Monday morning we repacked the van and car and made room to add Wayne’s daughter to our crew. The seven of us set out for Bel Air, MD where we spent a wonderful hour visiting folk at the Christopher Matthew’s Christian bookstore. This was a fun event for me, because I’d met the owner, Bryan Brock, the week before at the Logos retreat in Atlanta.

We fit in a drive-by signing at a Borders, then continued to a short visit at Family Christian store in Newark, Delaware (I think the Newark name led me to think we were sometimes in New Jersey that day). We met professional story teller Michael Forestieri, who even brought his Celtic harp. We finished our day with a fourth event at The Days of Knights Store, also in Newark. GREAT people who went all out for us (a great spread of healthy munchies, which sadly I didn’t get to enjoy as much as I would have liked, since I’d gotten a tummy bug the night before and was avoiding food).

I talked to several aspiring authors about their speculative fiction projects, and enjoyed getting to spend time with Tiff Amber Miller from ACFW. She helped arrange the earlier signing even though in the midst of planning her wedding AND a cross-country move. What a hero! When we finished, the guys needed food and wifi time to update their blogs, so I napped in the van while the rest of the team walked to a coffee shop for those vital needs. Then Bryan checked his computer map, and told Wayne “this will be easy to find.”

Famous last words.

In the dark of night, Wayne drove everywhere Bryan directed . . . which included several dead ends, and finally an eerie trek down dark country roads that inspired the imaginations of all the fantasy authors. I believe there was mention of trolls.

We reached the host home – someone none of us had met (a brother of a friend of Bryan’s). They were incredibly warm and gracious (even as we draggled in late at night).

Bryan’s daughter, Wayne’s daughter, and myself all settled into a room and slumber party stories ensued. The funniest moment was when Wayne appeared in the doorway to tell his daughter to settle down and “let Ms. Sharon get some sleep” – when I was the instigator of much of the giggles. (But I’m fessing up now, so Wayne’s daughter no longer has to take the blame).

Photo: Me with cousin Gail and aunt Helen who surprised me Sunday night.

Sunday I met my host family when I got up in the morning, Deanna made me a super breakfast, (and her boys were so gracious in sharing their room with a stranger AND letting me have some computer time to check emails) and I quickly joined the three other authors for our day’s events.

I was delighted we were heading into Washington D.C., past interesting landmarks, but especially glad that it was Sunday and I’d have a chance to attend church.

We had some fuzzy info about what was expected of us at the National Presbyterian Church. We knew we were speaking to a youth group, and then thought we’d be signing books and chatting in a foyer or narthex during a couple services, so we could attend church in shifts. We enjoyed meeting the teens. Christopher, who is a youth pastor, especially connected with them and spoke straight from his heart to challenge and encourage them. Then we went to the main building where tables had been set up near the church bookstore for us. We greeted everyone who walked past, but once church began things were quiet. I was able to slip upstairs through some complex corridors and find the sanctuary, where I sat in the back during most of the sermon. Then I hurried back down to the guys, who were still sitting by the back door. When the service ended, a few families stopped by to chat with us, but apparently most people were staying upstairs for a congregational meeting so we didn’t get to meet as many people as we’d hoped. I did get to chat with a man from my home state who works on capitol hill, which brought home to me that we were in the center of movers and shakers. We were all grateful we’d been invited and hoped that a few more people had learned that Christian fiction is alive and well.

We drove to Alexandria, VA, and introduced ourselves to the staff at the Potomac Yard Barnes and Noble. We had an hour before our 3-5 signing, so we walked to a nearby restaurant for a late lunch (or early supper? we tended to grab meals anytime we had a few spare minutes between events) and more great conversation. Put four authors at a table and shop talk is a given. But our conversations were about so much more than writing craft, industry info, and deadlines. Each of the authors is absolutely committed to serving God’s kingdom through the books he or she writes. I loved hearing about the challenges and strategies and fruit being evidenced in each writer’s life.

We hoped for one of the huge crowds we’d had at other stores, since we knew a reporter and photographer from the Washington Post planned to come to this event. Of course Murphy’s Law dictated that we had the smallest turn-out yet. Still, each author took a turn reading a scene from their book, which drew people from around the store. I really enjoyed meeting the reporter, Ms. Salmon, and appreciated her depth of research, and her time and interest.

As in other stores, special individual encounters overshadowed our desire to sign lots of books or meet lots of people. One woman watched me avidly as I read a scene from The Restorer. Afterwards she came to me and said, “that scene describes where my life is right now.” I felt like God nudged us into the same time and space to encourage each other. Meantime, Christopher chatted with a marine about to be deployed and then prayed with him. The new community relations manager was awesome and bent over backwards to provide us with sound equipment and chairs for the audience for the reading.

Still, we headed to our evening event with a little honest weariness. We’d had a long day.

That was the night I blogged about on the tour. We pulled up into the parking lot of Ellicott City Barnes and Noble, and Christopher’s wife, Bryan’s daughter, and Wayne’s wife all came out to greet the men. I stood alone in the parking lot missing my hubby and kids with a stabbing intensity. A short time later, I was surprised by my cousin and aunt (whom I hadn’t seen in over two decades). God gave me the gift of family when I most needed it.

My host family drove me back to their house after the event. Two nights in a row in the same bed was a huge treat. Not only that, but Deanna supplied me with bath salts, body scrubs, lotions, and her huge, deep soaking tub. Ah!!! Heaven.

At some point during out touring, Christopher got a great email from his publisher listing some of the major press that the Fantasy Fiction Tour was gathering.

A.P. Wire service “Everything Sacred” webcast
Publisher’s Weekly
San Diego Union-Times
Alexandria Gazette, VA
Asheville Citizen-Times
The Salt Lake Tribune
Baltimore Sun
Washington Post

In addition, she noted hundreds of online sites talking about our tour.
We rejoiced in her report and prayed it would let people know about some of the new Christian fiction choices in the stores. But while we appreciated this news, I think we honestly found the greatest encouragement in each one-on-one face-to-face encounter.

I also was blessed because my tourmates continued to model the kind of servant hearts that I know Christ wants in His writers. They coached aspiring authors, chatted with young readers and their parents, and took every chance to tell their individual fans, “You’d also like books by the other authors.” Christopher would say, “let me tell you about Bryan’s books.” Wayne would say, “I loved Sharon’s book.” I would say, “if you like the concept of Perelandra, you should read Christopher’s books.” Bryan would say, “take a look at Wayne’s series.”

That wasn’t always the easy, instinctive, human-nature approach. But again and again I saw the tourmates conquer temptations to compare or elbow their way forward. In some stores we dropped in to, a few authors’ books were carried and others weren’t. In the home states of some of the authors, crowds of family and friends came out to support them, while others of us were far from our circles of influence. Some groups were the target demographic of one author but not others. At some events an author would glowingly report how many books he sold while others sold nothing. Again and again I saw the guys make conscious choices to rejoice in the blessings of others. And I can vouch for the fact that we ALL felt greatly blessed by the overall experience.

Saturday we hit the road early to reach Richmond, VA by noon for a Barnes and Noble event. After that our itinerary said we had 2.5 hours to reach Ellicott City, so we grabbed a quick late lunch at a Waffle House and then hit the road. Connie (a friend of Bryan) and her two nephews had come to the event, and were heading to the next event. She asked me to ride with her so we could get acquainted. It was great hearing her “God stories” and answering her questions about my writing journey. At some point I dozed for awhile, and woke up to find we were doing some strange maneuvers getting on and off the freeway trying to avoid traffic. Connie played Mario Andretti as she wove around traffic (with her blinkers NOT working) trying to stay on the tail of Christopher’s car.

Bumper to bumper traffic jams added HOURS to our travel, and the guys had to call our evening event stop to tell them we would arrive late.

This was a special store – His Way Christian Bookstore – one in Wayne’s home turf that has been hugely supportive of his work and other Christian fantasy. I can’t tell you how frustrating it was to do all we could and still arrive late. But what a blessing it was to walk in to see a CROWD waiting for us. Banners (specifically made for us) hung from the ceiling of the story, while swords on the floor guided us to the place where we would sign. A rack had been prepared behind us where we could mount our swords. End cap displays filled the entire length of the center aisle of the store. Best of all were the people. Readers who told us how much the books meant to them. I cherished each hug and every conversation.

As the event began to wrap up around nine or ten, the plan was for all of us to go to a party that one of Wayne’s friends had graciously prepared. After that, we’d be divided up to drive to various host homes. I was so tired, I was tempted to crawl under the signing table and curl up for a nap. The thought of more drives to more places and more interactions before finally having a bed for the night about did me in. Wayne’s wife rescued me. Even though she was helping host the party at one location, she drove me out to my host home and let me in (they were at a ball game that night and not home yet) so I could collapse and get some sleep. I hated missing the party, but I had to concede that I can’t keep the sort of pace I used to back in college days or even as a young parent. I felt a little like Goldilocks, and hoped I’d collapsed into the right bed, but didn’t have time to worry about it because I was old cold in seconds.

Have you wondered how the guys kept up on their blogs during the tour? Jennifer (shown here with Christopher) spent time in each bookstore editing the day’s video logs while we authors were signing books and chatting. When we’d reach host homes (often well after ten at night) the guys grabbed a chance for internet hook-up. I didn’t bring my laptop, but the guys occasionally let me borrow theirs. However, prying writers away from their computers is NOT easy. Besides, they all get so much fan mail, that they need hours a day just to keep up on answering it. 🙂

Add to this, the fact that my eyes were usually crossing with fatigue, I decided to blog about the tour AFTER getting home.

Friday was my special day. Margaret drove me to the SHARON’S Corner Shopping Center on SHARON Lane for our noon event at Barnes and Noble in Charlotte. I rejoined the team and we had another great event, meeting some friends I’d only known online. Throughout the tour I was VERY blessed by all the ACFW members who came out to support us. American Christian Fiction Writers is a terrific organization that I’ve been a part of for about four years.

We headed out of Charlotte at about 2:30 for the 3.5 hour drive to Borders in Raleigh. Another fun event – but I don’t think I was the only one struggling to remember what city we were in or how many days had passed. 🙂

That night we stayed with lovely friends of Christopher (the guy has friends EVERYWHERE) which is where these “catching up on blogs” photos were taken. I had a blessed and heartfelt conversation with the mom of the house who has an amazing testimony about God’s grace poured out in her life. We talked at length about trusting that God is using us for His service – even in obscure ways – about being willing to do BIG things for Him, but also being resolved to do the SMALL things to His glory. 🙂

A full day, with more opportunities to enjoy the ebullience of my tour-mates. A quick drive-by of a Borders (Bryan did the wonderful prep work of calling stores ahead of time to let them know we’d pop in. They had all our books waiting for us, ready to be signed). Then we went to Knoxville for our official noon event at Cedar Springs Christian Store. Jackie, from Wayne’s publisher, Thomas Nelson, came to the event and handed out bookmarks, chatted with folks in the store, and even treated our troupe to a late lunch afterwards. I was delighted I got to meet her – she was a joy.

We squeezed in one more drive-by of a LifeWay store, and then drove to Asheville, NC. I had the opportunity to overcome my fear of electricity (unfortunate backstory I won’t get into here) because Bryan navigated from his laptop, which had to plug in to a battery which rested beside me, and I was often asked to “jiggle that cord” that plugged in to the cigarette lighter. I explained that inviting me to jiggle a cord connected to electricity was a dangerous thing, but I conquered my fears and there were no mishaps.

A high point for me of our event at the Barnes and Noble in Asheville, was the arrival of Margaret Montreuil. Margaret founded the writer’s group, Word Servants, that I was part of while writing The Restorer. It was fun to celebrate the book’s birth with one of its “midwives.”
A high point for the guys was a woman who teaches stage combat who happened by the store and offered to give them some sword-play lessons. Always eager to attract crowds, the team engaged in some sparring in front of the store.

If you’ve been keeping count, we were in four different bookstores in several cities all in this one day. It truly began to feel like each day held about two or three days’ worth of memories….which is my explanation for the “what day is it?” chorus.

The team went to a host home in Asheville that night, while Margaret whisked me up to Charlotte for a time to catch up, and a restful night at her home. Unfortunately, a semi-truck rollover in the mountains trapped us for well over an hour, making the drive that night a long one. But I enjoyed every minute chatting with her.

The warmth and enthusiasm of the folks who came out to the events was amazing – but I was also thrilled by the response of store managers. Managers and staff told us again and again, “This is our best event EVER.” It was a top goal of ours to serve the hard-working bookstore folk, and to show them our appreciation for the work they do.

I interrupt my tour recap to let you know that The Restorer was chosen as an August book club selection by Cindy Swan for her radio show, and you can hear snippets of our interview at Notes in the Key of Life.

You can also learn more at Cindy’s Book Club (a reading experience brought to you by 101QFL, Marlar in the Morning, and the Cannoli Caffe).

I had a BLAST taping the interview with Cindy, who had terrific questions for me. She’ll continue posting some of our chat throughout August as a lead up to the book discussion night.

If you stop by her blog, be sure to leave a comment to thank her for picking The Restorer, and for all she does to promote Christian fiction. She rocks!

Sharon

Wednesday morning Ted and I boarded the shuttle from our hotel to the convention center where we met up with Bryan’s van and Christopher and Jennifer’s car. Since Bryan is a prolific author of a half-dozen books, and travels with boxes of all of them, I was impressed that he was able to wedge my suitcases in the back as well (one for clothes and books, one for door prizes, gifts, cards to store staff, bookmarks, etc.) I also had a bag of food along for in-car snacking. For some reason, none of the guys seemed excited about rice cakes or raisins or granola bars. Cheetos and Pepsi and double-stuffed Oreos were the nutrition of choice. However, Bryan VERY kindly demonstrated his ecumenical heart by also stocking the cooler with Coke for me. I decided to encourage young Amanda in healthy eating – and later in the trip was rewarded with moderate success when she informed me she had included a leaf of lettuce on her cheeseburger. Veggies! Yes!

Saying goodbye to my hubby was difficult, but there was no time to dawdle. Soon we were navigating out of Atlanta on our way to our first booking in Manchester, Tennessee. In the car (and via cellphone with Christopher) we discussed the topics each of us planned to cover in our 22.5 minutes each.

Happy spiritual goosebumps rose on my arms as I listened to my teammates at that Heart and Hearth Home Education Support Group event. Bryan spoke with great logic and shared useful information and a beautifully constructed PowerPoint presentation about making choices in literature. Wayne delighted the audience with his dramatic reading and fake accent. Christopher poured out his passion for each young person and his conviction that God would empower them to make heroic choices. I spoke to the parents about the heroic role they fill, and how God is able to pour grace out to others through even weak and broken vessels. I think we all felt impressed with the way God had woven our messages together.

Soon we were packing up and back on the road to Nashville. We began to share our “God stories” and on the way to grab supper, I learned that Christopher grew up as part of a Christian community that had profoundly influenced me during my high school days. We were delighted to find this kinship and shared spiritual heritage.

Also, at a large Christian conference back in the mid 1970s, I’d watched Dawn Sandquist dance to the song “Courts of the King” which was when God first inspired me to want to use my training and love for dance as a way to worship Him. Christopher said, “Oh, that’s my ‘Uncle Ted and Aunt Dawn’.” He had more surprises for me, when he invited “Uncle Phil” to stop by. Legendary guitarist Phil Keaggy came to the signing that night. It was SUCH an honor to meet him.

My impressions after our first day on the road? Christopher and Wayne were a non-stop Saturday Night Live sketch. Jennifer and Amanda’s gentle presences were a huge blessing. Bryan was an organized navigator with a wealth of patience and a sense of humor that continued to surprise me.

We pulled in late to Christopher’s editor’s home. I collapsed onto the air mattress on the living room floor and the next thing I knew it was morning. Jodie made us a wonderful breakfast, and then it was time to hit the road again. This first night of hospitality demonstrated what we would experience each night of our journey – warm and wonderful people opening their homes to us, feeding us, encouraging us, and just loving on us.

Another full day at ICRS with media interviews, cheering on my friends, and a Fantasy Fiction Tour group signing. This was a bit of a surprise, since we’d been told to show up for a photo-op and didn’t realize we had been scheduled for a group signing. We scrambled to find books – some publishers had extras we were able to use (although I ran out about half-way through the signing and just signed bookmarks for folk). Good reminder for me (the type A gal) to roll with things and be adaptable – something I need more practice at.

I had another fun moment that afternoon. NavPress was featuring The Restorer’s Son at their booth – so copies were propped up on shelves as a display. I was curious since I knew the book hadn’t gone to press yet, and I peeked inside one. Blank pages. 🙂

I decided it was a new version of the old “Choose Your Own Adventure” books. Or a companion journal for the book. LOL! Actually, it was very exciting seeing the mock-ups. The cover is gorgeous. I also loved meeting NavPress staff from sales, marketing, and editorial. They are all warm, enthusiastic, and gracious and I was glad for a chance to thank them for all they do.

Late in the afternoon, I was asked to mingle with CBA members in a lounge area and had wonderful chats with several couples who own stores. From there, my hubby and I followed Bryan Davis as he and his daughter whisked us away (seriously, Bryan walks VERY fast) to his van. He had lined up a book signing in nearby Douglasville, GA for that evening.

He has a huge fan base in the area, and it was so fun seeing young people come in to meet him – some near tears at meeting an author they loved so much. My hubby shared later how impressed he was with Bryan’s heart for service. He spends hours each day responding to emails and posts on his forums, reaching out to his young readers.

I still had only “on the fly” impressions of my other tour mates, but a certain knowledge that God had a good adventure planned for us.

My husband sometimes rolls his eyes when I greet my “friends” in the local bookstore.

“Oh, look! There’s Patti. They have two of her. Oh, and there’s Susie. I got an email from her yesterday.”

Hubby looks around, confused, until he realizes I’m talking about the books of my friends – which I greet with great enthusiasm when I see them on store shelves.

At a big chain store along the Fantasy Fiction Tour, we spotted a table of new releases up front. “Oh, look! Robin is here with the big boys!” Yep, Robin’s new book was NOT in the “Christian fiction” or “Religion” section, but alongside other general market (ABA) book releases by the front of the store. Robin and I both had our debut ICRS book signings last year and enjoyed being the “new kids on the block” and part of the “Bethany House class of 2006.” I was thrilled to see him (okay, his BOOK – although I also saw him in person at ICRS….the kind man came to my Restorer book signing, even though I missed his signing because of an interview).

I loved Relentless for all the same reasons I liked X-men and Heroes. I can’t wait to read Fearless. It will be my treat to myself after turning in copy edits on one book and revisions on another.

The CSFF Blog Tour is featuring Robin this month, so be sure to check out the many reviews and interviews!

Sharon

In addition to the great conversations, the book signing, and the meet and greet with the Fantasy Fiction Tour group, I also had some media appointments during the first day of ICRS. Here’s a photo of a television interview with Kim Gravel of WATC television. She was so warm and enthusiastic about Christian fiction, and absolutely lit up when I mentioned how the biblical story of Deborah had been an inspiration for The Restorer. I felt like I was chatting with an old friend.

The day ended with a dinner with American Christian Fiction Writers. The best part of these ICRS days? My dear hubby flew down to Atlanta to be with me for this middle section of the trip. (After some meetings and a writing retreat, and before the tour hit the road). Without him, I’m sure I would never have gotten to each appointment on time or found my way around the huge convention center. His comforting presence, along with lots of Halls Honey & Lemon cough drops, kept me going in spite of a sore throat and voice that kept giving out.

Tomorrow – Day Two of ICRS (and another Fantasy Fiction Tour moment).