Friday I drove up to Cincinnati and stayed with the fabulous and cool Liz Bemis, who is the program director for Ohio Valley RWA and a double Golden Heart finalist this year. That night, we drove through the pouring rain that had been chasing me to Ohio to meet up with the equally fabulous and cool Jenn Stark for a yummy Mexican dinner.
Yesterday, I spoke to the OVRWA chapter on perseverance, a subject near and dear to my heart since it took me 11 years to sell. I know there were people in the audience sitting in the same boat I was such a short time ago — Liz and Jenn among them — where they’ve got tremendous talent and have found success on the contest circuit but haven’t quite made that first sale yet.
Liz Bemis, me, and Jenn Stark
Since it was the day before Easter, I rewarded audience participation with Carmello bunnies, Cadbury’s Creme Eggs, Peeps and a couple of free books. Hey, I’m not above some sugar-filled bribery. 
The ladies were wonderful, and I was thankful for such a nice turnout the day before Easter. I even got to meet Becke Martin (aka Treethyme), who hangs out with us a lot over at the Romance Bandits blog.
With Becke Martin
After the meeting, some of us were about to chew our arms off we were so hungry. So before I hit the road home, I went to lunch at the Cheesecake Factory with Liz, Jenn, and two other great and interesting ladies named Amy and Libby (man, I hope I got that right or I’m going to be really embarrassed). Then it was time to hit the road home. I plugged in the iPod and passed the hours listening to PotterCast and an the Supernatural podcast.
Two funny signs seen along the way:
On a fence surrounding a field: For Sale, Used Cows
On the ladies restroom door inside a gas station/Subway combo: Now hiring servers. Apply within.
Two other notes:
Liz has a fun blog series going on at her site counting down the 100 days until the Golden Heart ceremony. Be sure to check it out.
And Jenn isn’t just a writer. She’s a whiz at author branding. Check out her branding site at www.knowyourbrand.com.
April 12th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Trish, sounds like it was a great talk! And what fun to catch up with so many Bandita Buddies.
April 13th, 2009 at 4:57 am
Trish–We (as a chapter) were so happy to have you here and I (personally) was thrilled to get a chance to catch up! It was a great visit!