This past Saturday, Regina Jennings and I had the honor of participating in a book launch event celebrating the Serving Up Love Harvey House Brides novella collection in Gainesville, TX. We had such a great time! Readers drove in from as far as 6 hours away! (Kari Scott gets the award for driving the farthest. You rock, Kari!)
We kicked things off with a tour of the historic Santa Fe Depot and Harvey House that is still standing in Gainesville. This is the setting for my novella, and I loved getting to return to the place I had visited during my research. There was even one room open this time around that had been closed previously. That was a fun bonus! The Morton Museum volunteers dressed in Harvey Girl uniforms and ran the tour. What a fount of knowledge they provided on the local history. Fabulous!
Here are Regina and I in the Harvey Lunchroom with the sample swivel chair and counter set with Harvey china. See that giant horseshoe marked out in the floor? That’s my favorite part! That is left from when the actual lunch counter stood there. You can see exactly where it was and imagine what it was like for the Harvey Girls to serve from inside the horseshoe. They actually were trapped behind the counter since the door from the pantry led directly into the center of the horseshoe. They would have to through the pantry and enter the lunchroom from outside to get to the other side of the counter.
Unlike some Harvey Houses that had a formal dining area with tables and chairs, the smaller lunchroom in Gainesville only had the counter, but they could seat up to 40 customers at one time.
After our tour of the Depot, we all congregated at a local community center for a fun pie social and book presentations. Harvey Houses were famous for their pie. They served it by the quarter slice – 1/4 of an entire pie! Our slices were a little slimmer, but just as delicious.
Regina gave a fun talk about female Pinkerton agents including several actual cases covered by the first female Pink, Kate Warne.
I shared about the inspiration behind the collection as well as the local research that found life in my story. (Yes, I am known for talking with my hands. Ha!)
All in all, it was a great day. I got to meet several Facebook friends in person for the first time, and was even asked to sign Paula’s Kindle! That was a first for me. I was so awed by the request, I had to obtain pictorial evidence to prove it hadn’t been a figment of my imagination. Ha!
We had several local superstars who helped bring this event together. Bonnie McKee is a reader friend who spearheaded getting the event started. Jennifer Johnson-Spence is the librarian who took charge and made it happen with help from her Cook Country Friends of the Library and Morton Museum volunteers.
Getting to meet readers face-to-face is a rare and joyous occasion. And getting to host an event with my good friend Regina, made it all the more fun.
If you could meet two authors of your choice, who would you choose?
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It looks like you enjoyed a marvelous time! Thank you for sharing the photos both here and on Facebook. It sure was nice to get to see them! I loved reading Serving Up Love and learning about the Harvey Girls!
Thanks, Trisha. We really had a great time. So glad you enjoyed the Harvey House Brides collection. 🙂
Such an interesting event! Love the pictures. I received Serving Up Love a week ago and am hoping to read it after Christmas.
I have been fortunate to meet several of my favorite authors, including Lauren Willig, Tracy Grant, and Deanna Raybourne. I would love to meet you, Julie Klassen, Tamera Alexander, Becky Wade, and Jody Hedlund.
What a fun bunch of authors to get together all in one place! I’d love to hang out with my fellow historical authors and get the honor of meeting you, Betty, and other readers. wouldn’t that be a great day?
Julie, Becky, Jody, and I usually get together with a handful of other authors for a writing retreat once a year. One time when we were in Branson, MO, we hosted a brief event at a local library and got the chance to meet a roomful of local readers. That was such fun! Our plans for a retreat fell through this year, but we hope to get together next year. Maybe we can do an event like that again. It all depends on what location we select for our retreat. Some areas are more open to events for Christian authors than others.
Yes, I have followed some of your retreat posts. I live in Virginia Beach, so will be looking to see if you ever have one near me.
Virginia Beach sounds like a lovely setting. Maybe we’ll have to investigate the area. 🙂
I would choose to meet you, Karen, and Tamara Alexander! But there’s also Mary Connealy, Denise Hunter, Lynn Austin…oh dear, I’m over the limit!! I have already met Colleen Coble and that was absolutely wonderful!! Karen, are you ever coming to Michigan??? 😉
Kathy – I would love to visit Michigan one of these days. My good friend Jody Hedlund lives up there. The closest I’ll be getting is a retreat next August in Minnesota. I know that’s probably not within driving distance for you but we are hoping to do a reader event as part of our retreat in Little Falls, MN.
What a fantastic event! You and Regina are both wonderful and so it’s doubly fun to see photos of the two of you together. 🙂
Thanks, Becky. We had a lot of fun. Events like this are always more fun for me when shared with another author.
I love getting to see the history and research behind your story ideas. It makes it come more to life for me.
If I had to pick only two 😛 … definitely you, Karen, and Jen Turano. You both write stories that keep me engaged, make me laugh, and inspire my own writing. Have a great Thanksgiving with your family!!!
Oh that would be a fun get together. Lots of giggles and guffaws, I’m sure. 🙂
Karen, looks like a fun & memorable book launch! Wish Texas wasn’t so far away…
Meeting you is definitely top of my bucket list…another author I’d love to meet as well is Sarah Sundin!
Side note- I tend to fan girl over favorite authors! So it might (hopefully not) scare you away…probably need to tone down the enthusiasm! 😉😊
All the authors I’ve ever met are so kind & gracious! 😊☺️😁
Fan girling is great for the author’s ego. 🙂 Sarah Sundin is such a sweet heart and so history savvy. You’d love her!
Looks like a great time! 🙂 Coordinating everyone in one place for an event like yours can be its own challenge.
Yes, it can. That’s why were were so thankful to have some local feet on the ground to handle most of the organizing and publicity. They were fabulous!
Dee Henderson & Dani Pettrey
Great choices!
Karen Witemeyer and Kristi Hunter ❤️ love both of your books so much! Y’all’s characters Pierce my heart 💗
The history behind your story seems fascinating. I love the photos.
I was privileged to meet you and Becky at this year’s ACFW conference in San Antonio, along with Katie Ganshert, Sarah Ladd, Kristy Cambron, Colleen Coble, Deb Raney, Tamera Alexander, Denise Hunter, Cara Putman. There are undoubtedly others, but each author I’ve met has been gracious, kind and enjoyable to talk with. All have been encouraging to me as an aspiring-to-publish author as well. Thanks for treating those of us who’ve not yet achieved publication with such care. You don’t know how much that means. Your stories inspire me to persevere.