by Bonnie Calhoun

I had an absolutely fabulous time at the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writers conference. I saw a lot of old friend and made a lot of new ones. What a whirlwind! It will take me a month to decompress!

Here are my memories!

This is the fabulous energizer bunny Marlene Bagnall, our conference Director. My hat goes off to this wonderful woman and the job that she accomplishes every year!


This is a dear friend that I made last year, Dr. Ellen Zechman...LOL....I will never forget how she made Terry Whalin almost choke on his lunch last year, talking about the mirrors on the ceiling of her exam room!


My buddies! Wanda Dyson, the cool novelist on my left! She had a book featured on Oprah this spring. She's teaching me how to make a dynamite proposal! She has sold every book she ever wrote with JUST the proposal...including her first! On my left is my mirror self...Marjorie Vawter...WE both write for the same character, Sarah Wray, on Brandilyn Collin's, Scenes & Beans character blog! She's going to be my editor!


This adorable child...well 18 year-old young woman...is Hadassah Wilson! She is so absolutely cool! I just wanted to take her home with me! Her parents are below.


This is Mark and Kathi Wilson. They are the Conference Chaplains, and Kathi is a Psalmist, songwriter, and musician. Again these are people that you could talk to forever, and never run out of something to discuss...Love, love, love them!


This is my group of friends that I spent the most time with. From right to left...Frances Pasch, a dear and wonderful woman, who I pray for daily. Linda George...what a hoot, I miss her already! And Wayne Holmes...watch when shaving that mustache next time dude! LOL...it's a long story that Linda will never forget!!! :-)


Great new friend, member of my CFBA, and agent of Hartline Literary, Terry Burns! And he is never, ever without that famous hat!


Another new friend...Jeanette Windle...dynamic author of political thrillers, rep for Kregel Publications and missionary...she's been in over 30 countries!


This cutie was my roommate, Connie Willems. She's the editor of Discipleship Journal magazine....I bet she was glad to have the room to herself Saturday night after I left...LOL...at least she could get to sleep before 2 AM...LOL...I'm a night owl! She goes to sleep about the time I'm getting my second wind!


I can't say enough great things about this woman...Becky Spencer. She plays a mean piano...and sings too! She is a missionary to Swaziland in Africa, where the majority of the country is children orphaned by AIDS.


And this dolly is Joyce Moccero. What a hoot!! She is one of Marlene's right hands...yes, I say plural...Marlene needs them all!


This is Jonathan Friesen...LOL...I took the picture rather than stand next to him and look like a short, fat dwarf! He did an awesome devotion...You blew me away Jon! I didn't expect that you'd be that annointed!


This precious woman is Patricia Hickman. I can't share a lot about her work because it would put her in danger. But she works to free girls that have been kidnapped by sex slave traders.


This cute teenage looking girl is actually Shannon Hill, editor for WaterBrook. LOL...I had an appointment with her and was about to introduce myself, and she already knew who I was, because I have toured several of the books in her company catalog.


This bubbly person is Pam Perry. I met her last year, so we renewed a friendship. She's a very busy publicist!


My friend, mom of an autistic child, and Marlene's other right hand...tada! Pam Halter...way to go Pam!


This very special person is Gretchen Geyer....She's one of my CFBA members!! I was so blessed to get to meet her! I've got another member down below.


This is Chip MacGregor, agent extraordinaire! He's my friend Gina Holmes' agent...and the man that showed me the absolutely perfect first page for my novel! Thanks Chip!


This is my special new friend. I thought I was outgoing...Candy Abbott makes me look like an introvert!!! LOL!!


Yea! Another CFBA member...Mike Dellosa. He came to one of my workshops too! So he got to see how really crazy I am! :-)


And last, but by no means least...Mindy Starns Clark. She's a dynamite author of the Million Dollar Mystery series, and the Smart Chick myster series (helpful hints and homicides) and rep for Harvest house publishers...and she gave a very cool workshop that I'm going to use to flesh out the romantic thread in my novel!


The next couple of shots are from the main concorde for the conference. This leads into the Chatlos Chapel featured in several of the pictures.





And that's it...I'm back home *sigh* Now to decompress from all of this...until next year....What a rush! I have a video clip to put up, but I 've got to go play with Youtube to do that, so it will be sometime this week!