Happy Sunday!
Today I’m going to be spending my afternoon packing for a trip to Las Vegas for a writer’s conference. (Although I leave late enough in the day tomorrow that I could put it off. I guess we’ll see ;) ). I’m super excited about this conference – not completely because of what I am hoping to learn, but because it’s a chance to finally meet Valerie Comer and Carol Moncado in person. (Along with some other fab Christian authors – but I believe we’re the only InspyRomance/former IR authors going. If I missed you and you’re coming please let me know! I want to be sure to say hi in person to you, too!)
Even though I am also a writer, I still get a big thrill out of meeting authors whose books I enjoy. I think the majority of authors are readers first, best, and always. (There are always one or two out there who say being an author has made their internal editors hypercritical and so they no longer enjoy reading. That makes me so sad. I honestly don’t think I’d live if I had to stop reading.)
So of course it begs the question: what authors (Christian or secular, I’m game for any!) do you wish you could meet? And/or what authors have you met? Did it live up to your expectations?
Winners this Week
Angela Ruth Strong’s winner is Anne Payne!
Sally Bayless’ winner is Diana!
Jan Thompson’s winner is Megan L!
Elizabeth Maddrey’s winners are Stacey Zimmerman and Sandra Platt!
If you’re a winner, you should have received an email from the author in charge of the giveaway. If not, please email us at: prizes at inspyromance dot com.
Congratulations!
Don’t forget… every comment you make qualifies you to win one of the monthly Amazon card giveaways!
Sales
Love and Harmony by Sally Bayless is 99c through the 13th!
Reader Gathering
Did you know Inspy Romance hosts a Christian Romance Reader Gathering group on Facebook? Join us… but don’t forget to answer the questions for admittance!
Last Week on Inspy Romance
Monday: Laurie Larsen took us on a beach walk.
Tuesday: Julie Arduini shared her second bucket list item.
Wednesday: Jan Thompson talked about having a thankful heart.
Thursday: Elizabeth Maddrey shared a new cover and talked about ending a series.
Friday: Shannon Taylor Vannatter talked about Christmas movies made from books.
Saturday: Valerie Bodden talked about being a small town girl.
Next Week on Inspy Romance
Monday: Jaycee Weaver
Tuesday: Merrillee Whren
Wednesday: Mary Manners
Thursday: Janet Ferguson
Friday: Staci Stallings
Saturday: Toni Shiloh
New Releases
November 2019
A Heart Reconsidered (Peacock Hill 6) by Elizabeth Maddrey
The Cowboy’s Belated Discovery (Saddle Springs Romance 5) by Valerie Comer
A Place to Find Love (Front Porch Promises 6) by Merrillee Whren
Always (Imagination 7) by Staci Stallings
Southern Hearts 1-4 by Janet W. Ferguson
Restoring Christmas by Julie Arduini
Not Until Christmas Morning (Hope Springs 5) by Valerie M. Bodden
October 2019
The Texan’s Surprise Return (the Cowboys of Diamondback Ranch) by Jolene Navarro
Sara’s Gift (Small-Town Christmas Wishes) by Kimberly Rose Johnson
Valerie’s Verdict (The Dixon Brothers 2) by Hallee Bridgeman
Nate’s Gift (Small-Town Christmas Wishes) by Jackie Castle
Once Upon a Christmas: Contemporary Retellings of Timeless Tales by Toni Shiloh, Angela Ruth Strong, Jaycee Weaver, and 2 others
Saddle Springs Romance 1-3 by Valerie Comer
Hope Springs Books 1-3 (Hope Springs Box Sets 1) by Valerie M. Bodden
A complete list of Inspy Romance books by our authors is always available on our BOOKS tab. Find our audiobooks, our permanently free e-books, and our thank-you gifts for newsletter subscribers there as well!
Elizabeth Maddrey is a semi-reformed computer geek and homeschooling mother of two who lives in the suburbs of Washington D.C. When she isn’t writing, Elizabeth is a voracious consumer of books. She loves to write about Christians who struggle through their lives, dealing with sin and receiving God’s grace on their way to their own romantic happily ever after.
Your weekend away sounds great!
I have met historical fic Canadian authors Genevieve Graham and Susannah Kearsley on their book tour. Wonderful book readings and time after for photos and chat.. very special and certainly surpassed expectations.
I’d love to meet Diane Moody, Julie Klassen, Autumn MacArthur, Elizabeth Musser to begin the very long list of possibilities! And a thank you cuppa tea with you for suggesting this !
HI Elizabeth, enjoy your time at the conference- how exciting to be able to meet Valerie and Carol in person, plus other authors! Living in Australia, I think it would be great to meet Nacelle Atkins, Andrea Grigg, Meredith Resce, Carolyn Miller and Nicki Edwards- Aussie authors who books are auto buys I enjoy them so much:)
Blessings:)
Hi Elizabeth, I would love to be in Vegas with you and Valerie and Carol! I’ve already met Carol twice in person at ACFW Conferences, and I’d love to meet you and Valerie and a long list of authors who I know online. Have a fabulous week in Vegas and I look forward to hearing about the conference. 😊
I have met a couple of Aussie authors Paula Vince and Narelle Atkins (and another couple who most would not have heard off)
Back in 2013 I did a tour in America and was able to meet a few LI authors and afew who were yet to publish. In Atlanta I met Debby Guisti , Missy Tippins, Patti Jo Moore, Patty Smith Hall. Then I met Carrie Fancett Pagels in Williamsburg. Then I went to a readers retreat with Janet Tronstad and Jill Hart. Danica Favourite, Shirley McCoy and a couple of aspiring authors. It was wonderful meeting them all.
There are so many others I would love to also meet. Mary Connealy, Cheryl Wyatt, Susan Page Davis, to name a few. Actually I would just love to meet some authors especially ones who I have read books by. Oh I can’t forget Lacy Williams.
Hi Wemble, We would love to meet you in person, too! Unfortunately we don’t have the reader events in Australia like in the US. One day… 😊
Hi Jenny, It was great to meet you in person back in 2014. It’s likely I’ll be visiting Adelaide in 2020, and hopefully we’ll have an opportunity to catch up. 😊
Hi Elizabeth! As an avid reader and English teacher, I have meet a few authors over the years. At the annual English teachers conference, I met Ted Koosier, poet laureate and some YA fiction writers. This year at the Southwest Michigan Writers Conference I met Kate Collins, who wrote the Flower Shop Mysteries. Hallmark made three of her books into movies starring Brooke Shields. I would love to meet some Inspy Authors – Valerie Comer, Alexa Verde, Jackie Castle, Marion Ueckermann and more. Enjoy your Sunday and conference. Best wishes.
In 1996 – While teaching German at a community college, I attended a five day conference in Berlin, Germany were I interacted with five famous East German authors, who wrote while living under communism. I treasure their autographed books – Erich Loest who wrote about the Candlelight Revolution in Leipzig which helped bring down the Berlin Wall. Yesterday was the 30 anniversary of the Fall of the Wall.
In 2008 at a Study Trip to Japan I meet a Hiroshima survivor, who wrote a children’s book, which we received.
I met a number of authors at Christian Fiction Readers Retreat this past spring. They were all SO NICE! I especially enjoyed meeting Janet Ferguson. There are so many more I’d like to meet such as Becky Wade, Karen Witemeyer, and you (Elizabeth Maddrey) because I love their books and appreciate the spiritual quality they include in them.
Hi, Elizabeth! Have a safe trip and enjoy yourself. I already told Valerie to give you a big hug from me!
I have been blessed to meet her this past June and Chloe Flanagan in January! Of course I’d love to meet all of you someday!
Many years ago I met Nora Roberts at a book signing, like for 10 seconds and a quick photo…..and even more years ago I met an author, Katherine Stone…was able to spend a little more time with her as not a lot of people came early to that book signing.
I met Susanna Kearsley when she was on tour for Bellwether. She’s so friendly and nice.
Oh I’d love to meet some Aussie authors too! That’s a great list. Sometimes I don’t love that the Internet makes the world feel smaller, because then you remember it isn’t and it’s sad.
Thanks! I think I was at a conference Carol was at before but didn’t know to find and meet her yet as it was pre InspyRomance :)
Someday you and I will be in the same place and able to say hi in person!
Gah. It ate my response :(
I would love to get a chance to meet you as well! Someday!
How fun! I’m glad you were able to meet so many great authors. There are always more on the list tho aren’t there?
Elizabeth, have fun at your conference! As a school librarian, I have met many children’s book authors, Bridget Hoos, and Mary Downing Hahn are two of the most recent ones. But to be able to meet authors of books I read for fun would be amazing! You, Valerie, and Carol would be top of my list.
Great list! I would also love to meet Marion. (Honestly, all the InspyRomance authors – I do know Heather Gray as she lives near me and we are in the same writer group.)
I wanted to go to that retreat–it was reasonably near where I live. By the time I remembered when it was it was sold out. Such a bummer.
I’m sad that ACFW owns and controls it now.
Oh yay! I will make sure Valerie doesn’t combine hugs :)
I have another friend who is a school librarian and she gets to meet so many YA and MG authors. My son is a little jealous of her having met Rick Reardon.
Have a fun and safe trip!!
Thanks!
I’ve never met an author but it is my dream to. Have a wonderful time.
Thanks!
I would love to meet you, Valerie Comer and Carol Moncado! That would be so special! Since we’ve emailed, it feels like we’re friends :-)
I live real close to Mt Hermon, so one year I went down during the Christian Writer’s Conference and hung around near the bookstore so I could meet Davis Bunn. Another year I got to meet Karen Barnett. This next April Charles Martin is going to be the keynote speaker, so I plan to go down and try to meet him too!
If any of you InspyRomancers ever come to the Mt Hermon writer’s conference, let me know!!
I’ve never met an author in person. I’d love to meet: Autumn MacArthur, Alexa Verde, Marion Ueckermann, Jo Grafford, Heather Blanton, Irene Hannon, Al and Joanna Lacy, Mandi Blake, Johnnie Alexander, Sara Foust, Sara Beth Williams, Toni Shiloh, you, and many more!!
That’s great to be so near Mount Hermon that conference is on my list to hopefully get to but I’ll for sure let you know if I ever do
Great list!
I got to meet Becky Wade at the ACFW conference one year. She’s about twenty years younger than I am but I still told her that I want to be her when I grow up. :)
Aww, I love that. :)
Have a great time at the conference.
Happy Sunday.
Happy Sunday Elizabeth! I hope you have a great time at the conference :-) Meeting author friends you’ve not yet met in person is going to be a thrill for you I’m sure.
I can actually now say I’ve met two authors! I met Carolyn Miller, who is an Australian Christian fiction writer and writes Regency era books. Back in April, her husband and her traveled to the States for a book signing tour starting in Oregon and ending in Michigan. Since the bookstore in Oregon was only about an hour and half away, my husband blessed me by taking me there & meeting her. Oh I was SO nervous!!! Authors are like celebrities to me, for real! I wanted to fan girl but at the same time I wanted to hide my head in my shell…lol! I’m a shy kind of person so for me to walk up to an author was terrifying. But you know what…she put me right to ease by her big smile and warm hug. Oh she was delightful :-) Her husband is outgoing and friendly so it was WAY better than I anticipated. The best three hours of my life, really!
Then in August, I got to meet Terri Reed–a Love Inspired Suspense author who I have also have reviewed for. There is a bookstore that was having something like a celebrating romance day book signing and they had maybe a dozen authors participating. She was one of them and again my husband blessed me by driving an hour and a half away to meet her. I was just as nervous as when I met Carolyn! But again, she put me right at ease with her warm hug and big smile.
Of course both times I got pictures with them! I also learned that authors are people too and they are probably just as nervous about meeting their readers as we are about meeting them. Isn’t that funny? There are many more I’d love to meet, but most of the ones I know live quite a ways away from me. I live in Oregon and most of them live in the Midwest or farther East. There’s a few out here but not many!
Happy Sunday everyone!
Thanks!
Oh what fun! Thanks for sharing your experiences. When I met Susanna Kearsley I fangirled so much it was a little embarrassing after the fact but she was super nice.
I so agree with you again, I have often thought how I would be so lost if I couldn’t read. It is my absolutely favorite pastime. The authors I so would love to meet is you first and foremost, and Colleen Coble.