A very sweet and dear friend of mine has a book on the shelves right now. It came out (officially) yesterday and is a fantastic read in the Love Finds You Series. Even if you’re not normally an inspirational or even a fan of Amish books, this is a great story and I hope you’ll check it out. You can find Serena’s website HERE and a purchase link HERE. Oh, and a note on the beautiful girl pictured on Serena’s website? That’s her daughter-in-law. How cool is it to be the model of your mother-in-law’s book?!

Are you a fan of Amish books?

Kay

The pre-conference madness has begun. I thought I had a few more days before I had to really kick into gear but things keep coming up. I need books for this event, postcards for that one. A certain outfit for another. Ack! :chair: LOL Writers are such introverts. Myself included. All the fuss makes me long for a beach chair. :sunny: I love going to the Romance Writers of America’s National Conference. It’s a blast–but exhausting. Keeping track of it all drives me a bit batty. :bat:

If you’re not on Facebook, I hope you’ll sign up and find my Kay Stockham Fan Page. I’ll be posting pics and conference goings-on from there. I have two Facebook pages now, a private, personal one and my professional author one. Be sure to pick the Fan Page (unless I know you personally).

My CP Serena Miller has a book getting ready to officially hit the shelves August 1. It’s an Amish romance in the Finding Love series titled SUGARCREEK OHIO. I’ll see if I can’t rustle up a cover for you and post it as well. Anyway, great read. And an absolutely fabulous person. Serena is one of a kind so I hope you’ll check it out.

What are you reading?

Kay

I’m baaaaack! I had a busy week last week as you all know. But I’m back–with pictures.

After working hard all week (and playing some with the fam, too) I attended Lori Foster and Dianne Castell’s Reader/Author Get Together. What a fabulous time! If you’ve never gone, plan to! It’s the first weekend in June–always. The cost of the event is $50 plus hotel/travel but Lori and Dianne get a great rate at a beautiful Marriott located to great stores, great restaurants–and a bookstore. Fun, fun, fun!

So, this year Superromance buddy Amy Knupp made the drive down to Cincinnati. Tell me, does she have TROUBLE written all over her? This was taken at the Montgomery Inn Restaurant. Check out Amy’s buddy.

All the way from IlliNOISE (Yes, I know it’s not “noise” but none of them can pronounce Louisville correctly and the KY girl in me is stubborn! Heh. LOL) came Tasha. Via her parents Tasha had heard fabulous things about Montgomery Inn (a Cincinnati must for ribs and BBQ). Here she is with her bib–which turns into a cape for super-heroing later. LOL

Tasha is an aspiring YA author. During the weekend the group of us plotted a bit and let me say now her YA series idea is phenom. I read a little YA due to my reader-daughter and I’m so ready for something non-Goth. She’s sooooo got it! Can’t wait to read it in print!

Another IlliNOIS-ian is Emily. Emily is working on a fabulous, complex historical novel, another genre-fave of mine. She isn’t just a pretty face. Here she is with Amy. I sense a blond theme!

Tasha again, laughing to the point of hysteria. No comment. :biggrin:

Tasha had major iPad envy. So much so Friday afternoon at lunch we called around until we found one. Meet Matt, the iPad.

Saturday event photos include friends Lisa, Naliny and Judy. These gals are soooo sweet and so much fun!

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Check out the raffle baskets behind them. There were 140 raffle baskets given away with the money raised going to charity. Three hundred (give or take) attendees raised $5,000!!!! I, um, did my share. Raffle prizes included a Nook, a Kindle, another e-reader (sorry, can’t remember which one) and an iPad, plus tons of books, gift cards, goodies and as you can see in one of the pics–a trunk!

And here is one of Barb Smith and Laurie Damron. Laurie (standing) hosts the fundraiser for our troops every year and sends box after box of goodies to our soldiers overseas.

Every year I’ve taken pictures of the room as a whole but this year I did well to remember to take pics, period! LOL It was one of those weekends. And what a fantastic time. I *highly* recommend you consider attending next year. It’s busy and hectic and ultra-casual (jeans, tees etc) but soo much fun. OH! And I won a prize!!! I gave away a half dozen books that I’d already read or have in my TBR stack but still came home with more books than I’ll ever be able to read. But I’ll do my best! :news:

Have you ever attended a reader event? How far would you be willing to travel to attend one if the price of the event was reasonable?

Kay

I haven’t taken a writing retreat for a while. It’s when I eat, sleep and write until I can write no more. I’m in the middle of one now so that’s why I’m scarce. So sorry not to have prepared little posts ahead of time.

This weekend I’m heading to Cincinnati to Lori Foster’s June Event. It’s a fabulous time with lots of authors, lots of readers and best of all–lots of books! The public book signing is scheduled for Saturday, June 6 from 2-4 PM, located in the West Chester, Marriott, West Chester, Ohio. I hope to see you there!

I just picked up quite a few fabulous looking books and can’t wait to dive in and report back. Until then::: what are you reading??

Kay

Hi, guys!

Sorry I disappeared there for a bit. Had to go on a school trip with DD and have been recovering ever since! :sleepL

All this week I’ll be answering questions over on eHarlequin about writing related books/connected series. If you’re a writer, I’ll hope you’ll stop by to chat. If you’re a reader, I hope you’ll stop by the chat :crowd: about your favorite aspects of reading a series etc. Here’s the link

Did everyone have a nice weekend? It was gorgeous here!

Kay