I love to meet people who enjoy reading my books. Whether it’s at a signing, a talk I’m giving or at my Saturday morning stand at the Tower Grove Farmers Market, it’s what keeps me going. I’ve said as much in each of my four St. Louis interest books with Reedy Press. “Over time, I’ve learned that a writer is successful when someone he doesn’t know tells him he got a few hours of enjoyment from reading one of his books,” I wrote in The Colorful Characters of St. Louis.
I couldn’t have felt more successful when I manned my stand at the Tower Grove Farmers Market today, Sept.24. Two visitors from Palm Beach, Florida, Cheryl Markham and Nicole Maillet, came up to say hello. Nicole’s to the left, Cheyrl in the middle. Cheryl had contacted me through my website to ask whether I’d be at the stand today. So I awaited their visit. Cheryl’s from St. Louis, and asked me to sign a copy of my first book, the original Hoosiers and Scrubby Dutch: St. Louis’s South Side published in 2010. Then she bought The Colorful Characters of St. Louis. Amazing.
When I write a book, I try to imagine people I’ve met reading it. For my next book, I’ll imagine Cheryl and Nicole.
Jim Merkel the Writer 