Whew, I am tired after a loooooong, whirlwind weeknd. But it’s the good kind of tired. The joyful kind of tired. The grin-worthy kind of tired.

Last Thursday, I loaded into the car at 6 a.m. with my husband David, and we drove into town to pick up Denise, a friend from my local book club who had invited me to join her for the Read Write Rendezvous when her daughter had to back out and she ended up with an extra ticket. Denise had issued the invitation right before Cindy of the Christy Awards invited me to join a panel at the Art of Writing seminar right before the award gala, which is in conjunction with the Rendezvous, so…it all came together. At first, it was just the two of us going, but after I was named a finalist in the Christy Awards, Denise said, “You should invite your family!”

So I did. My parents ended up coming too, and then David joined the party as well.

We had a lovely time chatting and getting to know each other better for the first bit of the drive, then I turned on the audio book I was determined to introduce both Denise and David to: The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower. I read them in ebook form last year but wanted to do a reread before book 9 releases in February, and I knew the audio books were amazing. We got through the first one and started the second on our 9.5 hour drive, and they both enjoyed them. 

We arrived in Nashville in the late afternoon, got all checked in, had dinner, and rested in preparation for all the Friday stuff. Though first, a small mixup. Another finalist, Tasha Hackett, was rooming with Denise…but they’d never actually said which hotel. Tasha had assumed the Christy hotel, so showed up there…only to discover Denise (and hence her room) was at the Rendezvous hotel. So Denise and I hopped back in the car and made the super-short (but not walkable) drive to pick up Tasha, and I henceforth got to introduce myself as “Tasha’s Chauffeur.” 😉

This was my first time attending any of the Christy Award stuff live, and it was such fun! David and I met my agent, Steve Laube, for breakfast to chat about the realities of being a small press in today’s market. As always, chatting with Steve meant soaking up tons of information and wisdom and stories. After breakfast, David headed back to our hotel (we were staying at the Rendezvous hotel and drove to the Christy hotel) while I headed in for the “meet the finalists” panel.

That was the point of the day when I got to hug my amazing virtual assistant, Rachel, without whom I could not function, LOL. We’ve only met in person once before, and that was forever ago, so it was SO AWESOME to get to hang out with her all weekend!! And of course, these events were just BURSTING with friends–some I’ve known for many years, some I’ve only met recently. Some are authors I’ve been looking up to for eons and totally fangirl over, others I’ve had the opportunity to encourage and mentor a bit. There was much hugging and exclaiming and laughing.

Four members of my Tyndale team were there too, so I got to meet and/or say “hello again!” to them as well.

After lunch, the Art of Writing seminar began. The first panel was made of publishing pros–editors, marketing folks, publishers, etc. They talked a lot about the state of the industry, and I soaked it all up with gratitude. The second panel was about AI and the publishing industry. I will admit I wasn’t sure what tack they were going to take, but I found it to be SUCH a well-reasoned and insightful group! I highly enjoyed hearing these professionals talk about the many uses for AI, the lines we should draw, and the encouragement put into words as to what we do NOT need to fear when it comes to AI, because machines will never have the Breath of God in them. Absolutely loved their take.

During the break after that panel, I had a chance to talk to Amanda Wright, author of Darkfell and the newly-released Firewing. Amanda is SUCH a sweetheart! We’ve chatted online a good bit since her debut released last year, and I’d been looking forward to getting to chat with her in person. Doing so was definitely one of the highlights of my weekend–those personal connections are just what it’s all about!

I was on panel 3, “Soul of the Writer, Heart of the Story.” Also known as the time when I got to make people cry. 😉 One of the questions was about what we do to process when we need to step away from the story, or conversely, a time when we’ve used a story to process. Ahem. Cue Roseanna breaking out the story of how God gave just the right story to write when I was diagnosed with Stage 4 with that brain tumor, and how just a week before, I’d decided on using a dying woman’s POV in Amazed. How her first scene was the next scene to write after I got home for the oncology appointment where they were talking about palliative care. (Then also got to make them all laugh with, “Spoiler alert–I didn’t die.”)

I slipped out after my panel (though there was one more) so Rachel and I could return to the other hotel to get ready for the gala. Cue the sparkly purple gown and blingy jewelry. (And insert David saying, “I have one question: Why are you not wearing a tiara?” LOL. I totally should have brought one!) And as someone who LOVES fancy dresses, the gala was a feast for the eyes!

Also, it was just so much fun. Everyone was in high spirits, laughing and hugging and complimenting and celebrating together. And that is just what this Christian Fiction industry is all about. We cheer for each other. We encourage each other. We rejoice with each other. And it puts a song in my heart.

Laura Frantz won my category, and I cheered extra-loud for her because Laura is the sweetest person in the world. She was unfortunately not there this year (sad!), but I hope she was watching and heard how excited everyone was for her very well-deserved win!

Saturday morning, the Rendezvous started bright and early–David helped me carry in my boxes of books for the bookshop then vanished again. =) I was there on a reader ticket rather than a writer ticket so was just a “special guest.” No panels or anything for me, and that was totally fine, LOL. I got to float around, meet tons of readers, buy books and then hunt down the authors for signatures, and just bask in the reader community.

And then be SHOCKED when Amazed was my first title to sell out! (At ACFW and Storyfest, I think I sold 2 fantasies. There, it was all about the historicals. Here, whole different story.) I actually ended up selling out of most everything. I arrived with 55 books; I left with 3 copies of Spy Keeper. A successful day, for sure!

I did have to duck out to teach my ACFW VA class via Zoom at 11 Central/12 Eastern. The class went really well–I was teaching about the cover design process. When I hopped back down, lunch was in full swing, so I grabbed a plate. And then found Tamera Alexander, who was the keynote speaker, stopping me to say hello.

Now, Tammy is another totally amazing person. Back when I was first pitching in 2007, I had her first series on my list of comparable titles, and she was also one of the first authors gracious enough to endorse my early books. So to say I look up to and love her books and her is an understatement. So obviously it made my day to hang out for a few minutes and chat with her, especially when she said, “Everyone I talk to here says something about you and how glad they are you made it.” We chatted for a while about my health journey and all I’ve been going through, and then she really made my day when she said, “I just feel like I need to know you better. Let’s stay in touch.”

I had to pop upstairs to my room once more for the editor panel at the conference, then David and I, Danielle Grandinetti (good friend, member of P&P, just saw her last week at our retreat, LOL) and the aforementioned Rachel, (VA extraordinaire) walked to Fox’s Pizza and had dinner. Much laughter was had by all.

I got to participate in the games that evening, doing a “speed dating” thing where the authors moved between groups of 4 readers and speed-answered questions. Such fun!! Then, alas, exhaustion caught up and I went upstairs, packed up, and went to bed. Because we were leaving at 6 on Sunday.

The drive home was delightful, given that we finished listening to Emma M. Lion Volume 2 and then also got through Volume 3–as in, we finished just as we took our exit from the interstate into our hometown. Listening to these together is such fun! So many moments where we were laughing together. And now my husband will understand the inside jokes when I say, “Ah.” Or “What? What, what?” We haven’t yet gotten to Alchemy (I think that’s Volume 4…right?) but now he’s hooked, so we’ll get there soon. 😉

All in all, it was such a wonderful weekend, and I can’t wait to do it again!