President Diane Woodruff welcomed everyone to the weekly luncheon of the Rotary Club of Sacramento, which featured remarks by renowned author John Lescroart.
Meeting sponsor April Javist from the Sacramento Public Library Foundation gave a nice plug for foundation’s upcoming gala, Authors on the Move, set for March 2.
President Diane introduced three new members to the Club. Giuliano Kornberg from the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera, sponsored by Alice Sauro (Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera) and Dick Osen; Lynne Van Tilburg and Marcella Cooper from the Girls Scouts Heart of Central California Council, sponsored by Pam Saltenberger and Karen Diepenbrock (Diepenbrock Elkin Gleason).
Club Announcements
Brown Bag Day - Bruce Hester and Laurie Wright (Tri Counties Bank) promoted the Brown Bag Luncheon Day on February 12 and had two of the hosts, Norm Marshall (Headwaters Construction Inc.) and Peter Dannenfelser (Architectural Arts) share a little bit about what they had in store for guests.
Sweethearts Dinner - Dave Higdon (California Moving Systems) and Norm Marshall in their finest valentine attire promoted the Sweethearts Dinner on February 9.
Blood Drive - Kathe Nathan (The Merchants National Bank) and Callee Setzer (Setzer Forest Products) thanked everyone that gave blood during the blood donation week and let the club know that we are leading the Point West Club in donations year to date.
Fireside gathering - Ed Wright let folks know that a nice evening is planned for February 13 with a Fireside at his residence.
Golf for Kids - Bob Miller (First US Community Credit Union) put in a plug for Golf for Kids and let people know the website is live and people can start signing up at www.sacrotarygolf4kids.com.
Bonnie Plummer (National University / Sanford School of Education) introduced our guest speaker, author John Lescroart. John has written 29 novels, 18 of which made the New York Times Best Sellers List. His new work is Rule of Law.
John shared stories of how he got from having numerous day jobs to being a full-time author. Included were tales of book signing experiences, how he won the prestigious Joseph Henry Jackson Award in 1981 for Sunburn; how a book sitting in a drawer for 14 years could turn your life around; and how O.J. Simpson put him in the media spotlight as an expert on battered women’s syndrome because his book The 13th Juror launched on the same day as the Simpson trial. John talked about his writing routine (it is a job and he treats it a job) and also the economics of publishing (he makes more off a book than a download).Along the way, President Diane thanked Mark Luhdorff (ANPAC Bio) for tickling the ivories; Jim Relles (Relles Florist) and Julie Sherry (Watson Companies, Inc.) for greeting folks at the door, Jay Lowden (YMCA of Superior California) for doing the Pulse write-up; Ed Wright (Martensen Wright PC) for providing the wine, and Mike Bullington (Northwestern Mutual Financial Network) for doing his best John Swentowsky impersonation and providing photo services. Mike Bullington provided the opening thought with a tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr. PP Skip Lawrence helped us leave the room with a smile on our faces.
Next week’s featured speaker will be local developer Mike Heller.