This is a photo taken by my publicist –how weird to say that! — while I was signing at ICRS (the International Christian Retail Show.

Summerside really made the experience a dream come true. You see, I’m a bit of a Christian fiction geek. I grew up with stories of my best friend and her family going to what was then called CBA every summer. I knew that was the place to get books and music before they officially released. I always thought I would know I’m a writer when I got the chance to sign a book at ICRS.

There’s no question I’m a writer. But it’s not because I signed 300 books and hung out with amazing people for a day. It’s because it’s a call God has placed on my life.

And if I needed a reminder I got it yesterday when I got up EARLY to drive home. Then this morning I mowed and deadheaded flowers. A far cry from the “glamour” of signing Stars in the Night and hanging out with amazing people like my editors Beth Adams and Susan Downs and fellow authors Tricia Goyer, Susan May Warren, Jim Rubart and Mary Connealy. Those are the times I know God is giving me a kiss from heaven. But the real work starts again tonight, when I poise my fingers over the keyboard and write the next chapter in the next book.

Don’t forget about the contest I’m running that coincides with the release of Stars in the Night.