ACFW 2025 Recap

Last week found me traveling to Springfield, Missouri, a seven hour sojourn by my trusty GMC to reach the hotel where the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference was held this year. Each year this is my few days to spend time with my writing friends, interact with editors and agents, and get to spend rare time with readers. Each year elements are different, but some things never change.

I adore the opportunity to spend time with my writing friends. These are just a few of the lovely souls and amazing writers that I have the privilege of calling friends. There’s Robin Jones Gunn, Gabrielle Meyer, Kate Angelo, Denise Hunter, Colleen Coble and Kelsey Anderson. Then there’s that group of laughter below. “Pivot!” Somehow the Friends clip became a thing with Bethany Turner and me — and by extension Pepper Basham. Karen Witemeyer taught a great class on humor — if you have read her books, you know she’s great at it!

There is something beautiful about being in a space where I get to pour into other writers, and at the same time take so many notes while sitting in other amazing authors’ classes. It is always such life to my writing soul to get inspired to dig deeper in my writing and perspective as I listen and think about how to try new things in my writing. We also had a fun evening of pizza and games by genre. It was entertaining to interact with other suspense writers as we played bingo and answered some fun questions.

We also had a wonderful book signing on Saturday morning. SOOOOO many readers turned out for the event. These lovely women are just a few of them that I interacted with. It is always life-giving to get to chat with people who love books, and if they happen to like mine, too, that’s an added bonus.

Do you enjoy going to writer or reader events? What’s the last one you attended? What’s your favorite part of going?