Calkins Day 2023: The Limerick That Wasn't

Calkins Day 2023: Ed Calkins Signature BryonySeries Limerick

Calkins Day 2023 and a Gift of a Dissertation

I met Helen Hicks of New Lenox by phone in 2013, shortly before I transitioned from full-time features writer to full-time features writer and editor in a staff position at The Herald-News in Joliet.

I had interviewed Helen about her experiences with helping to install a solar electric system on a Nicaraguan elementary school.

At the time, Helen was writing a dissertation on off-grid solar for her doctorate degree in management information systems for online classes at Walden University in Minnesota.

It was a copy of that dissertation that Helen presented to Ed on Calkins Day 2023 in exchange for a free BryonySeries book.

You see, Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, really wanted to give away some books away on his birthday (February 13). 

And  ever since he's published his first book, he's been slowly building up his personal collection of books by local and independent authors (and giving those books as gifts, too).

So why not extend the offer to other authors, too? Bring a book to give and take one of ours home. 

To our surprise and delight, some authors took a chance on this out-of-the-box idea and came out with their books.

Or in Helen's case, her dissertation.

Ed actually had some knowledge about Helen's writings, was excited to receive it, and they spent a few minutes chatting about it before Helen (book in hand) had to leave for another appointment.

Helen has attended a couple of WriteOn Joliet Zoom meetings as she's interested in writing some fiction. 

So we are looking forward to seeing more of Helen's writings.

A Very Special Calkins Day Birthday Gift

WriteOn Joliet member Lindsay Lake (left) was one of the local authors who gifted Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, with a copy of one his books on Calkins Day, Feb. 13.

You see, Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, really wanted to give away some books away on his birthday. And  ever since he's published his first book, he's been slowly building up his personal collection of books by local and independent authors (and giving those books as gifts, too).

So why not extend the offer to other authors, too? Bring a book to give and take one of ours home. 

To our surprise and delight, some authors took a chance on this out-of-the-box idea and came out with their books.

Now Ed Calkins is already a super fan of Lindsay Lake. He adored her book Flower Power and bought five copies to give as gifts during the Christmas holidays.

Unfortunately, Flower Power is the only book Lindsay has published in print. Her other books are only available on Kindle.

But she did not come empty-handed to the Calkins Day celebration.

Instead, she gifted Ed with the actual manuscript for one of her books, complete with editorial notes.

Ed was really honored to receive such a special gift, and he is currently reading one of the titles he received from a local author on Calkins Day.

Check out all of Lindsay Lake's titles on her Amazon author page.

Ed Calkins Day 2023 at The Book Market

Meet WriteOn Joliet Author Dale Hansen on March 11

WriteOn Joliet member Dale Hansen (right) was one of the local authors who gifted Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, with a copy of one his books on Calkins Day, Feb. 13.

You see, Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, really wanted to give some books away on his birthday. And  ever since he's published his first book, he's been slowly building up his personal collection of books by local and independent authors (and giving those books as gifts, too).

So why not extend the offer to other authors, too? Bring a book to give and take one of ours home. 

To our surprise and delight, some authors took a chance on this out-of-the-box idea and came out with their books.

Dale, who has Parkinson's, writes devotionals, blogs about ways you can practically apply the Bible in your life, and has written about his experience with Parkinson's through the eyes of faith.

And anyone who lives in the Will County area can get their own signed copies of his books by coming out to the Book and Bean Cafe from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, March 11.

The Book and Bean Cafe is located inside the Joliet Public Library at 3395 Black Road in Joliet. Its owner, Tammy Duckworth, is super friendly to local artists of all genres (including authors) and displays local art on her walls and hosts book signings now and then.

I actually own all of Dale's books. He writes in a personal, conversational style that makes it feel as if he's sitting right next to you, sharing from his life experiences.

More information about Dale's books can be found here. 

"The Bad Mood Monster" by C.D. White

Isn't it awesome when the right book crosses your path just when you needed it the most?

Today I'm planning to order two copies of The Bad Mood Monster by author C.D. White for grandchildren in two separate households.

And I never knew this book existed until White walked through the doors of The Book Market in Crest Hill on Calkins Day (Feb. 13), book in hand.

You see, Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, really wanted to give some books away on his birthday. And  ever since he's published his first book, he's been slowly building up his personal collection of books by local and independent authors (and giving those books as gifts, too).

So why not extend the offer to other authors, too? Bring a book to give and take one of ours home. 

To our surprise and delight, some authors took a chance on this out-of-the-box idea and came out with their books.

I had never heard of C.D. White before Calkins Day. But when I looked up details about her book, I knew it was perfect for two of my grandsons, who are really going through some tough times.

Here is the Amazon description for The Bad Mood Monster:

A bad mood can be a horrible sight, turning some of us into monsters overnight. Mansfield Malcolm Marcus White discovers just how his bad mood can transform him into someone unrecognizable. We can all be a little monstrous now and then, and there are times our bad mood can make us appear as monsters to ourselves and others. The Bad Mood Monster is an insightful, colorfully illustrated, rhyming book, which gives children a lighthearted look at emotions and encourages the positive act of being kind.

So White gave one book away on Calkins Day - and will make two sales today.

And, hopefully, she and the other authors at The Book Market that night made a few friends, too.

Order The Bad Mood Monster on Amazon.

For more information, visit C.D. White's author page on Facebook.

Calkins Day 2023: A Few Photos

The BryonySeries held its annual Calkins Day celebration on Feb. 13 at The Book Market in Crest Hill.

We even had the parade to prove it (and we will prove it, as soon as Rebekah uploads the video to the BryonySeries YouTube page).

 If you don't know what Calkins Day is, read this post and then read this post. And here are three good reasons why you should celebrate Calkins Day next year, too, read this post.

This year, we built our celebration around local authors and independent authors in order to help grow Ed's library of such authors and provide a little exposure for these authors.

You see, Ed is a real person and a ruthless dictator/Irish vampire in this book, this book, and this book in the BryonySeries, is also an author in the series. After he published his first novel, he joined WriteOn Joliet and was/is overjoyed to meet so many authors on the local level and buy and read their books.

So authors were invited to gift Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara with one of their books. In turn, they could take home any one of five books Ed either wrote or appeared in. 

Readers (anyone else who hadn't written a book) could talk Ed out of a book. One woman, who hadn't written a book yet, gifted Ed with her one large writing project: her dissertation. And it turned out Ed had some interest and knowledge on the topic and was thrilled to receive it.

Over the next few week, I will spotlight all authors who gifted their books to Ed in separate blogs, along with links to their books (if applicable) and on social media. So do watch for them. You just might find your new favorite book.

I am also working on a Calkins Day 2023 on the Bryony Facebook page. But the program kept freezing. At 10:30 last night, I gave up for the night.

But I am not getting up. I'm going to be "ruthless" about it.

When Ed Calkins distributes candy to the guests at The Book Market. When Ed held is parade in a warehouse in Joliet that distributed newspapers, he would have another worker pull his around on a pallet jack "float" while Ed tossed candy to the other workers.

Also pictured are WriteOn Joliet members Duanne Walton, Colleen Robbins, and Janet Staley, owner of The Book Market.

Helen Hicks, who is gradually branching into creative writing, gifted Ed with a copy of her dissertation.

After learning about Calkins Day from a Yorkville writers group, author C.D. White drove down from Kendall County with her husband to gift Ed with a copy of one of her children's books and take home a BryonySeries book.

As C.D. White chats with Ed, Janet Staley and Ed's wife Nancy Calkins chat in the background. It was Nancy's first trip to The Book Market and Ed was eager for her to see it and meet Janet.

Colleen and Janet take some time to catch up. Colleen is a founding member of WriteOn Joliet and author of quite a few books, which are for sale on Amazon.

Author Lindsay Lake publishes most of her books on Kindle only. And Ed has gifted friends and family with the one book she published in print (although I'm not find the print version online, but it does exist) because he loved it so much.

So Lindsay could only do one thing...

...gift Ed with a hard copy from one of her novels, complete with comments from one of her friends.

Sue Midlock found a fun "read" at The Book Market on Calkins Day: a parody cookbook called 50 Shades of Chicken.

Ed Calkins poses with author Dale Hansen, who gifted Ed with his devotional on living with Parkinson's. The photo where Ed turned the book around to see the cover is for another post about Dale and his books.

Nancy and Rebekah also spent some time catching up, since they had not seen each other since WriteOn Joliet's anthology release party in December.

Ed Calkins, who's first writing love is poetry, peruses a book by Chicago poet Alan Hines, who drove down from Chicago to gift TWO copies of his book (one to Ed, one to me), after learning about Calkins Day from a flyer at The Book Market.

Alan not only took home a free book, he actually bought a copy of this one.

I will share more about Alan Hines and his few dozen poetry books he's published on another post.

Timothy sets out the cheese and crackers he brought for the event while Daniel looks on. Rebekah made Irish soda bread and cookies. 

We also served some very special "Ed Calkins" cookies, which I will share on another post.

The captions are center aligned because Blogger is defaulting to that. Just so you know.

Duanne and Ed share a hug in honor of the day.

Ed and local author/photographer Mauverneen post for a photo. Ed already had a copy of Mauverneen's first book. So she just came out for the fun.

I also bought a nearly complete set of the books written and published by Tom Hernandez, WriteOn Joliet's co-leader, who is battling cancer. Janet rings up the sale and Rebekah waits to pay.

Author Diana Estell poses with Ed before she leaves. Diana gifted Ed with a copy of her book, too.

And then Ed gave Diana a big "goodbye" hug while Colleen and Nancy look on.

Nancy and Lindsay give each other goodbye hugs, too. Calkins Day is a day to celebrate laughter, imagination, and generosity. We certainly hit those notes, I think.

And, finally, no Calkins Day celebration would be complete without updating our Ed Cakins/Bertrand the Mouse photo. I'm adding the caption here because Blogger won't let me add it below the photo.

More photos and author information to come!

Happy Calkins Day! (Amid Frustrating Technology Woes)

I could spend this post grumbling about the time I lost this past week to a technology issue that just won't resolve itself, no matter how many hours of lost time trying and the large amount of in-house expertise we've thrown at it.

I'm behind in "life" tasks, housework, responding to social media, and my own personal fiction writing goals.

So now that you know why I've appeared to recently "ghost" any of the above, I'm moving onto something happier, cheerier, and with a tone that I hope is close to your heart, too.

Happy Calkins Day!

And what does exactly does this mean?

Despite the multiple posts I've written this week about the BryonySeries holiday that Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, invented for himself before the series existed (here, here, here, and here) the heart of Calkins day is not about attending any event or a ploy to market books.

If Ed Calkins (a real person turned Irish vampire in the BryonySeries turned author for the series) can "steal" my characters for his writings I can "steal" his holiday for the sake of positivity.

Calkins Day, which is celebrated every year on Feb. 13 (by us), is Ed's birthday.

It's the day after Lincoln's Birthday and the day before Valentine's Day.

Ed thinks it should be a three-day holiday. And why not? 

Here are three good reasons:

1) No matter how anyone in 2023 considers Abraham Lincoln, few people would argue the world today needs strong leaders.

2) Calkins Day represents laughter, imagination, and generosity. Few people would argue the world needs all three today, perhaps more than ever.

3) Valentine's Day represents love, all love, not just romantic love, which is capricious by nature. Do you know anyone who doesn't need to give or receive more love? No? Me, neither.

So to those points:

1) Let's resolve to be worthy examples of people who follow us.

2a) Let's laugh a whole lot more and smile more often than that. 

2b) Give yourself permission to imagine and create without expectation that the result isn't "good enough" by some expert's standards. I mean, you can't bake a delicious cake without spilling some flour.

2c) Adopt of spirit of generosity, first with yourself and then with others. If you're generous with the time you need for yourself, you'll be more happily generous with the time you can give others.

3) Finally love a whole lot more. 

Love yourself with all your flaws.

And love others in the same manner.

Happy Calkins Day!

Will you Take Home a Power Smokeless Grill on Calkins Day? Only the Steward of Tara Knows for Sure

In one final "spammy" push for Calkins Day 2023, I'm here to tell you about a last minute element to our annual celebration.

On Thursday, Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, sent me this message and photo: "How about an in-store limerick contest? We have a prize for it."

Now, while the contest won't look anything quite as grand as the limerick match we held at the Book and Bean Cafe in Joliet for Calkins Day 2019, we did briefly discuss a couple ways to manage that.

We do know for certain that no purchase (or gifting) is necessary to participate.

If you want to know, or possibly take a Power Smokeless Grill home, you'll have to come out to The Book Market in Crest Hill sometime between 6 and 8 p.m. Feb. 13.

If you need more reasons to attend, you should read these posts: "Five Reasons Why You Should Attend Calkins Day 2023 on Feb. 13 at The Book Market in Crest Hill." and Authors: Help Build the Steward's Library on Calkins Day (And Take Home a Book for Yourself).

Note: Being an author is not a requirement for coming home with a free book. Anyone who attends is welcome to talk Ed out of one (it probably won't take much effort. Ed is very generous and eager to for the world to know and love the BryonySeries, more eager than even me).

If you're not quite sure what Calkins Day is (whoever is really sure about that?), we invite you to read this post, which includes links to past events, information about Ed, and to our "Guide to Becoming Un-Serious."

Yes, I'm very serious about that.

You see, Ed always says he's "stolen" my BryonySeries characters for his own writing.

Well, the BryonySeries has stolen his invented Calkins Day holiday and turned it into so much more.

Calkins Day is a day to celebrate laughter, imagination, and generosity.

You may not find our event packed wall-to-wall with attendees. In fact, you might find you are our only attendee.

But you will find laughter, imagination, and generosity when you walk through the doors of The Book Market sometime between 6 to 8 p.m. Feb. 13. We guarantee that or you will get your pombec back.

The Book Market is located at 2365 Plainfield Road in Crest Hill.

We hope to see you there.

Five Reasons Why You Should Attend Calkins Day 2023 on Feb. 13 at The Book Market in Crest Hill

Now that the world has "National Day of " just about anything you can name, why not have a day to celebrate laughter, imagination, and generosity?

Wait - we do!

It's called Calkins Day.

Calkins Day was invented by Ed Calkins. Ed was a former supervisor of mine in our family's newspaper delivery era.

He created an alter ego for himself (ruthless dictator) and named his birthday (Feb. 13) as Calkins Day. 

Ed said the day should be celebrated with a parade (we had a small one in 2017, where Rebekah and I walked a bowl of candy to The Herald-News on my day off; watch the video here) and a three -day holiday (since it falls between Abraham Lincoln's birthday and Valentine's Day).

Because Ed is both a BryonySeries author and Irish vampire character, the BryonySeries adopted Calkins Day as its very own holiday, which we will celebrate this year on Feb. 13 at The Book Market in Crest Hill.

Here why you should attend:

1) No long lines: Local author events tend to attract the author and a few family and friends, both of which thin out when you've been hosting such events for more than a decade. 

2) Free stuff: Authors can leave with one of five BryonySeries books for free if they bring one they've written (or appeared in) as a gift for Ed, who loves reading, promoting, and buying books by local authors (true story). 

For details, read the flyer below or this blog post from last week.

And refreshments are also free.

3) We are celebrating laughter: Who needs a good laugh? You, maybe? I certainly do. 

You can laugh at our paltry attempts to create a holiday out of nothing. (We do). You can laugh at our attempts to write good books (We do). 

Or maybe just come out and laugh - or, at the very least, muster up a smile or two. Life is hard, especially on a Monday night. 

But you can pop in for just a few minutes (because lines will be short to nonexistent), grab your free stuff, and then (hopefully) leave smiling.

4) We are celebrating imagination: Reality is hard sometimes, isn't it? And yet, imagination is such a great escape! It costs nothing and can provide endless hours of amusement.

And what can be more imaginative than a dyslexic sixty-something man imagining himself as a ruthless dictator (his creation), Irish vampire (my creation), who then becomes an author despite his dyslexia (all true), who turns his dyslexia into a novel featuring my characters and a few of his own (all true and we have the book to prove it, which you can take home for free while supplies last. And what local author doesn't have a decent supply of books he cannot sell?).

5) We are celebrating generosity: Ed is generous. When he supervised a portion of the distribution center where my family worked, he bought and cooked steaks on the Fourth of July for all his carriers, hosted a Queen of Christmas contest where the winner distributed the gifts Ed and his wife Nancy bought for the children (ages twelve and younger) of his carriers, distributed free candy canes to all the carriers every day during December, and organized a pallet jack race for Labor Day.

And this was just for starters.

So the BryonySeries is continuing that theme of generosity with free stuff (explained in point two).  

And you thought Calkins Day was just a ploy to market our books! Sheesh.

Of course, we will have other BryonySeries titles for sale. And The Book Market has thousands of new, used, and rare book titles you may browse and buy at this after-hours event.

So...we hope to see you there!

Because we will be there, chatting among ourselves and watching the front door with hopeful eyes, waiting for someone to show up.

Authors: Help Build the Steward's Library on Calkins Day (And Take Home a Book for Yourself)

Readers, writers, and everyone else is invited to join us for Calkins Day 2023.

Calkins Day will be held this year from 6 to 8 p.m. on Feb. 13 (Calkins Day, what else) at The Book Market in Crest Hill, 2365 Plainfield Road.

For very detailed and very precise information on a BryonySeries holiday that actually preceded the series, read this post from last week.

Here are the highlights for the event:

1) Meet Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara: Ed is a real person who worked through his dyslexia to become a real BryonySeries author (he's written two books and is working on a third). Ed is also an Irish vampire in the BryonySeries "drop of blood" trilogy.

2) Enjoy refreshments: We have some special treats in the planning stage. And we're not sharing details.

3) A special offer for local authors: If you are a local author, bring one of your books as a birthday gift to Ed and then take home one of ours (offer limited to books Ed has either written or appeared as a character). The first twenty authors to bring a book will also receive a $5 gift card to The Book Market, redeemable that night or any time. 

And if your book isn't in the local authors section at The Book Market yet, the owner Janet Staley will be happy to add it. Unlike some bookstores, she doesn't charge a fee to place the book to the shelf. Talk to her ahout the consignment process.

For instance, Ed really enjoyed this non-BryonySeries book and bought five copies in December to give as Christmas gifts to his friends and family members. So he enjoys your book, he may wind up buying multiple copies.

4) Everyone else who wants a free book: Talk him out of one. Present an original limerick. Read something original that you have written. Flatter him. Dress like a BryonySeries character. Wear a striped shirt. Cry. Wheedle. You get the idea. 

5) Browse our table of additional BryonySeries books for sale.

6) Browse The Book Market, which has thousands of new, used, and rare books for sale. 

7) Chat with guests. This is a very low-key birthday party event that celebrates (according to official Calkins Day verbiage) laughter, imagination, and generosity. 

We hope to see you there!

Save the Date: Calkins Day 2023

Readers, writers, and everyone else is invited to join us for Calkins Day 2023.

Calkins Day will be held this year from 6 to 8 p.m. on Feb. 13 (Calkins Day, what else) at The Book Market in Crest Hill, 2365 Plainfield Road.

Precise details on the festivities are forthcoming. 

In the meantime, we have plenty of information to help you prepare, enough information to keep you busy and entertained until Calkins Day.

For anyone who is not familiar (yet) with Calkins Day, read our Guide to Becoming Un-Serious right here.

This post has all the details: why we celebrate, what we celebrate, how to celebrate, what to wear, foods associated with the holiday, and why Calkins Day is not an excuse to sell books.

For information on the holiday's namesake, read this interview.

For photos of Ed Calkins 2018 Calkins Day book signing, go here.

And for Ed Calkins' first interview, go here.

For photos and recap of our 2019 Calkins Day Limerick Slam, go here.

For the back story on how Calkins Day came to be, go to this video from our 2020 Calkins Day event.

And for Ed Calkins' performance at the microphone during Calkins Day 2020, go here.

For details on our virtual Calkins Day event in 2021, go here.

And for Timothy's video on the virtual food he planned for the virtual Calkins Day, go here.

Calkins Day 2021 was a hilarious Zoom chat (by Ed Calkins' request) and a "viralish" book giveaway.

Ed Calkins is the author of Ruthless and Denise M. Baran-Unland's Irish Genealogy. Ed Calkins is currently working on his second novel.

Ed Calkins has appeared as the alive and undead version of himself in all three books of the original "drop of blood" trilogy: Bryony, Visage and Staked!.

But Calkins' favorite BryonySeries book is this one.