This past weekend, we went to Texarkana, Arkansas, to Tammy Thompson’s Fall Gathering of Authors, the charity event for St. Jude Children’s Hospital and the Arkansas Children’s Hospital. Let me tell you: We had a blast! Twenty-five other authors showed up for the event, not to mention the kids–young writers whose short stories were published in the fourth edition of the anthology Dream Catcher. Their parents came in droves to buy several copies of the anthologies for relatives and friends.

Events like this are always great, not just for sales, but for networking. We were offered several wonderful opportunities for speaking or selling my books, and if they pan out, 2016 will be a great year. But the idea that the proceeds from the event went to two wonderful children’s hospitals made the event even more special.

We met some terrific people. Let me run through a few:

This is Dr. Anne Redelfs. I first met her at the ETBU Writers Conference in Marshall, Texas. She’s a specialist in post-traumatic stress, not just through her practice, but also as one who lived through Hurricane Rita’s destruction of New Orleans. She now lives a tad bit farther inland, in Texarkana. She’s going to partner with me for festivals and things to sell our books. With the two of us splitting vendors fees, we’ll have a better chance to earn a profit!

I had fun chatting with JC Hulsey, who is both an author and a publisher. He writes and publishes mostly Westerns, but he’s open to anything. I saw him talking with one of the other young authors who also writes Westerns, so I hope they connected.

If you’re interested in checking out this Texas publisher, you can find him at Outlaw Publishing (though I think his website is currently “in the making”).

Kim Thompson is a Louisiana writer–very Cajun cultured and more fun than a truck load of circus clowns. She’s also a devout Christian and fellow coffeeholic. We often dared to leave our table (either the dinner table during a speech or our book tables during the event) to grab a refill.

MSB loves her magazine, Louisiana Legends. It’s a simple publication–spiral bound stories on plain paper with black and white ads–but she’s just beginning. The stories had both of us snortin’ coffee.

I snapped this shot of the man while we were setting up. He was in high demand at the event. A great-lookin’ guy with good strong arms to help carry and tall enough to reach this and stretch up there and get that–shoot, who wouldn’t want him on her team?