I just put a check in the mail to purchase a book of haiku. My friend Sande Backes Foster writes these amazing, lovely haiku and posts them daily. She has just recently assembled them into a book and self-published. I placed my order because we've been friends for over sixty years but also because I really like them. If you go to her Facebook page you can read them too.
A few months ago another friend, Jane Keon, wrote a book called "Tombstone Town". It's about the efforts of her and several others to get a massive chemical spill cleaned up. It's a true story that reads like a whodunnit. It's available on Amazon if you're interested.
For the past several years my wife has worked and managed a small but very nice art gallery. Through her I've had the pleasure of meeting several very talented artists whose works adorn our house.
There are also many artists in my family. Painters, wood carvers, and creators in various other media. And my cousin Rebecca Emlinger Roberts is an award winning poet. A young niece, Holly Ross, is a budding ceramicist.
There are many, many others. A childhood friend who is a painter in Texas, another who is a talented costume designer who also makes beautiful, one-of-a-kind ladies hats. My friend Chris Showman is an actor in Hollywood, and Mark Oliverius is a producer in Nashville. And musicians of every style who I'm proud to call "friend".
A common thread is that most of these folks do it all themselves. Some of the artists are affiliated with a small gallery, but mostly they show at local art fairs. The musicians are always looking for bookings. If they have CDs for sale it's almost always a home-grown effort. The same is true for the writers.
Growing up I didn't realize how many artists or future artists were in my life. As a young adult I sought out performers - musicians, dancers, actors, etc. to hang out with. These were the personalities that I understood and hoped would understand, or at least tolerate, me. But we also had marvelous late night conversations. We were still up and talking when "normal" folks had long since gone to bed.
One night I was busy working on a new piece of music. I took a short break to get a bottle of Coke (I'm hopelessly addicted). As I walked to the kitchen I stumbled like a drunk and didn't know why until I looked at my watch and realized it was 3:30AM. My artist friends would understand how this happened. My other friends? Well - not so much.
Although we would all like to be a bit more commercially successful, we are realistic enough to accept that it probably won't happen. As a career this doesn't really make much sense. But as an attitude toward life it doesn't need to. As a way of life it fits us like a glove. I can't speak for the others, but I feel fortunate and thankful.