Forever Friday…On Sunday…and Not Forever

Sooooo…yeah. I missed Forever Friday last week. But I promise I had a great reason!

This past Thursday, one of my super-sweet critique partners, Teresa Tysinger, flew into my city to attend the Wordsowers Christian Writers Conference. It was the first time we got to meet in person, and it was phenomenal! As Teresa kept saying, “You’re not two-dimensional!” Bahaha!! I love her to pieces.

It was like we’d known each other our whole lives. Pretty fab, if you ask me. The next day, our other two critique partners, Holly Michael and Shawna Robinson Young, drove in (well, Shawna flew to Holly’s city and together they drove to my house). It was the first time the four of us had met, and just as when Teresa and I met, it was like we’d all known one another our whole lives. God is pretty amazing.

Aren’t they beautiful???? I’m totally stealing a line from Teresa: “My critique partners are cuter than yours!”

When Holly and Shawna arrived, the four of us drove downtown and had lunch at Twisted Fork with the sweetest, most beautiful Jennifer Slattery and her incredible husband. And speaking of Jennifer’s husband…I’m sorry, S., for all you had to endure during our conversation. 😉 And thank you for lunch. ❤

Apparently I need my roots done. Whoops.

After Jennifer and her husband left, the four of us sat there for another hour-and-a-half just talking. (It was suggested Holly pick up a new pen name and write in a different genre, but I’ll let her make that decision.) Then we headed over a block to Aromas for some coffee and went to the first night of the writer’s conference. It was a great intro section. But the party animals the four of us are, we went for dinner–at Arby’s–and shut the place down. Awwww yeeeeaaaaah. You know you’re jealous.

The next morning, we woke up bright and early–oh-so-early–and went back to the church where the conference was held and spent a great day learning from published authors, like the ever-so-funny Mary Connealy.

And can I totally brag for a moment?? Along with Jennifer, I have two other friends I meet with once a month to brainstorm, and I adore all three ladies!! Sara, Stephanie, Jennifer, and I have a great time together, and they’ve helped me immensely!

Another fun part of the conference? Meeting another new friend! Chaka Heinze is pretty hilarious. I adore her already, and I’m so happy she lives here so I can get together with her!

And at the end of the conference, an announcement for next year’s conference was made. You wanna know who the keynote speaker will be??? New York Times bestselling author, Tosca Lee!!!!!!!! (You have no idea how excited I am!) I’ve had the honor of meeting her once and taking a workshop she taught, and she is so incredibly kind and fun, and such a phenomenal author!

It was such a fantastic weekend, seriously. So fantastic, I ran myself down and am sitting on my couch as I write this with no voice left. Literally.

I should get some ice cream to soothe that.

But first, a couple more selfies with Teresa. 🙂