Back from Penned Con 2015

What a whirlwind of fun! I just got back from St. Louis, where I attended Penned Con 2015, hosted by the amazing Rick and Amy Miles. They raised over $10,000 for Action for Autism last weekend, which is why Rick is dressed in a Superman onesie and tiara!

Here I am at my booth with the very thoughtful gift bag from Action for Autism. It contained samples of many local favorite foods and drinks.

The event kicked off with Teen Day on Thursday. One of my teen readers and her mom drove five hours to attend. I was thrilled to meet them in person! Kali and Mary truly made this event even more special to me! Kali and I had fun with the photo booth later at the ball.

Thursday night, the authors met up to rehearse the flash mob dance we planned to surprise the attendees with at the ball. Thankfully, L. P. Dover knew what she was doing!

Friday and Saturday, I had an absolute blast meeting readers!

 

Among my preorders were Shannon Keith, Julie Counts, and Dana Stusse.

 

 

 

We also had a delicious author lunch on Friday in one of the ballrooms with this beautiful city view.

 

Other readers that came to see me were Renee and Raquel, both members of my street team. We had a fun time in the photo booth at the ball after having dinner with Alison Pensy and Susan Burdorf at the Spaghetti Factory.

Alison and Susan and I managed to kidnap Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, for a little more fun in the photo booth.

 

I was excited to meet new readers, too. I happily sold a lot of books and signed people up for my newsletter. I lured them to my table with my Medusa cards and Athena locket, which I raffled off. The winner of the locket was Antonia Konstantinopoulou. I’m so thrilled that the site I use to choose a winner (Random.org) chose someone Greek! I’m not sure, but I think Antonia is pictured with me here.

 

 

Among other new readers was a kindred spirit and big fan of Greek mythology, Rebekka. Here we are on the red carpet together.

Rebekka was one of five readers who bought all six books in my Gatekeeper’s Saga at the event. I can’t wait to hear what she thinks of it.

 

 

Author L.K. Gardner-Griffie wins (in my opinion) for best outfit at the ball. I had a blast getting to know her better when she and I joined a group of authors at Maggie O’Brien’s for dinner Thursday.

 

 

But here are some photos of some of my other favorite outfits:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tish Thawer looked beautiful in this favorite.

The flash mob dance to “Shake it Off” was the climax of the weekend. Here’s a link to a video on Facebook taken by Kelly Walker.

And here’s one more photo booth pic taken with my true blue friends from last year: Amy, Eric, J.D., Alison, Raquel, Julie, Renee, me, and Susan.

 

This isn’t the whole group, though. We really missed not having Auburn Wade, Tara Dawn, Amanda Kieckbusch, Angela Pratt, and Venture Cecena. There were many others, too.

Thanks again to Rick and Amy Miles and their staff and volunteers for making this amazing event possible. And a big thank you to Kelsey Kukal-Keeton for sharing her photography. Most of the photos I posted here were taken by her.

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