Mullica Hill on Friday August 15th from 1 to 3
Stop by and say hello and hopefully buy a book or two