My great weekend in Hardy, Ar.

So, for those of you who follow Rachel Hauck's blog and Susan Downs, you probably already know that we, along with Christine Lynxwiler and Susan Warren all met at a B and B in Hardy, Arkansas for a long weekend retreat and booksigning.

Thursday I picked Susie Warren up from Springfield, Mo. and we drove the two and a half hours down to Hardy where Chris lives. Susan Downs and Rachel Hauck flew into Memphis and Chris drove down there to pick them up.

We hung out at Afterwords while waiting for Chris to get there with the other two. Afterwords is a fabulous coffeeshop, owned by Greg Bess who treated us like royalty all weekend. He also owns the B and B where we stayed for our retreat. That evening, one of Chris's friends sent over some fabulous southern chicken salad that was so good we looked like a pride of lions standing over a gazelle as we dug in. Thanks to Melinda for the amazing meal. We loved it so much, we saved the leftovers and ate them for lunch the next day so we didn't have to leave the house during our brainstorm session. But Thursday night, Susie Warren taught us all a new lesson she's working on. It was so good, I begged her to give me her notes. She referenced the movies Live Free, Die Hard, and Cellular (which coincidentally was on TBS last night, so I DVRed it to use as a lesson for myself next week as I begin a new proposal). Susie is just so good. She has a teacher's gift that I have rarely seen. Those of you going to ACFW conference, be sure to attend at least one of her classes. Also you might consider joining her community called VOICES to join go to www.mybooktherapy.com and sign up for VOICES. In my humble opinion, it's the best writing site that I've seen. And that's not just because Suz and Rachel are my friends. Seriously.

Okay, back to our weekend.
The next morning we did an hour long Q and A session for those who came early for the booksigning. There were several ladies there. We had a great time. Suz shared her five secrets of writing a great book and we all expounded. Plus we took our turns answering the questions. Then the booksigning. Went great.
Greg pulled out all the stops and got us on the radio (Waving to Beth, who gives great interviews!)

Saturday evening we did more brainstorming and hung out. Sunday we prayed with Greg before we left and spoke destiny to his heart. Greg is a great builder. God gives him big ideas and hooks him up with the people who can come along side him and run with the dream.

We were all touched by the love and warmth from the town of Hardy. I met beautiful, precious women who want to fulfill the dream God's given them to write. Chris and I announced a seminar that we are planning for May, in Hardy. I'm looking forward to reconnecting with some of the women we met this weekend and hopefully more.

Since I've been back, I've been finishing up my new book. I was afraid I didn't have enough story for the minimum wordcount, now I'm concerned I'll have too much. So I'm in that mode where I am making every word count!
Off I go!