Small Town Life

I love living in a small town. It's big enough to have a hospital, a Costco, a Target, far too many Wal-Marts (two, and that's two too many), and a mall, albeit not a great one. But it's small enough that we're constantly running into people we know, the library is often actually quiet, and we really feel at home. We don't have things in common with everyone in the town (there are a lot of retired Republican gun owners, for example), but we've found a few niches where we fit in really well.

Another advantage of living in my town is that when someone like Alan Dean Foster shows up at the library to do a talk for the local professional writer's group, there are only about 50 people there. It makes for a much more intimate talk, and you feel like you're in the room with him, rather than just watching him from the audience. I won't quote him, as I don't have his permission. But needless to say, it was a great talk, and he covered many things that are different from what I learned when I interviewed him for GeekDad last spring.

So thank you, ADF. Learning from your experiences in writing, Hollywood, traveling, and local small town living is invaluable. Thank you for sharing with us all.