I used to sell books at the annual East Hampton Library book fair (a charity) and it was an opportunity to mix with the hoi polloi (the elite). That’s what the Greek word means now, here in New York, though the original meaning was the opposite, the masses. The director of the library in the beginning called on me because I was a new, Long Island author, and I sold quite a few books, no profit there, but I got to be known. I never got invited to the dinners afterward; that was reserved for the well-known authors.
That’s unlike me, to look at the negative side. I love the avenues opened to me through writing and research–they take me into unexplored fastnesses of the universe. The one time Loretta came with me, after it was over, we went to the McDonald’s in South Hampton. The child that grew up to be the man who’s inspired me had no Burger King (that’s also in South Hampton) but he was the highest royalty I know.
Civilization 