After Rochester, we made our way North to Lake City.  We arrived early, so Jim and I decided to enjoy a few moments at one of the local antique stores.  Afterwards I spoke at the library and what a neat bunch!

The audience was great to talk to and with.  There were a lot of great questions – some of the same I’m always asked – where do you get your ideas – how do you co-write – how do you develop your characters – where do you get character names?

After Lake City, we drove to the Twin Cities area and Roseville was our next stop.

 Here at the Barnes and Noble, I was honored by the presence of other authors with the local Christian writers groups.

Julie Klassen, one of my favorite authors joined us as well.  She’s the one in pink.

And some of my publishing folks from Bethany House were there to encourage me. I’m standing next to Sarah Long and then we have Dave Horton.  Both work with me on editorial issues.  Next to Dave is Debra and Ann – they are some of the fantastic marketing ladies.  Noelle – the great gal who put this booktour together was also there, but she had to leave before we had the photo taken.

We left Roseville in rain that turned quickly to icy rain and then snow.  It took 2 1/2 hours to get to Albany – a not so long distance that should only have taken about an hour.  The weather got worse and we had to cancel our bookstore stop in Grand Forks, North Dakota the next morning.

We headed west and while the roads were messy for a while – it cleared up the farther we drove to the west.  Even so, it was snowy.

We did manage to make it to the Melberg Christian Book and Gift Store in Moorhead, MN later in the afternoon and had a wonderful time meeting the bookstore owners and staff.

Also some very wonderful customers.  Here are just a couple of the special ladies.  Luella blessed me in sharing some of her past and memories of time when she and pastor hubby lived in Montana.  We prayed with her for family members and friends.  What a neat blessing that turned out to be.

This is Jo who had planned to come to the book signing, but then was hospitalized. 

She said she worked hard to get healthy enough to get out of the hospital in time to come see me.  She left the hospital and came directly to the bookstore. Her husband wheeled her in and we had a wonderful chat.

After the book signing Jim and I headed west to Bismarck for the night.  The weather was so nice on Friday that we drove straight through and got home tired, but blessed. 

It was so wonderful to be able to go out on the road and meet the readers, librarians and bookstore folks.  I was greatly blessed by this experience and thank all of you who came out to see me.

Now I need to whip my office into shape and get back to writing.  Hope you enjoyed coming along on the book tour via the blog.

God Bless You All!