One thing the pandemic has added to our lives that may not be that bad is more comfort with a virtual world. Yeah, I know, if you’re like me, Zoom meetings are getting pretty old. But there’s also so much more accessibility for things that were always in person before — not just author talks and things like the Maine Crime Writers Making a Mystery panel (coming to a library near you!), but all sorts of things that used to require getting in the car and driving to.

In recent weeks I’ve thought of attending (though haven’t always followed through), a public hearing on dam removal on the Kennebec River, a museum-sponsored look at how the Androscoggin River has been cleaned up over 50 years, a webinar on the National Register of Historic Places and Maine properties on it and more. If that stuff doesn’t pique your interest — yes my insterests are very dorky — there is plenty of other stuff out there.

One virtual event that existed way before the pandemic made being online all the time a thing is the Harrisville Children’s Center annual auction. The auction, in its 15th year, raises money for the nonprofit Harrisville Children’s Center, which provides child services in the Monadnock region of western New Hampshire. Its goal this year is to raise $23,000. last year, 305 auction registrants throughout New England and beyond placed 3,663 bids to raise more than $22,000.

While western New Hampshire may seem like a long way away, especially this time of year, the auction is online and has been way before that was a thing. It has 464 items, and 87 of those items are books. Full disclosure, one of those books is mine, the third book in my Bernie O’Dea mystery series BAD NEWS TRAVELS FAST.

But if you think this is a shameless ploy to get you to bid on my book, it’s not. If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you’ve already read it or you’ve decided to take a pass. That’s cool with me, after all I’m the gal who wants to attend webinars about Maine river infrastructure. I know everyone has different tastes.

Anyway, it also has books by fellow Maine Crime Writer Vaughn Hardacker and writers even more famous than we are. It’s a great chance to browse through some authors and also help out a great cause.

I know you’re comfy being online now. You’re Zooming and Facetiming and meeting up and Amazoning your heart out. So next time you’re online check out the auction at hccauction.org. It runs through 9 p.m. March 21.