Upcoming Events

PAST EVENTS:

June 3, 2018 I attended the Art in the Park event in Harlan, Iowa, where I was a featured “artist.” Gorgeous late spring day, but a little windy. And I guess that applied to me, too, because with all the people we met, my throat got dry from talking so much!

Had two events in Florida in February 2018: Barnes and Noble in Destin hosted a book sale and signing for me. Lots of fun and a great way to meet people.  And the condo we’re staying in had a meet and greet for me. It was SO interesting to meet several couples who, like me and Dave, met online. Guess us Baby Boomers are still tech-savvy enough where it counts!

The Adel Iowa Public Library is hosting a craft and book fair from 12-5pm on Friday, December 1. Special guest Santa Claus will be making his appearance at 3:30-5:00pm. I plan to be the first in line!

Saturday, November 4, 2017 I was a guest “artist” at the 10th Annual Forgotten Art…the Artists
event in Harlan, Iowa. Over 25 artists displayed and sold their artwork. It was fun to meet some of those very talented people and to also meet the wonderful people who showed up at my display of books. Great sales event for me, and an opportunity to make new friends!

April 13, 2017: Polk City Iowa Public Library, 6:30 p.m.  What a way to cap off my two week book tour!  Polk City is only about 20 minutes away from my house, so I met my beautiful cousin Debbie, who lives in that town and is a retired librarian herself, for supper and then we headed to the library.  It was so much fun!  I love when the audience interacts, and these people laughed, asked questions, and told some of their own stories.

 

April 11, 2017:  Sioux Center Iowa Public Library Author Discussion Panel, 6:30 p.m.  I truly enjoyed meeting other authors at this event.  And to quote the over-used, but oh so true, cliche: It’s a small world!  One of the guests attending who talked with me mentioned that a relative used to live in Adel.  And I knew him!  Sioux Center’s library is beautiful, and it’s right next door to a gorgeous memorial park with tributes to all the men and women in the area who have served our country.

April 11, 2017: PEO women’s group in Webster City, Iowa, 10 a.m.  What a lovely group of women I got to meet in north central Iowa’s beautiful town of Webster City.  While this was one of my shortest book readings due to the PEO meeting, it was nonetheless wonderful and welcoming!  Thank you to Shirley Yungclas for inviting me.

April 10, 2017: Sumner Iowa Public Library, 6 p.m.  I spent over an hour talking to the guests at Sumner.  It was drizzly, cold and bleak outside, but inside it was welcoming and warm.  And best of all, my Uncle Denny was part of the group.  He used to teach in Sumner and he and my Aunt Judy welcomed me to their house afterwards to spend the night.

April 6, 2017:   North Liberty Iowa Public Library, 6:30 p.m.  I enjoyed seeing this gorgeous library so much.  And instead of standing up talking, I sat with the people who came and we had the best conversations about dating and “old people” getting out of their comfort zones and finding new things to do.

April 5, 2017: Wellsburg Iowa Public Library, 2 p.m. for their WOW group (Wellsburg on Wednesdays).  This little northeast Iowa town has a beautiful library and rolled out the welcome mat for me.

March 30, 2017 6:30 p.m. – Harlan Iowa Public Library welcomed me with delicious cookies and drinks.  It was a dreary, drizzly night, but the group there was full of fun and laughs, and I feel like I made some new friends!  Several of the people there knew relatives of mine, one lady brought her book she’d purchased from Barnes and Noble for me to sign (and said she’s read it three times!), and another had used my book to report on a “fun” story.  Thank you all for coming!  I hope you enjoyed the talk as much as I enjoyed giving it!

March 6, 2017  10 a.m. –  I drove to Griswold Public Library in Iowa and had the BEST time with the “Griswold Golden Tigers.” They are a group of 55+ years old men and women who meet at the library on a regular basis. They had coffee and cinnamon rolls, sat at tables and listened to me talk (NO eye-rolling, please! 😉 ) about not being sixteen anymore. We had a Q&A time, I sold some books, and several of us talked together for an hour after I was through. BIG thank you to Lisa Metheny, Sue Peterson,and the Golden Tigers for starting my week off with fun, friendship and laughter.

#ROMANCE WEEK, February 6-14.  We’re Not Sixteen Anymore is participating in Goodreads’ Romance Week Giveaway.  Sign up beginning February 6.

Congratulations to giveaway winners:  Cynthia A. from Akron, Iowa; Stacy C. from Martinsville, Illinois; and Lisa F. from Minot,North Dakota.

November 17,  2:00 p.m. – Jessup Iowa Public Library. Received a warm welcome from a small, but very interesting crowd.  Jessup is a lovely library in a pristine and equally lovely town!

 

 

November 10, 2:30 p.m Adel Iowa Author Fair, Adel Public Library

October 31, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. – 3rd Annual Central Iowa Senior Education Network convention  Retirement – Let the Adventures Begin.  Speaker on adventures in online dating as a senior citizen

 

October 22, 2016  Mod Crawl:  Modville-The Porch Junkies is a vintage/retro home furnishing/decor store located in Adel, Iowa.  It just so happens that they sell my book, too (retro, you know)!  Once a year they participate with other Des Moines area stores who sponsor a “mod crawl” open house, and also include four Des Moines area homes that are furnished straight out of the 1950s and 60s.  So it happened that I attended the bash from 4-9 p.m. on the 22nd, and was it a hoot!  Got to meet lots of interesting and fun-loving people, ate my fair share of fried Spam sandwiches (unbelievably tasty when you finally dare to try them!), a frozen daiquiri, delicious pumpkin bars, and all sorts of other goodies.  Oh, and did I mention I sold more books there than the bookstores have?  Perhaps we should serve beer and daiquiris at those locations…. Pictured are me, my husband, and Big Sexy – and no, that’s not what I refer my Dave as!  It’s this cloud-soft, pink, curvy, vivacious sofa.  And my dear friends Ron and Jane Hartman were the Spam cookers!  

 

 

 

October 8, 12-4:30 p.m., National Inaugural Indie Author Day – Local Writers’ Symposium and Expo at Cedar Rapids Public Library, Whipple Auditorium.  I got to be in at the beginning of what I hope will become an annual tradition.  Hooray for INDIES! (Yes, I admit I had to look that up on Google when I got published, but now I’m proud to be an INDEPENDENT Author!)  I got to meet 17 other authors, and came home with a few new books.  Here are pictures of my fans who love me, Author Grace Augustine and me, and just plain old me!

 

 

 

 

 

September 28, 7 p.m. – Reading and signing at Avoca Book Club, Avoca, Iowa turned out to be one very fun event!  I’d like to take all the credit for that, but I think the FALL SANGRIA that was served might have helped a bit.  Anyway, it was full of laughter, applause, questions, and more laughter.  I left that evening feeling like I’d made lots of new friends.  Definitely a very successful evening.  Here are some of the photos (and in case you’re wondering:  The photo of me with an abnormal-looking chest is my demonstration of what we 16 year-olds did to our bras:  stuffed them with Kleenex – only in my case, I didn’t take them out of the box.)

 

 

 

 

August 27, Oscar and Emmy winning actress Cloris Leachman came to Des Moines and accepted a copy of my book.  Photographer Michael Banks took a picture of me hugging her (NOT my best side!!) and after I left, he captured proof that she hung on to my book.  Also pictured is the executive producer of Produce Iowa, the State Media Production, Liz Gilman.

 

August 27, 1 p.m. – Meet the Author: Beaverdale Books, Des Moines, Iowa

After spending part of the morning getting to meet Oscar-winning actress Cloris Leachman, who was back in her hometown of Des Moines for several public events, I had less than 20 minutes to prepare for the book signing before the first guest arrived.  I read three excerpts from the book, visited with some dear friends who came, and passed out new “SWAG” (chocolates wrapped in sparkly netting tied with a ribbon and a small plastic heart-shaped maze.  I’d put “You may not be 16 anymore, but Darling, you’re A-MAZE-ING!” labels on each one.  The bookstore is charming, the rainy clouds disappeared and the sun popped out, and both Dave and I agreed we’d had a tremendous day.  Thanks to Alice Meyer, owner of Beaverdale Books for letting me have this fun read-and-sign event.

 

The June 11 Book Launch is over, but what a success!  Got a few pix to share. It was a hot and humid day, but that didn’t stop the fun. Since I was sixteen during the 1960s, guests were encouraged to dress in either that era, or the era in which they were actually sixteen.  Look at some of the costumes! Rather than buy a guestbook, everyone at the party was asked to sign the very first book I received from publisher Terri Leidich from BQB Publishing.  The venue was Penoach Winery in Dallas County – which, due to the hot weather, did mega-sales with their cold and frosty beer! Thanks to all who came and especially to those wonderful friends who helped me out – Katie, Jackie, Jerry, Pat, Kathy, Dan, and of course my sweetie, Dave!

June 11:  Book Launch Party for “We’re Not Sixteen Anymore: A Baby Boomer’s Adventures with Online Dating” date is set.  Fun venue for a fun party.  Watch for details closer to the date.

Now until June 7:  If you like freebies, then follow this link for a chance to get “We’re Not Sixteen Anymore” for FREE from Goodreads.

March:  I am going to be appearing at Adel Public Library  on Monday, March 7, 2016 at 1 p.m. in the community room as a guest of the Adel Women’s Club.  I’m so excited to be talking about my upcoming book “We’re Not Sixteen Anymore” and am looking forward to meeting some new friends and seeing familiar ones there.