This past month I joined a host of very well-known authors in Pennsylvania for a semi-annual gathering called Escape to Lancaster - Bridges of Friendship which included Mindy Steele, Will Carpenter, Rachel Good, Jennifer Spredemann, Kathleen Fuller, Anne Blackburn, Tracy Fredryowski, Debra Torres, Virginia Wise and me.
I hail from the land of "fruits and nuts" (California) and write from a completely different perspective as most if not all of the afore-mentioned authors, live or have lived near the Amish (or Plain Folk) for a great part of their lives and know them well while I have to rely upon research to get things right (and even then, I fail sometimes).
They were all so very gracious and welcoming to me, as was those who attended the conference as readers. I also got to meet two people who are my street team in person, Diane Pramberger and her mother Rose, and Patricia Smith and her lovely daughter, Tiffany.
We each got to stand up and give a little talk about ourselves, how we got into writing and our books. There was also a giveaway of an Amish Christmas Compilation Book called: Amish Christmas Miracles Collection that is out of print and was autographed by the authors in attendance. I won the book by mere process of elimination from those in the room who all had, had specific Amish experiences. In the end, the two yokels from California (me and my husband) won the book.
Later on, when everyone started buying books (by the armload I might add), a Mennonite woman came up to me and wanted to know more about my Amish Sci-Fi book, called In Plain Sight. She was clearly fascinated and also disappointed because I had sold out of them. She was fascinated to know how on earth I'd come up with that idea. (The image of crop circles on Amish Farmland just popped into my head.)
Another Amish woman told me she didn't want to read about the Amish. She wanted to learn about "the English". I think she bought Second Chance Inn.
I also attended a second event at a small Christian Bookstore (Guardian Angel) in Richfield, PA. The other authors invited me and I'm so glad I went! I was introduced to a bunch of new readers who had never heard of me before but who bought books by the armload. I was so happy to have sold almost 90% of the books I had shipped to PA so I wouldn't have to ship them all back!
All in all, it was a wonderful trip (except for the portion of the return flight over Colorado where I pled the blood of Jesus over the plane for 45 minutes straight - it was that bad).
I now am back home, working my regular job and need to start on Book Three which will be called "Hope Springs Eternal". This cover will reek of springtime and hopefully make the fans of Second Chance Inn happy!
So far, the reviews have been absolutely wonderful and encouraging and just about everyone is asking when the next book will be coming out.
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