Author Meet Ups with Betsy & Brenda!

It’s such a treat to meet up with Akimbo Alumni (the original, that is), as I did today with Betsy Bowen. We met in WIC (Seth Godin/Kristin Hatcher’s Writing in Community), as many of our writing friends did back in 2020 and beyond. We didn’t know what we were doing, though publishing a book was the premise of WIC. Kind of like, “the blind leading the blind.” I found out then that writers are good people, like quilters. So, it was Betsy who hosted me and my friend, Jodie,in Maui, Hawaii, a couple years ago. We had truly remarkable trip (went a three weeks after the Lahania fires).

So when Betsy reached out last week to meet up on the East Coast (she is visiting family and friends), I was all in! I drove up to Delaware from Maryland to have lunch and catch up with her this morning. The day was perfect, and it was a fabulous connection to talk books, websites, and the things writers talk about before publishing. I floated back on the drive home.

Betsy has been writing her epic story - Courageous Voyage - on circumnavigating the Earth as a sailor when she first graduated from college. The Tall-Ship she was on, named The Romance, has all the intrigue, romance, bad storms at sea, dealing with life in very small quarters, and all the characters (sailors - both men and women) including the Captain and Mrs. Kimberly, to thrill any reader with choppy sea stories, and the incredible experiences Betsy so eloquently describes in her book. She is working on revisions/editing/book cover designs to get her words out to her beta readers. Betsy is almost there! I can’t wait for this book to go live!

The evening was spent with a new author, Brenda Ulman, and our mutual friend, Linda Blachley. Linda was my editor of my debut book: ”The Focused Fight: A Childhood Cancer Journey: From Mayhem to Miracles.” Brenda has been working on her debut novel for 20 years! She did that by writing every day - either on the book or in her many journals. She is very excited to publish her debut book, “The Time in Between.”

Based on our discussion, Brenda is almost there! She is all very excited to finally get her words out to the world in a novel format. The value of a website, social media presence and in-person book signings were at the top of the list to discuss. I love how lively our discussion was about books, the people who read them, and how much work it is to publish (but love it anyway).

Both Betsy and Brenda are close to publishing their first book. They’ve created teams to help push them over the finish line, and are ready to do the marketing and what one needs to do once the book is finally on the shelf. I know it is a lot of work, but I know in my heart, they both will be successful!

Read on…

bSoleille!

Terri

With Betsy below:

With Brenda: