Authors I've Met

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I've been blessed to meet a lot of authors. The number is much higher than ten, but I did pick ten memorable ones for this post. For the rest, you can check out my Authors I've Met shelf on Goodreads. I met some of these in the capacity of fan or blogger, but then some have come since I became an aspiring novelist myself. When you are a writer, you tend to run in writing circles, and meeting authors is an amazing perk! 😀



1. Karen Kingsbury
I met Karen at a book signing in 2008. It was a family affair—I went with all three of my sisters, and the youngest was only 10 years old at the time. 🙂



2. Regina Jennings
Regina and I first met in 2017, though this picture is from the 2019 American Christian Fiction Writers conference. She's so much fun, and she's been a huge encouragement in my own writing.

  

In 2018, a group of authors came to Branson for a retreat, and somehow I got on the invite list for a lunch with them all. Starting in the lower left corner and going clockwise:

3. Karen Witemeyer, (me), 4. Julie Klassen, 5. Courtney Walsh, 6. Katie Ganshert, 7. Becky Wade, local author Julia Kay, 8. Jody Hedlund, and local authors Kimberly Joy and Savanna Kaiser

There are two things I especially remember about this lunch: Julie and I had a great personal conversation, and in listening to all these ladies talk about their writing processes, I realized none of them were doing something I couldn't do. I've always wanted to be a writer, but there were always other things that took up my time and attention. Meeting this group really encouraged me to go after my dream, and it was only a few weeks later that I began my first manuscript.



9. Sarah Sundin
Sarah has been one of my favorite historical authors for a long time, and I was thrilled to meet her at the 2019 ACFW conference. In fact, I was too starstruck to say hello the first time our paths crossed! But I worked up the courage to do so the next day. 🤩😀



10. Bethany Turner
That's Bethany front and center with some local writers. From L-R: me, Savanna Kaiser, Carol Moncado, (Bethany,) Jerry and Kate Angelo, Stephanie Daniels, Joyce Valdois Smith, and Hannah Cook.

We had a blast when Bethany came to visit this past summer. She is the real deal. A lot of fun, a lot of authenticity, and real stories about writing that is only possible with God.

Find more Top Ten Tuesday posts at That Artsy Reader Girl.