Gretchen Griffith, Sandra Warren, Linda Phillips, Sarah Norkus

This past weekend I had a great time hanging out with about 75 other authors at a huge book fair at Robeson Community College in Lumberton, called Book ‘Em North Carolina.  We gathered at a reception Friday night, where we caught up with old friends and met many new ones.

p.m.terrell, suspense author

Suspense author p.m. terrell and Waynesboro, VA police officer Mark Kearney founded this organization to raise public awareness of the correlation between high illiteracy rates and high crime rates. A portion of the proceeds raised from the event is divided among the Dolly Parton Imagination Library of Robeson County for providing one book a month to children 1-5; Communities in Schools; The Friends of the Robeson County Library for literacy campaigns; and the Lumberton Police Department for their involvement in Reading Across America.

Gretchen, Darlene, Mary Anne, Linda, Sandra

The fun at an event like this is multi-layered. Fellow SCBWI friends Gretchen Griffith and Sandra Warren and I joined Mary Anne Benedetto and Darlene Eichler, two teachers of memoir writing, for a well-attended panel discussion on that topic. While Crazy is not a memoir, the fact that it is semi-autobiographical was close enough to make for a lively dialogue.

Gretchen Griffith, Terry Irving, Linda, Sherry Rentschler

And throughout the day, it was kibitz time, all up and down the halls of two floors in this classroom building. While I didn’t get to hear the presentations by the two headliners, Terry Irving, and Terri Reid, Terry delighted us with his political prowess during an impromptu and lively hallway discussion, and Terri agreed to a blog interview down the road to share her extreme success as an Indie bestselling author.

Immanuela, Linda, and Sherry

I met a new friend, Sherry Rentschler, who occupied the table next to me, when we discovered we were both Charlotteans and poets. And throughout the day, when we left for lunch or our panel presentations, wonderful student volunteers like Immanuela (whose last name I didn’t get) manned our tables and kept track of our customers.

Now, let’s see……where was I with that second book I am trying to write?