Kinston BBQ Festival!

My friend Debbie from Kinston is in the blue, and she and her cute girlfriends came by on their girls weekend! Loretta in the khaki trench is a fellow writer! So fun!

Good morning, friends! Yesterday I spent a gorgeous day signing books for the Kinston BBQ Festival in the very town where DEAR CAROLINA was set! The book wasn’t originally set in Kinston, but it was this time last year, at that very festival, that I decided to change the setting of DEAR CAROLINA. It seemed like the ideal place for a very Southern story.

My precious friend Stacey has been cheerleading for me since day 1! I was so happy she got one of the first copies!

So it seems kind of fitting that my first real book event would be right where I had the idea to change the setting in the first place! It was a wonderful day and I am so grateful to all the Kinstonians who came out to support me. I was there from nine until three, and, about eleven, I had to send my hubby home for more books because we had sold them all! It was a great day to start!

My friend Lindsay Corrigan is an amazing photographer! She’s doing a #30daysofselfies challenge all about finding confidence. So happy to be a part of Day 2 of the challenge. Even her selfies are fabulous!

I am so grateful for all of the kind reviews, comments and blog posts that have been rolling the last few days before the launch. It’s an amazing feeling!

PopSugar, for example, has been one of my favorite lifestyle sites for years. So, imagine my surprise when I was perusing their May Reads “You Won’t Be Able to Put Down” and saw… DEAR CAROLINA! Amazing! So, thanks to PopSugar for including me in this fabulous line-up and to everyone who has written a wonderful review of the book this week. It is so fun and so gratifying to think that people are enjoying it!

Plus, it’s not every day you see your face in the header of the newspaper… But The Salisbury Post is the kind of paper that always supports its own. (Sorry it’s so blurry. This was a photo someone snapped and sent to me! Diedre Parker Smith wrote a gorgeous article about the journey to the book.

I’ll be toasting all of you on Cinco de Mayo at my launch party, at Buy Local Gallery in Kinston, from 4:30-7:30. If you don’t live in the area, catch me on Facebook at the Women’s Fiction Writer’s Association from 2:30-3:00! I’ll be doing a virtual launch, along with a fabulous line-up of other women’s fiction authors!