The End of an Era

[Mari Sloan]

From my blog at:
http://mari-thewritersblock.blogspot.com/

I have a moderately boring life, but, like many people, I'm careful to follow my routine. For a while it was hectic, but with the slowing of the economy, I am finding one thing after another coming to an end. It's almost as if 2009 blasted in, with C H A N G E as its slogan, and nothing IS as it WAS. My schedule changed, eliminating the wonderful Westlake Library book group mid first Wednesday of each month. The same change meant that I could attend Mysteries to Die For group again, but the two are so different, it's not a trade. Working on Sunday now cuts out Sisters In Crime in Pasadena once a month. The one constant was Monday night.

Every Monday night, unless it is a holiday, you can find me at the Westlake Village Barnes & Noble, talking about every subject you can imagine with one of the most wonderful women ever to transplant to California, Mrs. Roseanne Savo, Founder and Facilitator of Literary Options, Cultural Connections, Literary Wanderings, and Creative Gatherings, groups in Ventura County, California, that were sponsored by one of the organizations the promotes adult literacy and adult education. Through these groups Roseanne has given new authors, and better known ones alike, an opportunity to reach readers countywide. Pushing a huge carryall that makes its appearance at each of these meetings, she dispenses author cards, promotional material, flyers, news about who is appearing where, and in general is the circulatory system for anything that is happening within the county related to literature, art, writing or politics. After fifteen years this is coming to an end.

They say money can't buy love, happiness or common sense, but we are about to see if it bought sanity. Without Roseanne, the literary community will be functioning without a good portion of the glue that helps keep it stuck together here. Hundreds of authors have been launched through her hard work and unwavering support. Hundreds more may give up mid first novel without her.

Ventura County NEEDS Roseanne Savo and her groups. The pennies spent sponsoring these are cost efficient dollars that keep budding authors off the street and writing the next decade's soul. Cutting money for the arts is a tough call, even in these uncertain times.

:-( Mari Sloan