Mystified M.D. Wins ACFW Carol Award!

By now many of you have probably heard that A. K. Arenz’s The Case of the Mystified M.D. won the 2010 Carol Award at the ACFW awards banquet in Indianapolis Sunday night! Alice got to go up on stage to receive her plaque and make a speech. And she did a terrific job! In the meantime, the rest of us Sheafers who were present were sitting in the back jumping up and down and celebrating, as you can imagine. Unfortunately . . . none of us had cameras with us, so I don’t have a picture to post. If there’s anyone who took one, please send it my way!!

Last year Alice finaled with The Case of the Bouncing Grandma. Just making it into the final round two years in a row is quite an accomplishment, and receiving the award this year was the icing on the cake. I am so proud of all Alice has accomplished and how she has grown as a writer, and I am especially proud of her newest release, Mirrored Image. I have a feeling it’s going to at least final next year as well. All I can say is, you go, girl!

It was also extra special nice to receive an award as the editor. We don’t often get recognized for the work we do—don’t expect it—but that was kind of a grace note for me. I’ll admit it lifted me up and felt really good. And now I have a lovely plaque to hang on my wall too!

The conference turned out to be the best one for me both as a writer and a publisher that I’ve ever attended. I made all the connection I wanted to make, plus some I didn’t expect. But having one of our Sheaf House authors receive this kind of attention was the highlight. I had reservations about taking the time off and spending the money to attend, but now I’m glad I did.

And now that I’m back, I have a pile of work on the agenda, including editing several projects with tight deadlines and preparing for the prestigious Southern Festival of Books, which runs from October 8 through 10. We signed up for a booth this year, and 2 of our authors were chosen to participate in author events. Jen Stephens will be on an author panel beginning at 3:30 on the 8th, with a book signing to follow. And I’ll be doing a solo presentation in the Capitol Library from noon to 1 on the 9th to talk about book 3 of my American Patriot Series, Wind of the Spirit, also with a book signing following. Plus, I signed Sheaf House up for a booth, and we’re really excited about the potential for spreading the word about our books and authors. Mega thanks to both Jen and Penney, who worked hard to get us in on this event!

Of course, this all means more work. LOL! Thankfully, we’ve just acquired three interns to help us. I have a production intern coming aboard this weekend, and Penney will have a publicity and a marketing intern to help her extend our marketing and promotional efforts. I’ll post more information on each of them in upcoming posts and bring you up to date on everything that’s been going on.

And now it’s late, and it’s been a long day, so I’m going to hang it up for the night. Will be back at it early in the morning. I’ll update again as soon as I have a moment to breathe! Stay tuned!