InD’Scribe 2016 – A Success!
I had the pleasure of attending another successful InD’Scribe Author and Reader Conference!
While it is good to be home, I find that I am missing my friends. Not just my author friends, but the fabulous women (and men) who help make InD’Scribe such a success. I have to tip my hat to TJ Mackay and her team. The conf erence was flawless. If there were any issues, I didn’t see them.
The conference was made even more special by the fact that I was able to bring my youngest daughter and my cousin with me! It was the adventure and trip of a lifetime!
We really have to come up with a better name! This isn’t ‘networking’ in the traditional sense, or at least I didn’t think so. I think ‘building friendships’ is a better description. I met so many new women and men this year. Authors whose names I recognize along with a few new ones. Kate O’Keefe, Elizabeth Essex, Ma rina Adair, Kathryn Biel, Rebecca Forster, Rachel Van Dyken, Kristen Vayden, Whitney Dineen… the list is endless! These were new-to-me faces and authors and honestly, I could not help but fall in love with each of them! I know I’m probably neglecting to mention more names and I do apologize for that.
Did I mention you get to meet cover models? Sean Hampton and Michael Foster are two of the sweetest and kindest young men you will ever have the pleasure of meeting!
It was also great to see old friends. Kathryn Le Veque (my daughter now calls her Aunt Kat!) Amy Jarecki, Kathryn Lynn Davis, Catherine Bybee, Victoria Zak (who my daughter and cousin have deemed ‘the sweetest woman on the planet’.
There were workshops for all levels of authors. From beginners to more advanced classes. As always, my most favorite classes were the one’s Anne Perry taught. If you ever get the chance to sit in on an Anne Perry Workshop, do it! You will not be disappointed.
Linda Rae Sande gave a great workshop on AuthorPreneurhsip that even I found useful! She is one exceedingly organized woman. So much so that I’m jealous. I will start using her techniques on organizing files.
InD’Tale knows how to through a party! As does Kathryn Le Veque!
I had the honor to host my own party with Rachel Van Dyken, Beth Carter, Eliza Knight, and Jennifer Ashley. We had a bruschetta bar along with hot and cold hors d’oeuvres. They hotel even provided waiters to walk through the crowds with trays of food. We gave away some awesome prizes too. Readers and authors were welcome to attend these parties and they were a blast.
Kathryn Le Veque went all out with decorations and music. My favorite part though had to be the dessert bar! Cake pops, cup cakes, cookies… they are all delicious. We also danced the night away!
Thinking of attending next year?
Oh, I hope you do!! Whether it is for a day or the entire conference, you will not be disappointed. Especially the readers. While it might not have looked like there were lots of things for readers to do, there were!! Readers can attend the evening parties, reader sessions (such as who does it better) as well as the book signing and the RONE Awards. Most of the events are free for readers, but because of the food served at the RONE aw ards, you must purchase a ticket for that event.
When you attend as a reader, we just worship you! There are lots of hugs passed out, as well as candy and even chances to have some one on one time with your favorite authors. Did I mention free hugs and chocolate?
InD’Scribe will be announcing very soon the schedule for next year’s conference. They are 99.9% certain it will be held in October again. If you get the chance to attend as an author, you should! The workshops, the friendships forged, and the chance to meet your readers are all great reasons to attend.
If you attend as a reader, the chance to meet your favorite authors, dance the night away, and attend the stellar RONE awards are just a few of the great reasons to go. And did I mention free hugs and candy??
I don’t think I know a single person who hasn’t been touched by cancer in one way or another. I’ve lost a grandfather, two cousins and two uncles to various kinds of cancer. I have witnessed first hand how it can ravage a person’s body. I hate this disease, no matter which form it takes; breast, ovarian, prostate, liver, blood or bone.
In addition to those beautiful people we lost to cancer, there are survivors. My maternal grandmother and her sister were breast cancer survivors. I also have an aunt and a very dear friend who have survived breast cancer. Each of them met this challenge head on with grace and dignity, and yes, a lot of tears.
If you’re a survivor or a caregiver, know that I admire you. This is an ugly disease that I hope we can someday eradicate.
My grandmother chose to use humor to deal with her mastectomy. No matter how much pain she was in, she refused to let us see it. I went to visit her a couple of weeks after her surgery and asked her how she was feeling. I will never forget her response. “I seemed to have misplaced my plastic boobie and now, I’m walking around in circles, veering left.” I about fell out of my chair!
Seeing first hand how this disease not only affects the lives of the cancer victim, but also their families and caregivers, I jumped at the chance to help with Romance Has A Heart. Over 100 authors have joined together to donate over 2,000 books to breast cancer survivors and caregivers.
There are no hoops to jump through. You can browse by genre or heat level and pick a book you’d like to give to either a cancer survivor or their caregiver. There are digital books and paperbacks galore! I’m giving away digital copies and paperbacks.
Visit: www.romancehasaheart.org for more details.