Try One, You'll Like It!

I got to go to the Kentucky Crafted Show in Louisville over the past weekend and, let me tell you, I had a ball! Of course, it helped that I got to set up shop in someone else's booth. The fine people at McClanahan Publishing House did all the hard prep work and my mother and I just swooped in with my books and poster and cash box.

I'm not sure I remember the last time I smiled so much in my life. I felt like any minute I might break out into a little song and dance routine, but figured that might run business off. The point was to bring them in. So, I kept the tunes to a mental note. I was singing inside.

For those of you not familiar with Kentucky Crafted, let me fill you in. It's a large market where artists from the state go to sell their wares to wholesale buyers and the general public. Retailers from everywhere come to see what the talented artisans here have to offer. And, by golly, they've got a lot. There are jewelers, painters, woodworkers, basket weavers, potters, glassblowers, authors, and signal the trumpets, my personal favorites: cooks! (I made myself a little queasy on the food aisle. It was those dang bourbon balls.)

But, I did pick up a good line for selling my book. As people passed, I'd say, "Pick it up and take a look. It's like the food aisle; you've got to sample it." For some reason, that worked. Most would pick it up, turn through it and I'd get a laugh or two.

The laughs are what it is all about for me. I don't want to sound corny, but I know I'm gonna. So, here goes...I like making people happy. I like that look they start to get in their eyes when one of my flutterbies connects with them. I love it when a smile starts to form at the corners of their mouths and the giggles erupt. I adore it when they nudge their friend and say, "Read this one! It's just like..."

Art and writing is about connecting with emotions. It's about touching a place in the heart. I may not be the most complicated artist or writer, but I still have the same goal. I want to bless someone with a little stroke of joy on a gloomy day. I want to splash a touch of bright color where there was only gray. I want to remind somebody she isn't alone. She is understood. Even if it is only because she snorts when she laughs.