September 17, 2010 - Day 1 For ACFW

I arrived in Indianapolis yesterday and shared a ride with another ACFW member to the hotel. So far, the hotel has been somewhat nice, but I've noticed that I have to wait a LONG TIME for elevators and when you get on an elevator, it's usually filled to capacity. I've run into LOTS of authors and I'm not sure if I can even attempt to list them all here. I did have a lot of conversations last night and my throat hurts from talking so much. I had lunch with ACFW member Dani Pettrey and my roommate Chandra Smith . Lunch was great. There was a chef making pasta to order and I'd never had that before, and it was tasty. I ran into author Tracie Peterson during lunch and it was great to see her! I hadn't seen her in YEARS! She was instrumental in helping me to land my first and third book contract!

After lunch, I had a long chat with author Ramona Cecil about her historicals. We also talked a lot about writing for Barbour. I was then approached by author Jennifer Rogers Spinola and we chatted for awhile and I gave her a copy of Chesapeake Weddings.

Praise and worship was awesome! I also was glad to see my former critique partner, Rose McCauley receive her first publishing contract for a Christmas historical novella!!! :-) The novella is being published by Barbour Publishing! Yea! :-)

I talked to authors Pat Simmons and I spoke with Vanessa Miller about her novel, Long Time Coming. It's an emotional read that'll bring tears to your eyes and I plan on posting a review later this year, closer to the released date of the novel.

I went to my room for a few minutes and by the time I got to dinner, most of the over six hundred people attending this conference were already seated! I found a seat in the back next to Jim Rubart, author of Rooms. Author Jenny Jones and Abington editor Barbara Scott were also at the table. I was able to talk to Barbara Scott about my writing and I was glad that I was able to do that.

After dinner, I attended two late night chats. One was for Summerside Press. Apparently, you need an agent to submit to them. It doesn't appear that you can submit to them via conference appointment unless you have an agent. I do enjoy their books and I've reviewed a number of their titles on this blog. They're still looking for unique settings for their Love Finds You Line and they've added a few lines to their house, too, and the two editors talked about that for a bit. I think these books have lovely covers, too!

After the Summerside Press chat, I went to the Steeple Hill chat and afterwards spoke with editor Tina Columbo James. If you're looking to submit someplace and you're unagented and unpublished, I think SH would be a great place to submit, especially since they take unagented submissions and I've noticed they have a habit of granting contracts to new authors.

During both the Summerside Press and Steeple Hill chats I had long conversations with a number of authors, but my fingers and getting a bit tired from typing and breakfast is coming up soon, and I don't feel like trying to recall all the names of whom I spoke with after the chats! I know I talked to author Ginny Aiken for awhile and Merrilee Wren and Lynette Sowell.

Author Michelle Sutton's chocolate party was great! I talked to a bunch of people here, too, including author Laurie Alice Eakes, Gail Sattler, Lena Nelson Dooley and a bunch of others! I saw Julie Lesssman, author of the hot and steamy inspirational Daughters of Boston series, and that was a treat!

I hope to post another blog entry later today or tomorrow! I did bring my camera with me, but, so far, I haven't taken any pics! But, others have taken pics of me, so, when I can get ahold of some, I'll post on the blog!

~Cecelia Dowdy~