SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - The highlight of my day is awaiting the mail truck, as I’m on the watch for flats, bundles and cardboard boxes.

This new pastime is an unexpected treat of buying books and articles written by early authors of the California Writers Club Sacramento. Our club is turning 100 years old this fall. The hunt has made me realize that not only were these authors talented but that they deserve honor. They are deceased now but the books, poems and articles they left behind endure.

Daily, I scour club records for references to work published. Then I tear through the internet, screen after screen, chasing available titles.

Books are searchable, although covers changed by publishers make first editions hard to identify.

Magazines can be fleeting. For example, so-and-so sold stories to Love Stories, Argosy, Secrets, Intimate Stories, Essence, Popular Mechanics, Weird Tales, Dude, Popular Science, Better Homes and Gardens, Teen and so on. But our records don’t specify the exact date of publication. So last night, I foraged for an hour for “The Torso on the Rocks,” sold to Trapped Detective Story Magazine. No luck.     

Each day’s mail brings surprises, as I rediscover the forgotten gems I’ve ordered. Our club, an affiliate of the California Writers Club in 1925, claimed members who published as early as 1914. Yesterday, I discovered early publisher Jo Anderson, “His Print Shop,” at 416 J St., Sacramento. The illustrations done by a name described as “Sacramento Boy” went on to become an internationally famous article.

Enthusiasm can be dizzying. Four times I ordered duplicate copies of the same book but they were different editions with different covers. Twice I ordered “The Golfer’s Bible” but one turned out to be a real Bible. Recently, the bank put my credit card on hold for charges thought to be suspicious.

On a dark night, I realized that I had accidentally disposed of something in the garbage bins. With a flashlight and a stool, I dug for a discarded photo of nationally-syndicated columnist “Helen Help Us” Helen Bottel.  

It’s exciting to find an early book, especially a scarce one.  I’m not a professional book trader, so I obviously don’t know what I’m doing. I’m just snatching what I can, convincing myself that the dazzle of yore belongs to us in Sacramento.

Having studied multi-cultural children’s books in the ’70s, I know that librarians in those days had little guidance when ordering books with diverse characters. I am, thankfully, finding in this growing trove of jewels respectable renditions.  

What tested my mettle, however, were two early books with “Pickanny” in the title. One was dedicated to the students of Sacramento’s Bret Harte Elementary School. I realized that instead of cowering at the phone screen, I needed to accept the context. The author’s interest, as explained, was so that the students would understand how it felt to be bullied. And so I bought both books, telling myself that we must own our past and understand that perspective at the time differs from love on the page crafted laboriously by an author with good intentions.

Many of our early authors’ books were made into movies. One inspired the TV series, “Grizzly Adams.”

Edna Chandler and Lee Roddy published more than 50 books apiece.

Duane Newcomb sold 2,000 articles. Leo Rosenhouse sold dozens monthly.  

Psychiatrist Walter Bromberg, author of “Crime of the Mind,” served as an expert on famous criminal cases. Edna Mae Burnam Nauman wrote the “Dozen a Day,” music instruction for piano students.

Attorney Ken Donelson and his wife, Irene, wrote” Married Today, Single Tomorrow: Marriage Breakup and the Law.” Diane Davidson wrote “Feversham” about a real-life murder in Tudor England.

Walter T. Boyd, having worked in secret military operations, wrote about cryogenics.

Amparo Campeón wrote a column for Spanish-language newspaper, “El Hispano.”

Bud Gardner became the most inspirational writing teacher in the U.S.  

Eva Rutland wrote, “When We Were Colored.”

So what will we do with this stockpile of early work of which we are so proud? We plan to display it at our “100 Years of Writing Excellence in Sacramento” event from noon to 3 p.m. Oct. 18 at North Ridge Country Club. Presenters will include award-winning featured speaker Jack Ohman, Rich Ehisen, poet Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas, literary agent Sandra Proudman and Alison Linton of the local CBS affiliate. For tickets or more information, go to sacramentowriters.org.

The 102-year Kiyo Sato International award winner will be on hand. Attendees will learn about early magazines and trends in publishing.

We thank our partners, the Crocker Art Museum, the California State Library, the Sacramento Public Library and the Center for Sacramento History.

As a child whose hands leaked stories from the minute I awoke, I believe that everyone who wants to write should be encouraged and we need to applaud all who have.

Questions remain: will my credit card be deactivated due to flagged purchases around the globe? What am I going to do with these treasures after the event, since they are taking over my condo?

Sapphires shine and can last forever, as will these works, long past my condo and me.

Kimberly A. Edwards, first vice-president of the California Writers Club, is a long-time writer with credits in national magazines, international media, newsletter publishing, reporting, column writing, poetry and memoir. Everyone in the writing community is invited to join the Centennial event (sacramentowriters.org) to honor early writers and those currently devoted to all genres, including journalism.