Vicki Abelson’s Women Who Write

For two years I have crawled through the endless morning rush hour and maneuvered the L.A. freeways, the last Tuesday of every month, to the secret town of Montrose (go ahead, ask someone where it is.) After you ask where, you may ask why go there? Or, what’s in Montrose? The answer―Vicki Abelson’s house.

Vicki is a music promoter, comedian, and actress. She has birthed two children, written a novel, is a contributor to the Huffington Post, she’s beautiful, witty and outgoing, and . . . I need to STOP right now. I feel a pang of envy coming on.

So, besides all that other stuff, Vicki hosts these incredible afternoon salons called, Vicki Abelson’s Women Who Write, on said Tuesdays. Authors, musicians, songwriters, screenwriters, actors, and a whole mess of other gynormously talented women pack into her living room to be entertained by musicians, and read to by authors. It’s an atmosphere of camaraderie and inspiration.

Even more amazing than the attendees are the “stars” we come to see. We are treated to a wow list of big talent. A name dropper, I’m not, but, come on―Jackie Collins, Marlee Matlin, Carl Reiner, Elayne Boosler, Phil Rosenthal―who couldn’t drop a couple? Even Garry Marshall (yes, the Pretty Women, Garry) came to schmooze with us. On January 29th, the uber talented Steven Collins will cross the WWW threshold. The complete list goes on and on. You can go to Vicki’s website and take a look.

Aside from the few men that come to entertain, every now and then one sneaks in dressed like Mrs. Doubtfire, or Tootsie, and Vicki lets them stay if they bring food for the pot-luck buffet. She’s nice like that.

Back to my point. Yes, I did have a point. These afternoons are a wonderful way to recharge after the doldrums of the solitary writer’s life. So, even though she wasn’t involved with the writing of my latest book, a collection of short stories titled, Like The Flies On The Patio, what she tirelessly does warrants a huge thumbs-up. That’s the reason I included her in the acknowledgements, as follows:

“Much thanks to Vicki Abelson. Her monthly Women Who Write literary salon is this artist’s equivalent of a creative stimulus package, or a spa day for her muse.”

The cool thing is, for the millions who can’t make it to Vicki’s living room, you can still enjoy the music and readings on her website, and on youtube.