ACFW Recap (part 2)

The monument

As I said in my previous post, I attended the ACFW Conference in Indianapolis last weekend. I had the privileged of meeting so many amazing authors and writers - some published, some on their way. It was such a blessing to spend time with hundreds of like-minded people.

As Brandilyn Collins (the MC for the weekend) said, we just had to remember that there were "normals" about. When you get that many authors in one location, we tend to be a little lax about the interesting life a writer leads. It's not uncommon to hear writers talking about their characters as if they were real people or even see someone talking to themselves, more than likely arguing, because their character is trying to do something the author hasn't anticipated. Yes, normal people may not understand, but at ACFW there were hundreds of people who would!

View from our hotel room...so beautiful!

I had the personal privileged of rooming with my critique partner Deb, JoAnn (a former {Writer Wednesday} guest), and Laurean. We had so much fun! It's always great to meet people online through the ACFW email loops, but nothing beats being in person. We all shared our experiences at the conference together and there was always lots of laughter in our room!

Deb and I at the airport

It was also such a fantastic thing to talk over new projects and get feedback from Deb. She's such an encouragement to me and being able to chat in person was so great!!

**Shameless plug: check out Deb's books!!!

Tosca and I <3 br="">

 In addition to all this writing fun, I also got to have some photo fun too! For those of you who don't know, in addition to creating suspenseful and romantic plots, I also love to photo real-life people too ;) Check out my photo blog if you get the chance: E.A. Creative Photography. You can also find me on Facebook here.

I had the distinct pleasure of taking headshots for many authors and agents in attendance at the conference! Not only was it great to have a bunch of sessions lined up to capture the beautiful natural light and fun setting of Indianapolis, but I got to meet some amazing people! I met multi-published authors, aspiring authors, agents, and even New York Times Bestselling Author Tosca Lee (pictured at the right). As I like to say, I kind of have a bit of an author crush on Tosca and it was such a fun opportunity to share my passion for photography with her. She is such a beautiful person and a fantastic author :)

Hayley and I

THEN - as if that wasn't enough - I got to spend a night on the town with my dear friend Hayley! She attends college in Indianapolis and we were able to spend some time hanging out, sight seeing, having dinner, and catching up on life!

The monument at night

Beautiful fountain by the monument lit up at night!

Capital seen from the monument

Love the lights :D

Well...there you have it. A snapshot of my time at ACFW. In between the photo fun/craziness, I also attended sessions, met with some wonderful agents and mentors, and tried my best to soak it all up. I've come to see that this is definitely a direction the Lord is taking me in. I don't know yet what that will look like or just how He is going to direct my steps, but I have confidence in His plans.

It's interesting...one last thing I'd like to share is just more of a feeling than anything else.  I don't know if you've experienced something like this, but the whole time I was in Indianapolis, I had the overwhelming feeling of being exactly where I needed to be. I was a peace. Sure, I was nervous as anything to meet with agents and to "pitch" my book or even just to talk about those things, but the whole time I never once doubted my presence at the conference. I know the Lord prompted me to sign up to go (even when I wasn't sure how I'd pay for it) and I know that He sustained me while I was there. To sum it all up, the Lord taught me (again) how good and trustworthy He is. What a blessing!

For anyone who attended ACFW - what's one thing you walked away with (writing or spiritual or both)? I'd love to hear from you!