Carol Award Winner! The Merchant's Daughter!

The 2012 ACFW Conference--that's the American Christian Fiction Writers Conference--ended with a bang for me. After finaling in both the Christy Awards and the Carol Awards two years in a row, The Merchant's Daughter pulled in a win! It was so exciting. I certainly didn't expect to win, as my competition was Judy Christie's Wreath and Jenny B. Jones's There You'll Find Me. Check out the sign:

It was a big thrill just to be a finalist.

So I'm sitting there, after putting on fresh lipstick "just in case." And they called the name of my book, and I was so shocked I could hardly believe it. I actually wasn't that nervous, but I was struggling not to cry the whole time I was giving my speech. I hadn't written a speech down, just a list of names I scribbled while at my table right before. "Just in case."

And I have such wonderful friends who celebrated with me and were so happy for me, God bless them. Here are a few pics:

These are my roommates, Love Inspired authors Missy Tippens and Audra Harders.

And here I am with author Carrie Turansky.

And with the Seekers from the Seekerville blog, Myra Johnson, Missy Tippens, Janet Dean, Pam Hillman, me, Audra Harders, Debby Giusti, and Mary Connealy, all wonderful ladies, amazing authors, and sweet friends. Love them so much! And lastly, here is a picture of all the Carol Award winners from all the different categories:

If you are a writer and have never been to the ACFW conference, it is really worth it. There are so many wonderful people there, lots of great workshops, and you are almost guaranteed to make some new best friends. Next year it will be in Indianapolis, and I already can hardly wait! :-) I am posting my new headshot Jodie Westfall, the ACFW photographer, made of me at the conference. It was actually fun getting these made. Jodie made it fun.