The Palm Springs Writers Guild hosted its Member Appreciation event recently featuring readings, books for sale, food, and fun. Mellow jazz played in the background as members and guests mingled, browsed the book offerings, and noshed on self-serve goodies and drinks. After a welcome by the Guild’s president, a board member emceed the afternoon, creatively organized with readings, Q&A, and breaks for food and more mingling.

Eleven authors read – from children’s stories to poetry to excerpts from novels, short stories, and memoirs; the gamut of genre possibilities. The webmaster videoed the event.

In this video excerpt, I’m reading the opening scene of “A Brief Interruption,” one of the short stories in Creek Songs. If you have the book, the story’s on page 197. I lived in the Los Feliz district where the story takes place. I loved the area’s diversity; its people, foods, cultures, and languages. The district also had its problems . . . with petty crime and, sadly, major crime that alarmed the nation.