ACFW’s annual conference was: informative, exciting, renewing, brilliant, star-studded, amazing!

I departed Indianapolis bound for Atlanta at 7 am Thursday, September 26th full of anticipation and excitement. And a few nerves. The trip to Atlanta was pleasant. I totally recommend Delta Airlines. The crews and flights were fantastic!

One thing I love about ACFW is the numerous God appointments. What I mean by this is the way things work out, the people you meet often seem too good to be true––God appointments.

This year, I had many such meetings and encounters, beginning with my connecting flight from Atlanta to San Antonio. My seat was next to WordServe agent, Ali Herring. When we discovered we were both going to the same conference, she graciously allowed me to pitch my book and offered a ton of fantastic advice for my conference pitches.

My roommate was Kristin Dowd, winner of the 2018 First Impressions contest. I found her on ACFW’s critique loop because of her amazing science fantasy story. We became critique partners for a while and still stay in touch. Meeting her in person was fantastic, and we had so much fun throughout the conference.

Reconnecting with fellow Indiana author, Cara Putman and meeting favorite authors, Sara Ladd, Kristy Cambron and an author I’ve never read, but whose personality was so gracious that I plan to pick up several of her books, Pepper Basham, at the Harper Collins Christian Publishing spotlight session was such a fun way to begin the conference.

Meeting up with friends and authors from previous conferences is another highlight. My friend Barbara Fox also writes about horses. She signed with her agent, Linda Glaz, due to meeting at last year’s conference. I was able to talk with Colleen Coble, another Indiana author at her book signing. Then I went to a local coffee shop, La Panaderia, to a meet and greet with several other authors, including Katie Ganshert and Becky Wade. Both of these women were gracious and inspiring. It was so much fun to meet and talk with them about their books and writing in general. Then I met Karen Witemeyer when I attended her workshop. So much fun!

Be on the lookout for next week’s blog where I’ll show you more of beautiful San Antonio and talk about the sessions I attended and some other fun tidbits about the progress of my own publishing journey.

Until then, have a blessed week! I offer encouragement to those writers who are submitting to those they met at the conference and discernment for agents and editors as they work through the material they peruse.