So I feel as if I should get a tee shirt that reads: "I went to my first CBA show and lived to tell about it."

The CBA show, for those of you unfamiliar with it, really isn't the CBA show. It's the ICRS. "CBA" stood for "Christian Booksellers Association," which wasn't inclusive enough, I think, so it switched to "International Christian Retail Show," which prompted everyone to call it, "The CBA Show, or whatever they want us to call it now."

I wrote before about the Christy Awards, so let's pick up on Sunday, which started for me at 7:00 am and ended at 11:00 pm. And you know what? It was an absolute blast. Every second of it. No need to tell you every little thing, but highlights of the day included meeting folks and signing books at a special Munce store brunch, seeing Eugene Peterson (and meeting lots of folks) at the famous Tattered Cover LoDo Bookstore, and attending the Baker Publishing Group author dinner.

At the author dinner, I was seated at a table with Dave and Neta Jackson, Donna Carpenter, Sharon Hinck, Camy Tang, Robin Parrish and his lovely wife Karen Parrish. What a wonderful group of folks. We talked and laughed throughout the entire dinner, in which I inadvertently made everyone think I have an overwhelming fixation with death. (Um, I know that doesn't really sound like it goes with the "talking and laughing" part, but you had to be there.)

Monday brought an ACFW breakfast and a chance to share a meal with some wonderful folks such as Nancy Jo Jenkins, Kim Vogel Sawyer and her daughter Kaitlyn, Margie Vawter, Eileen Key, andn Paula Moldenhauer. Then it was off to a couple of interviews and meetings, time spent wandering the show floor, and a final wrapup dinner with a whole slew of Bethany House friends and family: editors Dave Long, Sara Long and Charlene Patterson with her father Randy, authors Deeanne Gist with her husband Greg, Patti Hill with her husband Dennis, Sharon Hinck, and Robin Parrish with his wife Karen. Again, what a wonderful time. And I feel as if each and every person there has been (and will be) a lifelong friend.

Yesterday was the big signing at the Bethany House booth for Robin and I, and it went smashingly well; in fact, we ran out of books before the hour ended, so it was all good. And, so many people coming through the line had heard about the books--my own WAKING LAZARUS (perhaps you've heard me mention it a time or two) and Robin's RELENTLESS--and were eager to get them. I also briefly met Ted Dekker (Oh, okay, I ran up to him and accosted him right after he finished his lunch, introducing myself and babbling for a few minutes.) I'm sure he was wondering if I was about to attack him, but he was very gracious.

The absolute best thing about the show, though, hands-down, was meeting people. Some people I've corresponded with online, some I've never met before, but all of them were people I wish I'd met before. How did I go all these years without having these wonderful folks as friends. Robin Parrish and his lovely wife Karen, of course. (Robin blogged about his own ICRS impressions, in which he says I'm a natural schmoozer. Me? Schmooze? Nevah. Well. Okay, maybe. A little. Well. Okay, a lot.) I can't say how thrilled I am to be sharing shelf space with Robin. All of the wonderful Bethany House/Baker Publishing Group folks. Fellow writers such as Kim Vogel Sawyer, Brandilyn Collins, Robin Lee Hatcher, Claudia Mair Burney, Sharon Hinck, Mark Andrew Olsen, Tracie Peterston, Karen Hancock, Athol Dickson, Dale Cramer, Camy Tang...my gravy, that list goes on and on.

The book's finally hitting shelves everywhere. And yet, the funnest part of the journey is just beginning.