My experience at Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writer Conference

by | Jun 3, 2019 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

Sharing the lovely ladies I met at Blue Ridge and a few tips if you plan to attend next year.

Edie Melson is a co-director for the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writer Conference. She is the reason I attended Blue Ridge. I interviewed her last year about her book; Soul Care. We met again over the holidays when she was in Arkansas visiting family. Truly one of the most creative and caring people you will meet. Grateful that she encouraged me to attend.
L-R Lisa, Donna, Katy Lee, Tammy
You never know who you will meet at a conference or how. I have been a social media friend of Katy Lee’s since I read her first book; Warning Signs. It is one of my top books of all time. The heroine in the book is very memorable. I was beyond excited when I realized I was going to meet Katy in person for the first time.
Wally’s Transportation gets the credit for me getting to meet Katy, Lisa and Tammy. We bonded on that ride to the Ridgecrest campus. We would meet up each night for the general sessions sometimes ice cream. Meeting these ladies was such a blessing.
  • Jenny Cote
  • Joy Dunlap
  • Judy DuCharme

I was delighted to meet new authors that I had the opportunity to interview and help share their messages. Jenny is an amazing children’s book author. Joy and I had so much fun recording her interviews. We became fast friends. Judy enthralled me with her book Blood Moon Redemption both from the prophecy of the Blood Moons and the setting in Israel.

  • Lynette, Donna, Lynn
  • Hewlette & Donna
  • Donna & Rowena Kuo

Genre Night: I decided to go all out for genre night. Well, I also look for any reason to wear my Belle dress. A big thank you to my sister who bought it for me. I wonder if she had any idea I would be wearing it in so many locations.

Meeting Lynette Eason and Lynn H Blackburn at the same table had me all tongue tied! Such writing power in one picture. This was my first time to meet the creator of the super couple Adam and Sabrina from In Too Deep by Lynn. I brought my ARC of Vow of Justice for Lynette to sign and could not help but chuckle when she said she had not seen a paperback copy yet.

Hewlette and I met at the Launch Team breakfast for Fix Her Upper: Find Your Happy Space by Beth Duewel and Rhonda Rhea. Hewlette is encouraging and beautiful. She host a weekly Monday Morning Empowerment video on Facebook Live.

Rowena Kuo and I are still trying to figure out where we originally met. We will remember out time together at Blue Ridge. Especially those evenings over ice cream with the other ladies we met. Rowena is a publisher at Brimstone Fiction.

I am not a big crier, but Adria had me close to tears twice. I was so thrilled for her and proud of her. I had the opportunity to interview her and she was so amazing that she received two interviews for TV stations as a result. Her message of joy will change us, one day at a time. The Joy Box Journal releases on July 23rd. Preorder your copy today! Choose Joy.

Tips for 2020 Blue Ridge

  • Say hello to everyone. Ask them where they are from. What genre do they write in. What has been their favorite class.
  • Take advantage of the meal times – even if you are sick of cafeteria food by day 2. Each faculty member hosts a table and it is a great opportunity to ask questions about anything.
  • The two 15 minute appointments with faculty are worth the price of admission for many writers.
  • Start walking – I walked 10,000 steps each day and they were NOT on flat land.
  • Bring chocolate and share it. You will be everyone’s best friend 🙂
  • I recommend thank you cards in addition to your business cards. There will be a few people that you want to give a thank you card to.
  • Ridgecrest is a Pepsi only facility. Bring your own Dr Pepper or Coke if you need to. I did 🙂