Met my publisher at the Florida Christian Writing Conference

Hey everyone.

I've been back from the writer's conference in Florida for 6 days. It was fantastic!! Scott went with me. I've planned to go to this conference since the summer of 2011. Why you wonder? Because I knew my editor, Ramona Tucker, would be there. I'd never met her fact-to-face. We talked via email. She was everything I pictured plus more. The woman has spunk, energy, personality plus. I can't say enough about her. Plus she is adorable. God definitely put me in her path, or her in mine. The main thing is He connected us for a reason. Oak Tara is a wonderful publishing house. They believe in the authors who they bring into their company. Oak Tara is growing bigger and bigger every year. I feel like God brought me in with them to grow with them. He has blessed me so much.

Not only did I get to meet my editor, I also met a lot of other people in the writing industry as well as people who help us grow. While I was there, a DJ from the Florida area, Reach FM 90.5, Fort Lauderdale, FL, Anitra Parmele interviewed Ramona Tucker. In the interview my editor talked about The Samantha Cain Mysteries, Book 1 Be Not Afraid and Book 2 Testimony of Innocence. It turned out my husband had met Anitra at the coffee bar in the dinning hall, and then he introduced her to me, on the first day of the conference. So when Ramona talked to Anitra about her writer who had her husband here supporting her...and Ramona talked about Scott's winning smile, Anitra decided she had already met us. AND she had. So we talked more later and Anitra said she would be blasting me out through 55 different stations in the Florida state, if I didn't mind. OF COURSE, I didn't mind. Talk about exciting. Oak Tara had 3 more of their authors at the conference. One was the Keynote Speaker, Cecile Murphy. "Cec" opened my mind (as well as others) to what all God can use us for in our writing. How we can reach more and more people. We also met Torry Martin, screenplay writer, actor, comedian, and author. He too was wonderful. Both Cecile and Torry spoke on the importance of helping others along the way.

It was a great conference. And I'm spurred on to write more and more. At the moment, I'm making notes on Book 3 of the series, The Truth Revealed and working on my work in progress. The working titles for those are Lean on Me, and After You're Gone. On the side, I'm trying to learn how to write articles for magazines. They taught us at the conference, it's a way to get your name out and how you write to the masses.

In Scott and my personal lives, which I have been sharing with you all since Scott's illness, there is more to share.

Our 3-tier deck is complete all but the staining of it. The rain seems to keep blocking that from happening, but we know it will be completed at the right time. In the mean time, our son-in-law and a neighbor came and cleared the cat-tails from around the lake, that were blocking the easy access to fishing off the deck. It's looking better and better. AND in the front yard, the landscape was completed right before we headed out of town. It looks wonderful too. Those of you who know me, know I don't have a green thumb. So keep me in your prayers that I don't kill the beautiful plants that are spread about. It looks restful and inviting. I love it. So does Scott.

Health wise, Scott had started coughing up blood again, for a couple of weeks. I know it scared him some, but he kept speaking the fact God healed him and he knows he will be okay. We had a doctors visit with his oncologist earlier this week. She's scheduled another CT Scan sooner than originally planned, but believes all will be okay. And again, we both know it will be. So again thanks for all of your prayers over the past year and half...almost 2 years. Can you believe it's been that long? God has done some wonderful things in our lives over this time. And we've seen some miracles happen to us and to others we prayed with and for. He is so good!!

Today there won't be any tips on writing, other than the one I shared earlier in the blog. So you writers, check it out.

Have a blessed day, week, month and I'll talk to you as soon.