The end of September found me in San Antonio for the ACFW National Conference. It’s one of my favorite weeks of the year, as I get to reconnect with many of my writing buddies including several of the women on this blog. It’s such fun and then one way I give back to the writing world that has been so good to me. We also had board meetings where we started planning next year’s conference in St. Louis. Friday night and Saturday of that event will have a reader’s retreat. I’m so excited about what that will mean for our authors and for readers.

Frank Peretti was the keynote speaker. Raise your hand if his novel This Present Darkness changed the way you look at prayer. Yeah, me too. His first speech was a clarion call to return to the truth of the Gospel. The second an encouragement to keep writing truth. Next year’s keynote speaker will be Liz Curtis Higgs! She was fantastic the other time I’ve heard her, and I can’t wait!

We started with First Time Orientation where my friend Ashley Clark (and soon to be published author with Bethany House) along with Bethany editor Raela Schoenherr shared what to expect with editor and agent appointments. I think this is the part that is always the most stressful for first timers.

The conference closed with the Awards Gala. This photo is the attorneys: Rick Acker, James Scott Bell and me.

And a couple of my writing sisters: Courtney Walsh (who won a Carol!) and Katie Ganshert.

And my Indiana writing buddies Kristy Cambron and Sarah Ladd.

This photo should be labeled the women of suspense: Colleen Coble, Carrie Stuart Parks, Robin Caroll, Lynette Eason and yours truly.

So a quick question, if you were to come to a reader event, which authors would you love to spend time with?