This past Weekend I participated in the Kentucky Book Fair and it was a blast with Bobby and Emily joining me for a mini vacation. We arrived on Thursday and had dinner at the Longhorn Steakhouse where I had a parmesan garlic chicken that was so delicious I almost cried.
The next morning we went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, and just as we were seated, the fire alarm went off. Since we had no jackets and it was bitter cold, they allowed us to congregate in the lobby. It was like old home week as my author friends came down from their rooms.
I chatted with the ever entertaining Debbie Dadey as she put on her socks. I chatted with the ultra talented Johnette Downing. I met Johnette's illustrator the fabulous Christina Wald who designed the cutest pictures for Johnette's latest book, Macrooned on A Dessert Island. And I finally got to meet my longtime facebook friend and author, Laura Eckroat who also had to stop and put her shoes and socks on. While we waited and mingled, Debbie even managed to get a picture of a fireman holding her nephew's Flat Stanley.
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| Hanging with Debbie Dadey |
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Christina, Me, and Johnette |
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| Laura and Me |
Children's day was lot's of fun, and I even made some new author friends like Todd Shleuning and his wife Cheryl who were there with their book, The Misphits. While I handed out signed bookmarks to all the children who visited, Bobby and Emily went to visit his Aunt who lives two hours away. At the end of the day, Bobby and Emily hung out at the hotel as I attended the author meet and greet with Debbie and Laura.
We had a wonderful surprise as we dined on delicious appetizers, and that was the addition to our table of Kevin "Special K" Daley the former Globetrotter and current Motivational Speaker. He was down to earth, as friendly as a person can be, and there to sign his autobiography, I Never Stopped Smiling.
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| Kevin and Me |
The next day at the regular book fair, I spent time in-between customers hanging out with one of my favorite illustrators, Mark Wayne Adams, one of my favorite Christian Romance authors, Virginia "Ginny" Smith, and Murder Mystery Man of the hour, Steve Demaree. I even managed to sneak a read of Laura's third book, Went Out To Get a Donut- Came Back With a Muffin, and I have to say that every book I read makes me love her even more. Her talent for writing beautiful picture books is astounding.
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| Mark and Me |
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| Ginny and Me |
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| Hanging With Steve |
While I spent my last day at the fair hawking my own books and schmoozing with friends, Bobby and Emily went to the Great American Dollhouse Museum. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more, Bobby or Emily. When they got back, they could hardly wait to tell me of there own adventures. All in all I would have to say it was a great four days.
Well, that about wraps it up for this week. Join me next week for another exciting episode, same crazy time, same crazy channel. And feel free to drop by my personal website, Fun With Aileen, any day of the week for even more on reading, writing, my very own early grade chapter book, Fern Valley, and my sequel, Return To Fern Valley! I'm also on twitter @AileenWStewart if you want an extremely brief glimpse into my days.
Hi Aileen,
ReplyDeleteI thoroughly enjoyed reading your post. Its such a special time attending a book fair. We did it in Sydney last year and I also had a steak along our travels that I could have cried over, LOL. Special times, especially for the kids as well, getting to see new places and experience new things. Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful journey on the Kid Lit Blog Hop and I do hope you had a fabulous response to Fern Valley.
Thanks Julie. Wishing you the best in all your literary endeavors :0)
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic adventure! Thanks so much for sharing all the great things you got to experience at the Kentucky Book Fair.
ReplyDeleteIt was very exciting Miss Stacie. Thank you for sharing my journey with me and for leaving comment love :0)
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