We had a great birthday weekend.
Precious daughter got more toys than she'll ever be able to play with (THANK YOU everyone!), and some of the cutest little outfits I've ever seen.
She loved her birthday cake, and opening her presents. The cards were especially yummy!
And now, I will continue my breakdown of the 2008 ACFW conference experience.
The first morning (Thursday) I took the books I wanted to consign to the bookstore and met a young lady named Janna Ryan. Her sister is Cara Putnam, the ACFW Publicity Officer, book signing coordinator, published author, attorney, mother of three, and all around superwoman. And Janna is following in her sister's footsteps: her own dance instruction business, possibly aspiring author (not sure about that, so don't quote me), the mother of six, and she home schools too! Gotta respect that.
I take my books to the store, tell her my name, she starts looking for my paperwork, then stops.
"Oh, you wrote that book. The cow one."
I got hot and twitchy. "Yes, I did." I expect head shaking and tongue clucking, "What were you thinking, trying to write a book? And how much did you have to pay off that publisher to print it?"
She smiles and places a hand to her chest. "I loved your book. It was so good." (And I am paraphrasing here. I don't want to put words in Janna's mouth, but she was complimentary.)
I teared up and laughed at the same time. "Thank you so much. I think you're the first person outside my hometown, or not related to me, to say that."
She laughed, and I said, "Oh, you did a review on Amazon, didn't you? The one about 'How old am I?'" And she laughs again. "You memorized your Amazon reviews?"
Hot and twitchy again. "Well, I have no life, and those reviews are all I've got."
We finished up the paperwork, and I floated out of the bookstore, and downstairs to the hotel restaurant for breakfast.
Then I met up with a few writers from Tulsa, and got to spend the morning hanging out at the Mall of America with them and Mary Connealy again! Yay!
And I breezed through the rest of that day with my head in the clouds, just waiting for the bubble to burst.
See ya Wednesday!
7 comments:
What a beautiful baby, Denise. You are SURE she's yours? You didn't just hunt til you found the prettiest baby ever and snap her picture and put it up here?
There, mama flattery for the day. She's a doll.
One is such a cute age.
You know who I never did meet was Cara and Janna's mom. I heard Cara talking about her but I never met her. She must be terrific to have raised those extraordinary women.
Mary, you're making me all hot and flustered, visiting my blog twice in a row!
Thank you for the compliment. She is indeed my child, though I have no idea how she got to be so beautiful. It certainly wasn't inherited from me.
I got to meet Janna and Cara's mom while I was at the bookstore. Her name was Jolene (I think), and Cara almost made me cry when she thanked her mama during the awards banquet, who homeschooled them.
I still gotta say it. I have the utmost respect for homeschool parents. I just don't have the chops to do that. My kids would drive me nuts in a matter of days.
Thanks again for stopping by.
You're sweet, Denise, acting like I'm ....ALL THAT. :) But I had such a good time with you and Carla. I feel like I made two new friends at ACFW. Well, more than two, but you two for sure.
Hey, girl, email me
mary connealy at hotmail dot com
I want you to do a guest day on Seekerville. We've got Carla scheduled already.
Enjoyed visiting your blog. Blessings from Costa Rica
Thanks for visiting, Kathie! Stop by again any time!
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