The week before Thanksgiving, I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit The Netherlands to meet Dutch readers. What an amazing trip! My Dutch publisher, Grace Publishing House, brought me to Holland to help promote the Dutch release of A Worthy Pursuit.
We traveled to 9 different Christian book shops all over the country, and I had the chance to meet some fabulous shop owners, managers, and hundreds of readers who made me feel like a rock star. Ha! No tulips this time of year. It was cloudy and rainy most of the time. But I wouldn’t change a thing. The chance to fellowship with Christians on the other side of the world was too precious.
Here are some of the highlights of the trip:
Met Maaike at the hotel – my Facebook translator of all things Dutch. She’s spent time in Montana, so she’s got a great grasp of the language as well as the American cowboy. 🙂
Dutch blogger and soon to be graduate of the police academy, Leanne Pots on the left. Avid reader and translator of my upcoming novella, Danielle Heerens on the right.
The canals of Amsterdam. My husband Wes with me on the windy bridge. We took a canal cruise and saw the old town with buildings dating back to the 1600s.
Shop staff from a large store on Urk. Nearly 75 people came to listen to me talk about books. Amazing! The lady in orange was my translator. She immigrated from Canada to the Netherlands as a child.
The windmills at Kinderdijk. Families still live inside these tiny, multipurpose houses that have been around since the 1700s.
Had to get a picture in the wooden clogs. These might have been a tad too big. Ha!
At the shop in Staphorst, the employees dressed up in costumes to match the dresses on my book covers! So fun!
At the same shop, other ladies dressed in the traditional costumes. These ladies still dress like this every day.
On the final day, we got to visit Amerongen Castle. We entered via the servants entrance on the lower level of the bridge stretching across the moat.
Then we had lunch in the stables that had been converted into a restaurant. Notice the horse head lamp. We are in a stall. Jan (seated next to my husband) and his wife Cocky (my publishers) were with us.
Jan and Cocky were gracious hosts. They had us in their home on several occasions and always made sure we had everything we needed. Faithful Christian people who are dedicated to publishing books with a godly message, Wes and I couldn’t have asked for better partners in the Netherlands adventure.
Looking back over 2015, which place was your favorite to visit? Family, friends, sight-seeing . . . What makes a trip memorable for you?
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Loved seeing your pictures, Karen. So cool that the employees dressed in costumes from your book covers! Wonderful that your husband could go with you, too! I’m with a different Dutch publisher, but this is SOOOO on my bucket list!
I hope you get to go, Deb. It was a wonderful experience to meet people in the “Bible Belt” of the Netherlands. The first time they used the Bible Belt term, I thought they were referring to the US, but no. They were talking about the conservative group of believers in their own country. It was an honor to meet so many people who love Jesus in another part of the world.
You’re very welcome here 🙂
Oh Karen, what a pitty that I did not know you were going to visit my country, because I really wanted to be there so I could meet you.
Well, I hope there will be a next time.
Maybe you can tell the other writers to make a great announcement when they are going to visit countries in Europe.
It is nice to see you on the pictures made in the Netherlands.
Hi, Annette. I’m so sorry we missed each other. My publisher did all he could to promote around the Netherlands with posters and newspaper articles. Many of the shops I visited posted information on their Facebook pages and several online bloggers in Holland made special mention of my visit. But it’s impossible to reach everyone. I DO hope I get to visit again. Maybe we’ll get a chance to meet then. Your country was lovely. I would love to return.
Looks like great fun! I’m fascinated by how other cultures take to American literature.
Me, too, Carolyn. I guess it is similar to America’s fascination with Jane Austin and regency stories from England. It seems so exotic to us when to them it is just a normal part of their heritage. It seemed odd that readers from another country would be interested in stories from the American West, but they love them. Maybe it’s the cowboy mystique. 🙂
What a wonderful experience for you and your husband, Karen. I’ve been on a book tour to Holland,too, and found the people to be so warm and friendly–they make me feel right at home! I’m eager to go back again. The sight-seeing is spectacular, too.
My publisher spoke very highly of you, Lynn. He remembers your visit well and is very complimentary of your books. And you are so right about the people – extremely welcoming and friendly.
Hi Karen, it was so fun to read about your trip to the Netherlands and see the photos. How exciting! I have visited that beautiful country a few times and spent a summer in Belgium right “next door.” My latest series has been translated and published in the Netherlands. I hope to visit readers there some day.
I saw your books on display there, Carrie. So fun! We didn’t venture beyond Holland’s borders but we did get to the North Sea and the Rhine River.
So glad you and your husband got to tour the Netherlands, Karen. What a great experience. My hubby and I went several years ago with a different publisher, but we also visited that store in Urk (Wonderful people). I don’t recall seeing women in traditional garb during our trip, however. Lovely! Congrats on your international book tour!
Thanks, Julie. Many of the shop owners I talked to remembered your visit. It’s so fun to walk through their stores and see familiar book covers and names I recognize. I felt like I was already among friends even before the people came in.
Karen! What an amazing trip and what a wonderful opportunity. I loved seeing the pictures.
Thanks, Becky. It was incredible!
What a wonderful experience. It must be thrilling to know your stories are meaningful to people on the other side of the world. God bless your ministry.
It was incredibly humbling, Pat. This world seems so big, but our God is infinitely bigger.
Great pictures! What a fun trip! When will you be in my area? (MD)?
I wish I could hop on a plane and come do a signing in your area, Annie. But unfortunately, I don’t have anyone offering to pay my way. Bummer! US book tours just don’t draw in people like they used to. Unless you are a mega star. Which I’m not. But if you ever want me to send you a signed book plate or something along those lines, I would be happy to. It’s not quite the same, but much more cost effective than a plane ticket.
Sounds like a trip you will remember for the rest of your life. Holland is on my list of places I’d love to visit. When I was growing up I lived in Canada and went to school with Dutch children. They had moved to Canada from Holland. Lovely people. So friendly and warm.
How wonderful that you met Dutch settlers in Canada. My translator was a Canadian who moved to Holland. So in reverse. 🙂 It truly was a wonderful trip. Now I just have to sort through all my photos and organize them so I can remember what I did years from now.
Very nice to see all the pictures! Unfortunately I wasn’t able to come to one of the bookstores you went. I hope there’ll be a next time! But I won your new book with a contest from Leanne’s blog! So although I couldn’t meet you I’m very happy I do have your new book 🙂
Oh, wonderful! I’m so glad you won one of the contest copies! I hope you enjoy the story. 🙂
I so enjoyed seeing these pictures and that you enjoyed your time there. My dad was born in Gronigan in the upper north part of Holland. He and my grandparent plus his 3 older brothers and his sister moved to the states in the early 1900s. He was killed in his late 20s while serving in WWII and mom had him buried in Margrataan National Cemetery at the southern end of Holland. Unfortunately I never could afford going over there. I hope you get to go there again.
What a wonderful piece of family history, Judy. How sad that you lost your dad so early, though. It must have been hard on your mom to have him buried so far away, but I’m sure she did it to honor his heritage and sacrifice. While we were driving around, our host often commented about how horrible the bombing was during WWII and how much damage was down to the cities. They still remember the soldiers who fought to defeat Hitler in that war and honor them well.
Looks like a fun trip! Love the pictures 🙂
Thanks, Lenora. It was wonderful!
My family also came from Gronigan and it is so much fun to visit places my grandparents and aunt talked about.
How fun for you to visit that lovely country to promote your books. I have enjoyed several of your books and am so glad people in Europe can enjoy them too.
It’s wonderful that you and your husband could visit the country and get to know the people together.
Thanks, Jen. How fun that you have ties to Holland as well! I had a lot of Dutch readers asking me about when I’ll have a Dutch hero or heroine in an upcoming book. 🙂 Maybe I’ll have to get some inspiration from you and Judy about Dutch immigrant families. 🙂
This Looked Like A Fantatsic trip! So glad you got the opportunity to go! What a blessing!
Didn’t get to see this until today. How cool is that Karen! Great photos. Looks like a fabulous time. And the costumes, that is so neat!
How nice to see an American writher enjoyed her trip to our country,Holland, and to meet our people,we enjoyed to see it too, thank you a lot for sharing this,and we are blessed to have such a lovely nIce,named ,DEBBY,to share this with her relatives here in The Netherlands.We also enjoyed our trips to U.S.A. to visit our family, Debs father is our uncle, his father and our mother are brother ans sister.Hope will see more of this in the future.
I would love to visit Holland. Most certainly on my bucket list. I’ve met some lovely people from Holland. Must be a beautiful place!