I have a busy summer in front of me.  The good news is that it includes attending two great conferences: the Southern Christian Writers Conference (SCWC) and the Faith and Fiction Retreat.

Southern Christian Writers Conference (SCWC) is a local conference for me, as it’s held at the First Baptist Church in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.  It starts at 11am on Friday, June 12 and ends around 4pm on Saturday, June 13.  The conference cost, including meals, is only $100.  The keynote speakers are Cecil Murphy and Vanessa Davis Griggs, people I know.

I met Cec years ago at a conference on St. Simons Island.  It was during his workshop session that I began developing the idea for what became The Amen Sisters.  In fact, I wrote the first draft of the article, Helping a Friend through the Trauma of Leaving an Abusive Church, during his session.  I respect him as a writer and teacher and look forward to his message.

I met Vanessa a couple of years ago but it feels as though I’ve known her longer. She’s one of the most encouraging and loving people I know, in addition to being a wonderful writer.  Her keynote is bound to inspire as well as teach. I look forward to it as well.

You can find out more about the Southern Christian Writers Conference (SCWC) here.

The Faith and Fiction Retreat will be my getaway for the summer.  It will be held in Orlando on July 16-19. Patricia Woodside has an excellent recap of last year’s event here.  This year, I’ll be a featured author alongside ReShonda Tate Billingsley, Tia McCollors and Tiffany Warren.

The schedule for the Retreat is jam-packed with sessions for readers and bookclubs and sessions for aspiring and established authors.  I’m especially looking forward to the late night book discussions with the featured authors.  That should be a lot of fun.

The Retreat is reasonably priced at $119. Actually, that price is a steal when you look at the agenda.  The hotel starts at $139 a night, not a bad price for the location especially if you share.  If you don’t have a sharing buddy, just let the conference organizers know and they’ll hook you up.

You can find out more about the Faith and Fiction Retreat here.  I hope to see you there!

NOTE: That picture has nothing to do with the Retreat.  It’s me and my mom in New Zealand several years ago.  I’ve given up on trying to find pictures that match the content of the post.  From now on, I’ll just share pictures that tell you something about me.

If you live in the Bowling Green, KY area, I invite you attend the Southern Kentucky Bookfest this Saturday, April 18, at the Sloan Convention Center in Bowling Green.  It’s an all-day event that is FREE to the public.  There are over 150 authors and illustrators on the program, including Kevin Clash, aka Elmo!  In additon to more than 25 author panels, there will be a host of activities for children.  You can see/download the full program HERE.

I hope to see you there. It looks like we’ll have a good time!

I met with the Imani Book Club in Montgomery way back on September 27, 2008.  These ladies know they can dissect a book, but do you know what they do even better than that?  These ladies can throw down in the kitchen!  I thought I was at my momma’s house for a holiday meal.  You name it, they had it: Mac and cheese, green beans, ham hocks (yes, ham hocks!), chicken, salad, apple pie (or was it peach?).  All I know is that i was ALL good!

Thanks, ladies, for a wonderful discussion and a wonderful meal.

I had the honor of meeting with the Motown Review Book Club back in October 2008 when I was in  Detroit. I had great fun hearing the ladies opinions of my books and other books they were reading.  They read A LOT of books!

You can find out more about them on their myspace page and in an interview on APOOO.

Thanks, ladies of Motown, for hosting me. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get the photo up.

If you want to hear my confession, drop in at BlogginginBlack.com (now ReadersRooms.com) and read my post for Thursday, March 12.  You may yourself in need of a bit of confession. 

I’ll be back here on Friday with a new post.  Guess what?  It’s already written and scheduled.

I’m honored to be a featured author at this year’s Faith and Fiction Retreat in Orlando on July 16-19. This conference, founded and lovingly nurtured by author Tiffany Warren and her more than able assistant Kym Fisher, has an excellent reputation for being a great conference.

Other featured authors include Reshonda Tate Billingsley, Tia McCollors and Tiffany herself.  Conference events include everything from late night book discussions to book signings to panel discussions with 14 of your favorite inspirational writers to a fiery Sunday morning celebration.

Tiffany always chooses great sites for the Retreat and this year is no different.  You can come to the Retreat and then spend some play time in Orlando.  For details on registration, select here.

If you decide to attend, do let me know so that i can look for you there.  We’re going to have a great time!

You know, I had planned to take a lot of pictures during the tour.  My plans went awry even before I left the airport.  Guess what I did?  I left my cell phone in the car.  Yes, that same cell phone I was going to use to take pictures.  As a result, I have no pictures.  Fortunately for you, others didn’t copy my mistake. 

Radiah Hubbert of Urban Reviews and her husband Charles came out to visit us at the Country Club Hills stop on Saturday.  They have pictures and a video. 

Jeanette blogged about her visit with us in Fort Wayne.  She and fellow members of the Motown Review Book Club drove all the way down from Detroit.

Author Marilynn Griffith blogged about the tour also.  Marilynn’s hometown paper did a great article on her and the tour.

If you’re in a listening mood, Beverly Jenkins, Kim Roby, me and a few other authors did a stint on blogtalkradio during our bus ride from Indianapolis to Fort Wayne. It’s only about 20 minutes.

And then there’s my recap HERE.

That should keep you busy. 

Quiz time: Can you find me in the pictures/video?  If so, what colors am I wearing?

UPDATE:  Check out Jeanette’s slideshow.

I’m back from the Soul Expressions Tour. I’m blogging today at Blogging in Black about my experience. Give me a day or two to catch my breath and I’ll be back to catch up on the posts here.

I also have a guest author coming this week.  You’re going to like her! 

Hi, everybody, I’m checking in from on the road.  I have to tell you that I’m having a great time meeting readers, signing books, and interacting with old author friends and making new ones.  I’ll post more on the trip when I get back.

I’m writing this post because of a schedule change in the Soul Expressions Author Tour.  Actually, this change occurred a while and I neglected to post it.  The Meet and Greet Reception that was to be held on Saturday evening at the Holiday Inn Matteson has been CANCELLED!

I apologize for the late notice but I wanted to let you know.

I look forward to talking with you when I get back but I’m off to bed now.

Be blessed!

The pace of the week steps up drastically today as I leave for the Soul Expressions Author Tour.  Today I leave for Indianapolis.  I’m taking my trusty-dusty iPod (and recorder) with me to record each day’s events.  I’m not taking my laptop so I won’t be able to blog each day, but I will give you a play-by-play when I get back.  Count on it.

I’m not going to leave you stranded while I’maway.  I’ve schedule a couple of posts for Thursday and Friday to hold you over until I get back. 

Thursday will be Open Mic Day for Readers.  That means you’re free to post Comments about anything that’s on your mind related to books and reading.  You can Comment on books you like, don’t like, the last book you read, the book you’re reading next, great web sites for readers, anything about reading.  You can even ask questions about my books, past and future.  The only restriction is that the questions should be from a reader’s perspective (and shouldn’t give away any major plot points of books!).

Friday will be Open Mic Day for Writers.  On this day the writer in you is free to post Comments and Questions related to writing.  I won’t be able to answer until next week, but you’re free to answer each other as you like.  We have some smart people visiting this blog, many of them published authors.  I”m sure they’ll help out.

One final treat for you.  If you’re around on Friday, you can catch me, Beverly Jenkins and Kimberla Lawson Roby on the road from the tour LIVE at 1:30pm on Blog Talk Radio (Romance Radio).  It’ll be archived in case you miss it.

That’s it.  Enjoy the rest of your week!  Here’s a quick run-down of the tour schedule. 

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I’ve done my share of Radio and Internet interviews. They’re fun and the time usually passes quickly. Recently, I was a guest on Marsha Sumner’s show, Cross Talk Urban Style, on Heaven 1580AM. We talked for about an hour. She’s a wonderful host and I had a great time. Cross Talk Urban Style is a live call-in show that airs M-F from 10am-1pm ET. The first hour of each show is dedicated to books. You should take a listen when you have some time.

I’m scheduled to be on the Internet show, Sistah Confessions, on August 5 at 7pCT. Tifany Jones is the host. Tune in, if you can.

I hope to be on WWA Internet Radio, The World of Publishing, sometime soon. I’ve been on the show before and, as usual, had a great time. I was scheduled to be on back in May but I forgot and they were left with airtime that I was supposed to have filled. That was bad on my part. It’s about the worse thing you can do in radio. I hope the hosts forgive me and give me another chance, but I’ll certainly understand if they don’t. I really put them in a bad place.
UPDATE: They forgave me! I’m scheduled to do the show on September 29th at 7pCT/8pET.

I like being on these radio shows, but do you listen to them and how often? Which ones are your favorites? Let me know. I’m interested in what you think about traditional and Internet radio shows.

NOTE: All of these events are listed on my Event Calendar so you can keep track there.

The blog tour for The Amen Sisters officially ended this past week.  Over the next few weeks I’ll be telling you about some of the things I learned about myself and the process while on the road virtually. The key thing that I found out is while I read several blogs regularly, I rarely post.  Now this trait was problematic when I was touring because I had to post.  I have to tell you a secret: I didn’t like it.  At first. 

I dreaded those blogs that required me to log-in in order to comment.  Why?  It took time.  As the tour progressed though, I got more comfortable with posting and began to enjoy it.  I also thought about you out there reading this blog.  Are you going to post a comment?  Why or why not? 

I’m going to issue a challenge.  I have a counter that tells me approximately how many unique site visitors I get each day.  The commenters are less than 1-2% of that number.  My challenge is for everyone reading this post to post a comment. You don’t have to log-in.  Just post your comment and let me know why you do or don’t comment often at the blogs you visit.

I want to say a special thanks to Patricia at http://readinnwritin.blogspot.com/ and L. Nuchell at http://lnuchellbooks.wordpress.com/ for hosting me last week even though I didn’t provide them with any materials to post.  They took better care of me than I took of myself.

I also want apologize to those who offered to host me but I never contacted.  I really do need an assistant to help me manage my two lives. 

I am very grateful to Cheryl and Dorothy at Pump Up Your Book Promotion for organizing this tour. It never would have happened without them. 

Enjoy your weekend!

If you missed any of the tour, you can catch up here:

Dec 26 – The Book Connection

Dec 27 – Dude, Where’s My Muse?

Dec 28 – A Book Blogger’s Diary

Jan 7 – Readin n Writin with Patricia 

Jan 8 – You Don’t Know Jack BlogTalkRadio

Jan 9 – Amber Miller

Jan 10 – L. Nuchell Books

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It’s been a while since I’ve posted and I wanted to take some time to wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season.  I encourage you to do two things. 

First, show and tell the people in your life how much they mean to you.  Sometimes we feel that our actions are so powerful that we don’t need words.  At other times we believe our words are so powerful they don’t need to be backed up with action.  Don’t believe either.  The people we care about need both. I know I do.

Second, show some love to someone who’s not so close to you.  You never know what people are going through so you should never underestimate the power of a smile and a kind word.  These are very inexpensive gifts so give them often!

CONTEST WINNERS

I’ve sent gift certificates and autographed books to all the contest winners.  If you were a winner and you haven’t received your prize, please let me know.  I’m on holiday right now, but I’ll follow-up after Christimas.

BLOG TOUR

The blog tour for The Amen Sisters is winding down. I’ve learned a lot from this experience that I’ll be sharing with you next year.   There are a few stops left if you want to join us:

Dec 26 – The Book Connection

Dec 27 – Dude, Where’s My Muse?

Dec 28 – A Book Blogger’s Diary

Dec 31 Giveaway Day

January Dates

Jan 7 – Readin n Writin with Patricia

Jan 8 – You Don’t Know Jack BlogTalkRadio

Jan 9 – Amber Miller

Jan 10 – L. Nuchell Books

If you want to catch up on previous stops, here’s the list:

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The blog tour for The Amen Sisters is now one week old and the first week has been wonderful!  Many thanks to the hosts and hostesses who allowed me to visit and a special thanks to those I’ve met on the tour.

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Guess what?  I’m coming to a blog near you on my first ever Blog Tour!  I look forward to making new friends and seeing old ones.  If you’re in the area, stop by and visit with us. 

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The Imani Book Club Presents…An Evening with the Authors

When:  Saturday, November 10, 2007

Time:  7:00 p.m. – 11:00 p.m.

Where:  Pete Peterson Lodge 2635 Gunter Park Drive, Montgomery, Alabama

This will be an intimate setting for book lovers and authors to come together, celebrate, support African-American literature from all genres and bring a positive event to Montgomery.  The Imani Book Club invites you to come and enjoy an evening of literature.

This event is free to the public and to the authors.

For details, visit http://www.imanivoices.com/imani_book_club_presents.htm

JUNE 30 – JULY 2, 2006
FAITH-BASED ARTS CONFERENCE
SHERATON IMPERIAL HOTEL & CONVENTION CENTER
Raleigh, NC

Guest Speaker, 6/11/06, 11am
Women’s Day Celebration
Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church
Valley, AL

Class Reunion
May 10-14
Spelman College
Atlanta

April 22, 4-7pm
Faith and Fiction Function, hosted by Kingdom Baptist Church
Nepperhan Community Center
342 Warburton Avenue
Yonkers, NY

Conference, March 9-12, 2006
Romance Slam Jam
Shreveport, LA

Booksigning – 3-7pm
Borders Bookstore
Beverly/95th St
Chicago, IL

Booksigning, 2/16/06, 6-8p
eta Creative Arts Foundation
7558 S South Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60619-2644
Phone: (773) 752 – 3955 | Fax: (773) 752 – 8727

Saturday, December 10, 2005
5th Annual Book Club Conference
23rd Annual Kwanzaa Festival
Wesley Chapel-William C. Brown Branch
DeKalb County Library (Georgia)
2861 Wesley Chapel Road
Decatur, Georgia 30034
Phone: 404-286-6980

The lovely ladies above and I attended the 5th Annual Walk Worthy Press Fiction Function in Detroit on this past Saturday, December 3. The event was, as the kids would say, totally off the chain. I was blessed beyond description. There were about 250 readers in attendance along with five Walk Worthy authors, Denise Stinson (Walk Worthy publisher), Peggy Hicks (Walk Worthy publicist), a staff of wonderful women from Borders, and a blessed and highly talented set of actors. I wish you all could have been there. We had singing and praying and acting and eating and encouraging and gift-giving and all the other good stuff that happens when people gather to serve God. It was a wonderful time. All I can say is that you should have been there. It was a blessing to meet so many readers and to see how much they valued and appreciated Christian fiction.

If you were there, share some of your thoughts on the event so that the folks who couldn’t make it can be blessed through you.

If you weren’t there, you can try to name the authors in the picture. And you have to name their most recent book as well. Let’s go–left to right.

Signing
Saturday, December 3, 2005, NOON- 2:00pm
Walk Worthy Press Holiday Fiction Function
Hosted by Borders Booksellers
Held at Eastlake Baptist Church
2400 E. Jefferson Avenue
Detroit, MI 48215

Signing
Friday, December 2, 6:00-8:00pm
Shrine of the Black Madonna
13535 Livernois Ave.
Detroit, MI 48238

I’ll be in Detroit on Friday night (12/2) and Saturday afternoon (12/3). If you’re in the area, please come and visit with me. Here are the details:

Friday, December 2, 6:00-8:00pm ET
Shrine of the Black Madonna
13535 Livernois Ave.
Detroit, MI 48238

Saturday, December 3, 2005, 1-3p ET
Walk Worthy Press Holiday Fiction Function
Hosted by Borders Booksellers
Held at Eastlake Baptist Church
2400 E. Jefferson Avenue
Detroit, MI 48215

Transitions Bookplace, signing
Saturday, October 29, 7:00-9:00pm
1000 W. North Avenue
Chicago, IL 60622

Books-A-Million, signing
Saturday, October 29, 2:00-4:00pm
8331 Golf Road
Niles, IL 60714

Books-A-Million, signing,
Saturday, October 15, 11:30-1:30pm
Grant Square Center #12
Hinsdale, IL 60521

Books-A-Million, signing,
Friday, October 14, 12:00-2:00pm
144 S. Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60603

Booking Matters, sign & dine
Thursday, October 13, 7:00pm
Copeland’s Restaurant – Buckhead
3365 Piedmont Road
Atlanta, GA 30305
Bookseller: B’s Books & More

Booksigning
Saturday, October 8th, 2005, 3-4pm
Black Family Festival
COBO Hall, Detroit

Pages for All Ages, signing
Saturday, October 1, 2:00-4:00pm
1201 Savoy Plaza
Savoy, IL 61874

Reading and Signing (2-4p)
Friday, September 30th, 2005
The Bookstore
970 E. 58th Street
Chicago, Il 60637
773-702-7712

Signing/Appearance, 1:30-3:30pm
Chicago Public Library-Bessie Coleman Branch
731 E 63rd Street, Chicago, IL 60637

Bookmarket at the Square
Saturday, August 27, 2:00-4:00pm
w/ Cheri Paris Edwards
University of Illinois Sponsored Event
Lincoln Square Shopping Center
300 South Broadway Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801