Last weekend I was privileged to be invited to participate in an Ohio Author’s Festival at my local library branch. Here I am, pictured with my author table and my stuffed Ginger Snap kitty! I honestly did not realize the photo was mimicking the cover painting! I’ll bet my good friend, who took the picture, did that on purpose! Most of the other authors at the event came from a couple hours away, and were much better known than I am.

Of course, being better-known-than-I-am is not hard to do; my first book doesn’t come out until December 1! So I was quite happy to be included in this illustrious group, even though I had no actual, physical books to sell that day.

The event also gave me a chance to set up my table display, which I will use for future author signing events, for the first time.

This was a good thing, as I found out my banner is way too big to hang from a standard table! I guess I should have asked other authors how big their banners are before ordering mine! I’ll look at this as a humorous learning opportunity.

I think my stuffed orange kitty was a big hit, though, and people seemed to like the cat stickers I was giving away.

I’m not as certain about my original painting of Ginger Snap. You can see it in the bottom left corner of the attached photo. It’s a bit cartoonish, but I like it. I am giving it as a gift to one of the people who attended the event and signed their name and email in my pretty, little notebook. I need to pull a winner’s name and mail it off! I’ll do that later this weekend.

Two of the authors attending spoke to the group, and both were amazing. One woman was a fellow Amish romance author; although she had us all in stitches explaining how she writes Amish murder mysteries, and apologizing for “killing off Amish folks right and left”.

The other spoke about how some of her books have been banned, and why. She really got me thinking about this disturbing topic.

There was a wide range of genres represented at the event, and I looked over all the work of my fellow authors, and made some notes about books I wish to purchase.

Several of my friends attended the event and come over to wish me well after hearing the speakers. That made me feel great!

Next time, I’ll be prepared with a banner that fits my table, and I’ll actually have books available for purchase!

This little shake-down was good for me, and fun. I hope to see you at a future event! Maybe you’ll win an original, Anne Blackburne, painting! I plan to do them for all the kitties in my books.

My next event will be at the Christmas Open House at Kerns Christian book store in Akron, from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturday, December 2. That’s the day after my book releases! It’s really getting close! Drop in and say hi if you are from the Akron/Canton area. I’d love to meet you!