Inspired by Life ... and Fiction

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Sheet Cake Reader Retreat

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I spent last weekend at the Sheet Cake Reader Retreat in the countryside of Central Texas! Sweet rom com author Emma St Clair lives in Texas like I do and she’s the one who organized the retreat and invited me to attend. The only author I’d met in person beforehand was Pepper Basham, though Christian romance authors Mandi Blake and Liz Isaacson were also in attendance. The rest of the authors write closed-door romances. And every author present was either an indie author or an indie/traditional publishing hybrid author.

Authors: (L to R) Brittany Larsen, Savannah Scott, Elana Johnson/Liz Isaacson, Pepper Basham, Jenny Proctor, me, Carina Taylor
Authors (L to R): Emma St Clair, Bridget Baker, Sally Britton, Mandi Blake, Julie Christianson

These women were WONDERFUL! So kind and smart and funny.

Thankfully, Christian traditional publishers have been publishing inspirational romance for a long time. But very few closed-door romances have been made available by general market publishers in all my years of reading and writing romance. These women and others went out, published their books independently, and proved that there are readers who value this particular genre niche.

Preparing pre-ordered books for Saturday’s book signing
On the route between my sister’s house (where I stayed) and the event, we drove through the town of Independence and stopped by the original site of Baylor University, my alma mater.
I had my mom with me (in the striped top) and one of the first people we saw when we arrived was Alysha of For the Love of Christian Fiction. She’s always a delight!
The author panel was HILARIOUS!
Several readers–like Brittany from Britt Reads Ficiton and her daughter–brought books of mine from their home libraries.
I also met lots of people I’d never been introduced to before, like 17-year-old reader/writer Jenevieve Hernandez
I’m glad that this picture captured my mom! She’s a bookworm herself and thoroughly enjoyed talking with other bookworms.
We had sheet cake but since I failed to take a picture of that, I’ll share the one I snapped of the sunset, instead.
The Aggie Wranglers came to dance for us and also to teach us some line dances. S’mores were offered after the dancing but by then this introvert had done as much extrovert-ing as I could do.

One of the best parts of the Sheet Cake Retreat? The opportunity to talk face to face with so many friendly and supportive readers.

I’ll be heading to Chicago for Just Read Rendezvous on November 15th! That will be my next reader/writer gathering and I can’t wait.

Are you planning to attend the Rendezvous? Have you attended events like this in the past? If so, what did you enjoy most?

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Becky Wade

Author at Bethany House
Becky makes her home in Dallas, Texas with her husband and three children. She absolutely loves writing funny, heartwarming, and inspirational contemporary Christian romance.
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Comments

  1. Sounds like lots of fun. The only other author I am familiar with is Pepper Basham. Love the pictures! Hope you enjoy Chicago!

  3. I am looking forward to seeing you at the Rendezvous next month! I met you several years ago at CFRR, which was my first author-reader event and I have been to several since then. I always have a great time and come home with more wonderful books to read. This time my two sisters-in-law are coming with me, I have not been a good influence on their TBR piles!

    • Ha ha ha! I’m delighted to hear that you’ll be attending Rendezvous and that you’re bringing your sisters-in-law. Way to recruit more attendees! I’ll see you there. 🙂

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