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Realm Makers 2019 + book haul

I was much more calm this time around. Yes.

No, really. I was.

Well, let’s just say that I didn’t have butterflies in my stomach until the first day of the conference. Like the weirdo I am, I used my own conference prep post to get ready.

I was just as excited about this year’s conference as I was about last year’s. I couldn’t wait to see the people I met last year, and meet some in person that I’ve only know through Kingdom Pen or Story Embers.

Before I start rambling about my excitement, let’s just dive into this. I’ve separated it by the three days of the conference…

 

Day 1

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I did a happy dance when I saw this.

A happy dance…mentally, that is.

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Opening keynote with Brent Weeks. Never heard of him before, but his talk was really good. He has a great testimony.

After this, I met up with Hannah (a.k.a. Catwing) because we were going to drive together to a Steak N Shake for the Story Embers meetup there (and, well, get dinner too). This was the highlight of the day; to get to meet the awesome SE staff!

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This is a terrible angle, my apologies. I didn’t even get everyone in it. *face palm* Mariposa was sitting next to me on the left, and Hannah and her mom are to the right. I felt bad about not getting Hannah in it, but she said she didn’t like to be in pictures anyway. I feel ya!

We missed the agent and editor Q&A that followed dinner break, but caught the sponsor spotlight with Quill Pen Editorial, The Indie’s Guide to Editing. 

Afterwards, I did a little book shopping…

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Only the first part of becoming broke acquiring greatness, I assure you. I am so excited about getting Romanov! While I was book shopping, I ran into Nicole! We knew that we were both going to Realm Makers, and it was great to see her in person!

So yeah, day one wasn’t super eventful, but it was still full of awesome. 🙂

 

Day 2

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First part of the continuing sessions about indie publishing. Suuuuper good, and the husband and wife team who were speaking did really well covering a ton of information.

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Amazing session with Morgan Busse (author of Mark of the Raven, WHICH I BOUGHT!) about writing and the Christian worldview. Spot on and super encouraging. She just seems like a really nice person. 🙂

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By this moment I was extremely hungry. We had a nice leisurely lunch break since Busse’s session ended early.

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Second session about indue publishing. Again, suuuper informative. Something I really appreciate about Realm Makers is that they have a pretty equal representation of traditional publishing and indie publishing.

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After that we had a lot of time before the Awards Dinner, so my mom and I looked around the vendor area. You may not believe this but…

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I bought more books! At this point I have run out of the book money I’d brought. But I’m still a happy booknerd. 😉

Following this we had a much-needed coffee break at Starbucks. Of course, I got my go-to order; iced caramel latte.

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Now, the Awards Dinner! 😀 It’s always really cool to see all the costumes and cosplay. So many people dress up that I felt like the super weird one to be in normal clothing.

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Quick photo with Nicole. Great to meet her in person! She told me that she loved Project Inspire, which made me so happy! <3 Be sure to check out her blog!

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And a pic with the wonderful Story Embers staff. I’m not gonna sit here and pretend I remember all their names. But I do know Hannah (on the left), then there’s me ( 🙂 ), Cassie, Mariposa, Gabby, Hope, Josiah, Brandon, Brianna, and….I am sorry that is all I remember.

 

Day 3

Ah, the last and final day of this glorious conference…

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Q&A with Brent Weeks (keynote speaker) and Terry Brooks (guest of honor). That was pretty interesting and entertaining at the same time. They’re both funny guys.

The first session was the last in the indie series, which I didn’t take a picture of apparently. I am super grateful to Julie Hall and her husband for putting together such a great session series. It definitely helped me decide that I want and can go indie. Successfully. 🙂

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A session about Christians writing for the general market with Alyssa Roat. Some good tips here…

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Session about capturing your readers with Ronie Kendig.

We had lunch in there somewhere, then I had a mentor session with Lisa Mangum.

I didn’t take a picture during the closing keynote with Brent Weeks. but it was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. A super great message. I might delve into it deeper and do a blog post based off of it.

After that was dinner and then we came back for the book festival/book signings…

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Guys, help, please.

But let it be known that I was not able to afford all of these with my own earnings. My wonderful mother bought a few for me. <3 And no, these aren’t books in addition to my other pictures. It’s the combined total. I brought them all together as one big family to get signed by their authors.

And this is where I turn it over to the book haul part of the post, where I will also share pictures of some of the authors…

 

Book haul

Books I didn’t get signed…

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Song Keeper and Song of Leira (Gillian Bronte Adams), Embers (Ronie Kendig), Water Princess Fire Prince (Kendra E. Ardnek), and The Elfstones of Shannara (Terry Brooks). The Terry Brooks book was free to all RM attendees. Why didn’t they do that last year???

 

The books I did get signed…

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The Busy Mom’s Guide to Novel Marketing and Indie Publishing (Angela Castillo & Jamie Foley)

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The New Recruit (Jill Williamson)

 

 

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Raising Dragons (Bryan Davis).

 

 

 

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Deny (Tricia Mingerink). Plus a character card of Renna.

 

 

 

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The Story Raider (Lindsay A. Franklin).

 

 

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The Mark of the Raven and Flight of the Raven (Morgan L. Busse).

 

 

 

And that concludes this long post! Thank you for sticking with me this far; I hope you enjoyed reading a bit about my adventure at Realm Makers. It’s such an encouraging conference, and I want to urge you to find a writers conference near you. It’s such an epic experience!

 

Write on,

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Have you ever been to a writers conference? If so, which one, and was it fun? Have you read any of the books from my haul?


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25 Comments

  • Reply Isabel Eleison

    Realm makers looks incredibleee :DD I’m so glad you got to go! (I lovee your costume Nicole👌) Your book haul is amazingness 😛

    July 27, 2019 at 7:17 am
    • Reply Jenna

      I’m so glad I got to go too! 😁I’m glad you enjoyed reading about it. Yes, I am pretty excited about my book haul. 😊

      July 27, 2019 at 9:11 am
    • Reply Nicole Dust

      Hehe, thanks! XD

      July 27, 2019 at 10:55 am
  • Reply Lily

    Bryan Davis is awesome!!!!! That’s so cool that you got to meet him.

    July 27, 2019 at 8:09 am
    • Reply Jenna

      YES, THAT WAS SO COOL! I can’t wait to read his books. 😁 Thanks for reading!

      July 27, 2019 at 9:12 am
  • Reply Nicole Dust

    LOVED this wrap-up, Jenna! It was so awesome to get to meet you in person! <3

    And you got Kendra's book!!! I meant to get it, but I ran out of money. XD Whoops.

    July 27, 2019 at 10:56 am
    • Reply Jenna

      Same here! Maybe we’ll meet again some day. 😉
      YES I am so excited!

      July 27, 2019 at 11:20 am
  • Reply Amelie

    Loved reading this, Jenna!! It looks like you had a wonderful time!
    Ooh, I love your book haul!! 🙂 I recently bought Songkeeper and Song of Leira (so excited to read them!!), and they are so beautiful. I also have the Abiassa’s Fire series, Bryan Davis’ books, The Ravenwood Saga, Go Teen Writers, and the Weaver trilogy on my TBR list! Those covers are SO lovely!
    Maybe this is weird to say, but I have the exact same white Adidas shoes as you do. XD

    July 27, 2019 at 11:20 am
    • Reply Jenna

      Thanks so much for reading! I’m glad you enjoyed it. 😊
      Well, we seem to have similar book tastes. 😉 You’ll have to let me know how you like those once you read them.
      That’s not weird, that’s AWESOME! 😎 They are my favorite shoes! 👍

      July 27, 2019 at 11:23 am
      • Reply Amelie

        Will do!
        They are SUPER cute and comfortable. 🙂

        July 27, 2019 at 11:31 am
  • Reply Ash Ronnel

    Woah! Looks like you had an amazing time at Realm Makers, Jenna! <3 <3

    Hope you have fun reading your book haul!! 😀

    July 27, 2019 at 12:27 pm
    • Reply Jenna

      I did! 😊 Thank you for reading!
      Thanks, I’m sure I will. 😉 📚

      July 27, 2019 at 12:54 pm
  • Reply Sarah Rodecker @Pen of a Ready Writer

    Oh my word, we were in two of the same classes and I had NO IDEA!!

    But man, I had a really good time at Realm Makers. I was so thankful I got to go this year. The Lord blessed me mightily by making ways for me to get there!

    July 27, 2019 at 3:36 pm
    • Reply Jenna

      OH MY WORD REALLY??? And we didn’t even know it. 😃
      I am SO GLAD you were able to make it to RM and that you enjoyed it! Writers conferences are so much fun! 😁👍

      July 27, 2019 at 5:32 pm
  • Reply kassieangle

    IT LOOKS LIKE SO MUCH FUN!! All the RM posts going around make me want to attend a writing conference! 🥰

    July 27, 2019 at 3:42 pm
    • Reply Jenna

      IT WAS! Yes, you should definitely go to one if you are able; writers are a fun bunch. 😉

      July 27, 2019 at 5:32 pm
  • Reply PennyTheBean

    AH. This looks amazing!!! 😍😍😍😍😍 So glad you had an awesome time. I’ve been toying around with the idea of attending the 2020 relam makers conference in Atlantic City myself, after I’ve seen this amazing conference! Enjoy those books you got too, they’re gorgeous!

    July 29, 2019 at 7:03 pm
    • Reply Jenna

      YES IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! 😁 I hope you can make it to RM 2020! You’ll love it! 😉👍
      I definitely will! 📚

      July 29, 2019 at 8:57 pm
  • Reply Cheshire Catwing

    Realm Makers! Yes! It was so much fun! I should be doing my own post about it later this week after I upload all my pictures. (most of which were from Chincoteague. I think I didn’t take that many at Realm Makers cause I don’t really take pictures of people for some reason.)
    It was really great meeting you in real life. 😀

    July 30, 2019 at 8:38 pm
    • Reply Jenna

      YEEESSS! I can’t wait to see your RM post! Are you doing a post about your Chincoteague trip too?
      It was great meeting you too! 😊👍

      July 30, 2019 at 9:17 pm
  • Reply mayajt

    This was so fun to read! I really want to make it to Realm Makers some year, but it’s so far away and so much money… so for now, I content myself with reading everyone else’s posts about it. That’s sort of similar, right? 🙂 Anyway, lovely post!

    August 1, 2019 at 3:37 pm
    • Reply Jenna

      I’m so glad you enjoyed this! 😁 I hope someday you can make it to RM. Thank you for reading!

      August 1, 2019 at 3:41 pm
  • Reply The Girl Who Doesn't Exist

    Love seeing Realm Maker posts!!!! And yours is so fun! Hopefully I can meet you next year 😉

    keturahskorner.blogspot.com

    August 3, 2019 at 1:03 am
    • Reply Jenna

      Thanks for reading! I’m glad you enjoyed the post. 😀

      August 5, 2019 at 1:01 am
  • Reply Jenna Terese - My 4 Most Anticipated Book Releases in 2020 | Jenna Terese

    […] found out about Morgan at the Realm Makers conference in 2019 and decided to give The Ravenwood Saga a try. I’m so glad I did! It’s so unique […]

    February 11, 2020 at 10:01 am
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