Paul Szmal: Good morning 749, it's Guest-O-Rama Tuesday on FLX Morning. Everybody knows about Geneva Reads, but you can't have readers without writers, so let's talk about Geneva Writes, and we have Spike Herzig and Nancy Botter with us. Good morning. Step right up a little closer there, Nancy.
So let's, before we talk about this fundraising event coming up at the library, just give us an overview of what Geneva Writes is all about.
Spike Hersey, Nancy Bauder: Well, Geneva Writes was established actually two years ago, and we had to cancel that year because of an outbreak of COVID. But the idea is that local writers have a lot to offer to people who are perhaps interested in writing something themselves. And last year we had a very successful event, and we're hoping for the same this year. We've got three writers. We're titling the program this year, Memoirs and Mysteries, because we have Lynn Spike Herzig, who is going to speak about his book, Growing Up in Beaver Falls, New York.
Paul Szmal: Where did you go out? What did you do? Nothing.
Spike Hersey, Nancy Bauder: We have Colonel John Norville from Canandaigua, who has many Geneva ties, who has written a wonderful memoir about his time as a navigator in Vietnam, and personalized the book in many ways that are well beyond just the experiences of a navigator, the human experiences of being in the Vietnam War. And Mysteries will involve Susan James, who is a writer from Waterloo, and if readers are interested in Mysteries, where they know exactly what the street the writer is talking about, they're going to enjoy Susan's books.
Paul Szmal: Wow, I hadn't thought of it that way. That's neat. When I was reading, I've read one or two of Dr. Avanzato's 800 books, and it is neat when you know the area and they're set locally like that. So this event, the second annual Geneva Writes, is presented by the Foundation for the Geneva Public Library, the folks that put on the book sale, and it's a fundraiser. It'll be Saturday, October 26th from 10 to 1.30 at the library. And I did not know, Spike, that you were a writer. I keep learning new things about you. I didn't know that you... I always assumed that Beaver Falls was Beaver Falls, PA, the hometown of Joan Amoth, but it's actually Beaver Falls, New York. So tell us about your book.
Spike Hersey, Nancy Bauder: Oh, I wrote that, actually started... I always wanted to be a writer, or an English teacher, or both. But I wrote that on a dare. We went back to a high school class reunion, and they said, Zoe, you ought to put all these stories down, and because you're president of the class, you're in charge, so you should write it. So that's how I started with it.
Paul Szmal: So is some of this discussion a week from Saturday going to be about the process, and for people that are on the fence? Because I like to write, too. I've done short little blogs and things, but the idea of a book, I see the research, these, you know, I read books that... I'm a big fan of the LBJ biography series, and I mean, each one of those books takes about seven years to research, and another seven years to write, and I go, I'm not sure I'll be around then.
Spike Hersey, Nancy Bauder: Yeah, no, I think that's one of the good things that you can just, you know, Winston Churchill wrote his memoirs in two huge books, which are about 800 pages each, but those of us that don't want to get that much involved, just writing short vignettes and putting them together, or just writing short vignettes and putting them separately, are all part of the memoirs, and they really need to be put down, because somebody, sometime, usually family, but necessarily, possibly friends, are going to say, gee, I didn't know that, or I'd like to know more about that subject.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, I know more and more families are doing oral histories, you know, with grandpa and grandma when they're getting on in years, like, tell us those stories, because you don't want those stories to die with them.
Spike Hersey, Nancy Bauder: Exactly right. So in your writing process, probably the most daunting part is staring at that blank piece of paper, and getting started. Was there a certain point where, kind of, the floodgates opened, and once you got a few lines down, then the rest became easier?
Paul Szmal: Yeah, I thought it would be easy, and I realized pretty quickly... Yeah, you're telling your own stories, you go, yeah, how hard can this be? So I wrote and wrote and wrote, and I put all this stuff down, and then I looked at the page, and I had 23 pages, and I said, hmm, I've got just about everything that I thought I knew, and I haven't even got enough here for a sampling. So I started with an outline, and went through a distinct outline, writing all of those things that I thought I might want to talk about. I also called some friends and talked to them about what their favorite stories were, and then I restarted, and following the outline was very helpful for me.
Spike Hersey, Nancy Bauder: So in Geneva Writes, do you have a group? Do you have people who get together regularly to discuss the writing process?
Paul Szmal: We have not yet, but we're certainly... that's one of our goals, is to be able to put those together and get friends. And there's lots and lots of people. We've really been amazed at how many folks are out there that have written, or want to write a book, or a short story, whatever it might be.
Spike Hersey, Nancy Bauder: Again, this is a week from this Saturday. It's October 26th. It's 10 a.m. to 1.30 at the Geneva Public Library. You can look at the library website, or look on Geneva Writes on Facebook, and you'll see it as well. Or actually, it's under Geneva Public Library on Facebook. So let's have a reminder again about the foundation for the Geneva Public Library, and how it fills in the fundraising.
Paul Szmal: Foundation was established in order to raise funds for the library. When we became a public library, it was impossible for the library itself to raise funds. Right. And so we established the foundation for that reason. And we, over the years, with great support from this community, have been able to put together an endowment that will ensure the library's future, and also provide some material things and some programming for the library that otherwise might not be possible.
Spike Hersey, Nancy Bauder: And I know it's allowed them to expand what they do. They have their little food pantry there, and they have a personal needs item closet. And by the way, we'll put in a plug for that, if you have a few extra cans of shaving cream, or a razor blade, or some toothbrushes, they'll certainly take those and get them to the people that need them.
Paul Szmal: So we talked about the book sale. Do we have a number on fundraising for the book sale this year?
Spike Hersey, Nancy Bauder: Yeah, we did around $5,000 this year. So we're very, very happy and thankful for the community to come together and buy those books, bring them back, and we'll sell them again.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, and come support these local authors, including Spike, on the 26th from 10 to 130 at the library. Thank you both for coming in, and thank you for the book, Spike. I'm a huge reader. I know you are. Somebody needs to manufacture some big bookcases, because I have piles of books on floors and things. I've long since outgrown my bookcases.
Thank you both for coming in, as always.
Spike Hersey, Nancy Bauder: Thank you for having us.
Paul Szmal: All right, Geneva writes, October 26th, at the library at 756.
