Sunshine Award

A big thank you to P.M Terrell. She sent me this blog award a little while ago and I greatly appreciate it. Stop by and check her out at www.pmterrell.blogspot.com

As a recipient, I am required to answer the following questions for all of you:

Favorite Color - Depends on my mood and time of the year. Right now, it's red.

Favorite Animal - Cats (even though I don't have any right now).

Favorite Number - 25. I have no idea why.

Favorite Non-alcoholic Drink - Is there such a thing as a favorite non-alcoholic drink?! Geez, if I have to choose I guess it would be Diet Mountain Dew.

Facebook or Twitter - I have both, but I like Facebook better. I think it's easier to connect with other people on Facebook.

Your Passion - My passion is my children. I do everything in my power to make sure they will grow up to be happy, healthy, and twisted adults.  ;) You should see my teens bedroom. Eek! 

Giving or getting present - I love giving gifts! I find more joy in giving than receiving. Maybe it's because no on ever tries to surprise me when I get a gift. I like happy surprises.

Favorite Day - Friday

Favorite Flowers - Anything that smells good.

The Sunshine Award and it's given to "those who creatively and positively inspire others in the blogosphere." Next week (April 24th) check out these wonderful authors who inspire me:

Robin Renee Ray
Amy Brantley

Fun Times at Book 'Em

Left to Right: P.M. Terrell, Christie Silvers,
Pamela J. Kimmell, Judy Walter

It's been over a week since I attended the Book 'Em NC 2013 conference and book fair, so I suppose it's time to finally write a blog entry about it. LOL. Can you tell I'm slacking on my blog lately? Oops!

Anyway, the trip from Georgia to North Carolina was fairly uneventful (thankfully). Especially considering how nasty the drive up was last year. Those darn rain storms can cause all sorts of havoc. Luckily, we left a little later this year and managed to arrive at the hotel on time for check-in instead of early like last year. No waiting around for our room to be cleaned this time. :)

 

We arrived in Lumberton, NC with a few hours to rest before having to head out to the Author Meet-n-Greet at The Village Station. I talked it up with a few new people and many that I knew from last year. I especially enjoyed talking to P.M. Terrell, Pamela J. Kimmell, and Bonnie Watson. All these ladies are wonderful people and authors. Not to mention Trish (P.M.) was our hostess and event coordinator (how she does it all, I'll never know!).

The next morning we were up early and went straight to Robeson Community College where Book 'Em is held. This year I shared a table at the event with Karen McCullough. We hadn't met last year, but after almost 7 hours together that day we certainly got to know each other. :) I had fun talking to her about our books, publishing, candies, and giveaway goodies.

Anyone who has seen me at an event like this knows that I'm a major candy pusher. This year was no different. Last year it was cinnamon disks; this year it was Dove milk chocolates. Talk about a great way to get people to your table! I begged, pleaded, guilted, and pretty much threw chocolate at everyone who walked by. And Karen has peppermint, so we were commenting on how well chocolate and peppermint goes together. LOL! It was a fun time. I ended up giving away almost three bags of chocolates, and still had one bag that I HAD to bring back home. Not that I'm complaining about my chocolate stash, or anything. ;)

The best part of the day happened about an hour before the event was over........

I SOLD OUT!!

Well, technically, I sold out of all my copies of Time for Death (Liz Baker, book 1). But hey, that's still a thrilling moment for me. I got listed in the Book 'Em newsletter as one of the four authors who sold out this year. And next year... I'll be seated on the Bestsellers Hall!  Woohoo!!

Here are a few more pictures from Book 'Em NC 2013. I look forward to this even in 2014!

 

Left: Karen McCullough & Christie Silvers
Right: Tim & Christie Silvers
 

Check 'Em Out!

Happy Friday! Whew! I didn't think this week would ever end. I'm so looking forward to sleeping in this weekend, especially since I've been up at 5:30am every day for two weeks now. Yuck. However, it was all worth it in the end due to the wonderful people I've met and the fun I had.

As promised, today I'm going to share some of the authors I met. Keep in mind that I met a LOT of people and writers, and I can't possibly share them all. These are few of the people I talked to most and really enjoyed the time we had together.

If you read about my candy pushing method yesterday you'll remember my neighbor in candy crime. Hawk MacKinney was the funny author who wouldn't let people pass without taking candy. Hawk is a retired Navy man who teaches and writes. At Book 'Em he displayed his book Moccasin Trace. If you enjoy Civil War stories definitely check his out.

My neighbor to the left was the lovely Suzanne Adair. She's a friendly soul who smiles easily and has joked on Twitter about my candy pushing this week. I hope to see her again next year. Suzanne writes fiction set during the Revolutionary War. She says that her son calls her books stories about kick-ass women in history.

Suspense and thriller writers Michael Palmer and his son Daniel Palmer were both interesting, pleasant, and an enjoyment to be around. Daniel is hilarious and we all got a kick out of his thoughts on adding a companion dog to a story. Apparently dogs can fix any flawed manuscript. LOL!

Oh, and I can't forget the beautiful E. Marie Sanders! She is a doll. I enjoyed listening to her speak during one of the conference talks, and talking to her when she came around to my table earlier in the day. Since then we have connected online and I hope to talk with her more in the future. E. Marie writes Christian fiction. Yes, yes, definitely not my type of stories, but if you enjoy those you should check her out. :)

Last, but certainly not least, is the wonderful, talented, and super busy Trish Terrell (P.M. Terrell). Not only can this woman write, but she is the friendliest of all people I've ever met. Trish is a co-founder of the Book 'Em Foundation and, boy, did she do the work for it. The event couldn't have happened without her. Trish writes suspense novels.

There were so many other wonderful people, too many to mention, that I met over the weekend. I hope to see them all again next year!