JENNY'S EXPERIENCE: ONCE UPON A BOOK 2019

Welcome to Black Words-White Pages and today, I am going to try and do a recap of everything that happened at #OUAB2019. Before I go any further, I want to talk a bit about what happened before the event happened.....

Now, I don't want any sympathy for what has happened in my life but I want to share about how everything happened before I was going to be going to the event. On June 11, 2019, I got the shock of a lifetime....Marvin Mullins, the love of my life, left me and left me with a lot of struggles. I don't want to go into details because some of it I can't even answer. I contacted my friend and fellow book nerd, Lynn Shaw and told her about what had happened to me and told her that I wouldn't be at this year's author event. She told me to hold on and she was going to contact Stacey Rourke, who is the one who puts the event together......

Before I go on, I have to say that we have the most amazing Indie Tribe EVER!!

A little bit later, I heard from Stacey Rourke herself. And she told me that at that time she didn't know how we would pull it off, but they were going to make sure I was there because it wouldn't be the same without me there. Stacey's daughter heard what was going on and brought her mother her piggy bank and said, "Miss Jenny has to come to Once Upon A Book". That really touched my heart!!! So Lynn, with permission from Stacey, posted in the OUAB Author group and gave them a bit of information about what happened and asked if they could raise enough money for me to still go to the event. Within 3 days time, there was enough money for me to go, bring a friend, pay for the motel room and extra. Plus, there was an auction and enough household and kitty supplies to help me out for a while.

I want to take a moment to thank everybody who has helped me get through this tough time whether it was money, gifts, cards, text messages, Facebook messages, words of encouragement or kind words. I also have to thank my Fellowship Missions family as well. Because of all of you, I don't know where I would be right now and I will never have the right words to express how grateful of you all I am. You all truly mean a lot to me!!! Thank you all so very much!!

NOW...without further adieu, let's get on with OUAB 2019......

This year, I took my friend Jaimie Graham with me. She does love to read books, but with the help of Rue Volley and 13 Ways to Midnight, I have brought her over to the Indie Author side....😂

This year, OUAB was held on July 19-20 and Jaimie and I headed up to Frankenmuth, Michigan on July 18th and stayed until July 21st.

THE MORNING OF JULY 18TH

Jaimie and I left at 6:30 am on July 18th to start our journey to Frankenmuth, Michigan.

This is the beautiful view that God blessed us with that morning. For Jaimie and I, it was about a 4 hour drive from Warsaw, Indiana to Frankenmuth, Michigan.

JULY 18TH. FRANKENMUTH, MICHIGAN

Once, Jaimie and I made it to Frankenmuth, Michigan, we had a few hours to kill and we decided to check out Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland, because in all the times I have been to Michigan, I have never went there, so.......

Jaimie and I spent 3 hours looking through this store and we had so much fun too!!

Then Jaimie and I stopped for some KFC before going to check in to our hotel.

HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS HOTEL

Jaimie and I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel in downtown Frankenmuth and in walking distance of everything. Check out the video....😊

Jaimie and I also thought it was funny about how high the bed was and how funny it was for me to get into it....

WALKING THROUGH FRANKENMUTH

I faced my fears of walking over a bridge with water under it. It was so scary but I did it several times. You can't see it very good, but there was a Mill that was across the water.

SITE SEEING

THE COUNTRY STORE

Jaimie and I went through this store before we met everybody at Tiffany's for dinner at 6 pm est. While Jaimie and I were enjoying ourselves in this store, Cheree Castellanos heard my laugh and she called out my name and I gave her a HUGE hug!!!

 TIFFANY'S

This is where we had reservations for dinner to meet up with a few people. Sadly, Lynn Shaw was not here and we missed her so much!! 😢

BUT WE DID MEET UP WITH......

(Rue Volley, Jill and their friend Katie)

(Heather H Mullins and hubby Sam)

(Shar Webster, Julie Wetzel and SF Benson)

(Solease M Barner and Smitty Barner)

(Another picture of Heather H Mullins, Jaimie Graham and me)

Tiffany's selfie

(I tried their personal pan pita ham and pineapple pizza)

Jaimie and I had a blast hanging out with everybody that night too!! And then on our way back to our hotel, we got a closer look at the carriage rides that the town had to offer.

Then before we called it a night, Jaimie and I sat out on the patio at our hotel room to end the first day of our adventure....

THAT CONCLUDES DAY 1
JULY 19TH 

(Morning Selfie before leaving for the day)

BREAKFAST AT THE HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS HOTEL

I am going to explain that I have NEVER been to a hotel that serves a full hot meal before...that is until we went to this one. Usually it's coffee and donuts but this had a full buffet style breakfast and it was so yummy!! 😋 And we ate there every morning too!!
OFF TO THE BAVARIAN INN LODGE

There were of course signs everywhere for us to follow...
And before Jaimie and I got upstairs, we found......

(Bridgette South, my business partner)

AND

(Tina Donnelly)

10 AM REGISTRATION 

(This was our schedule for the weekend)

AND 10:30 AM PANELS STARTED

(Our Key Note Speaker A.M Hargrove)

(A.M. Hargrove)

CHECK OUT THE VIDEO BELOW....SORRY ABOUT THE SOUND...

JAIMIE AND I GOT A SELFIE IN BEFORE PANELS STARTED....

(Jaimie Graham and I)

FULL SWIPE OF THE ROOM BEFORE PANELS

THEN THE PANELS STARTED...

(Advanced Marketing Tactics Panel 1)

(Bloggers, Reviewers and Promo Teams -Oh My! Panel 2)  

(Everything You Need To Know About Writing For Shared Worlds Panel 3)

2 pm est-BREAK
Since Jaimie and I had more time to kill before the ball and awards show, we decided to go exploring the town some more before heading back to our hotel. We went and tried out a BBQ place that the guy at the hotel desk recommended called Slo Bones BBQ and it was pretty good...

And then on our way back to our hotel, we came across this awesome little coffee shop called The Harvest Coffeehouse & Beanery and we decided to stop inside and check it out and yes, we sat and visited for a little bit too....

We each got a delicious sugar free french vanilla iced latte while we sat and rested from our walking. It was REALLY good too!! 😋

GETTING READY FOR THE BALL...

This years theme was Comic Book Characters and Jaimie and I just wore T-Shirts for the ball.

7 PM DINNER, AWARDS AND THE BALL WITH DANCING

(Quick Scan of the Ball Room)

(This was our center piece at our table)

THEN THE OPENING

(The start of OUAB)

THE MEAL

(Salad)

(I stuck to my keto diet as close as I could)

(Apple Pie, which I didn't eat because it wasn't keto)

(To celebrate Stacey Rourke's Eldest birthday and other July birthdays for the week, everybody got a special cupcake too)

BEFORE THE AWARDS SHOW.....

AND...

AWARDS SHOW...

This year I was nominated for Reader of the Year and Blogger of the Year and sadly, I didn't win but it is always an honor to be nominated and the winners from the videos for......

BLOGGER OF THE YEAR...

AMBER GARCIA OF LADY AMBER'S REVIEWS & PR

READER OF THE YEAR...

BAM SHEPHERD

Congratulations to these two amazing ladies!! I am so super happy that they won!!

PICTURES

While I was at the ball, I had my picture taken with a couple of my favorite authors!!

(Casey Bond)

AND...

(Amy Hale dressed as Velma from Scooby Doo)

THEN THE DANCING STARTED...

MORE PICTURES FROM THE DANCE FLOOR...

MY FINAL VIDEO OF THE NIGHT...

JULY 20TH THE SIGNING...
Before Jaimie and I left for the signing, I had a bit of fun taking selfies....

 (Me and my golden ticket)

AND THE SURPRISE GIFT FOR DOUGLAS PIERCE FROM JENNIFER KONKLE...

9 AM AUTHOR SIGNING FOR GOLDEN AND VIP TICKET HOLDERS.....
THEN I SURPRISED DOUGLAS PIERCE...
And because the sound isn't so great I have the pictures of the candy dish that I presented to Douglas Pierce from Jennifer Konkle......
If you have read The Maiden's Song, you will understand what each thing means. If you don't understand, purchase your copy of either The Maiden's Song or The Hunted Maiden and The Seedling's Song. Here is what the note basically said....

On top of the lid is the flutes that resemble the two flutes within the story. Under the lid is the mother tree. 

On the top of the pot, is the peach seed. The Owl represents Seldy in some way.

The Tiger and the Wolf also represents Seldy in some way.

This is the entire candy dish put together.

Now I know some of you don't understand what I am talking about and I will not give any spoilers....so you have to go and buy the books which are on sale on AMAZON right now!!

MORE PICTURES TAKEN AT THE AUTHOR SIGNING...

(Left-Right: Amber Rollison, Jennifer Moody, Casey Bond and photo bomb, me)

(Amy Hale)

(Angie Ready)

(Clint Lewing- Cover Model for Hell of a Night by Hope Daniels and Alicia Dawn)

(A Wolfie with Seldy-Wolf and Douglas Pierce)

(Cheree Castellanos)

(Heather H Mullins and her fish tank that I did for her with the crocheted fish that I also made)

(Hope Daniels)

(Kathy-Lynn Cross)

(Mackenzie Flohr)

(T.L. Shively and her hubby won the raffle basket that Douglas put together to raise money for me. I was the one to pick out the winning ticket too)

THE END OF THE SIGNING..

Then after Jaimie and I got settled back at our hotel, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon in the pool...well that is before it started storming really bad and the hotel lost power.....Here is pictures from the damage...

(Jaimie took all these pictures from the house right next to the hotel)

Since Jaimie and I were stuck in the lobby for a little bit, I decided to start reading Heather H Mullins' new release called Away in the Woods.

Then I got tired of sitting in the hard chairs and I decided to climb the steps to the second floor where our hotel room was. The electric was restored at about 6 am est on Sunday morning. Jaimie and I were able to get a hot breakfast before we made the trip home.

Once Jaimie and I got to Fort Wayne, we stopped for lunch at Golden Corral and this was our final picture too....

NOW THE PICTURES OF THE GOODIES FROM OUAB 2019...

(This was everything I brought back with me)

(Swag. Some I gave to Jaimie and the rest will be for future giveaways)

(My book haul. 2 coloring books and 42 books total)

MY PRESENTS

(This is Rue Volley's 13 Ways to Midnight book 2 cover. It is in a picture frame and is signed by Rue herself)

(My Praise for Rue's book is on the right and now Rue is proudly displayed on my wall)

(A beautiful wrap bracelet from Solease M Barner)

(Some Perfectly Posh items from Crystal Gray)

(Dragon gloves and a fan from Susan Bordorf)

(Signed posters from Casey Bond)

(A signed poster from Mackenzie Flohr)

(Swag from Darlene Kuncytes)

(A beautiful bracelet and earrings set from July Barnard and Lois Beeney)

(An awesome swag pack from SF Benson aka Nadirah Foxx)

(I won the genie lamp from Jessica Cage and I pre-ordered a dragon painting from her)

(A Pink Geode)

(An awesome card from various people)

(A REAPER T, casket and a new skull spoon from Kathy-Lynn Cross)

(My ornament from Bronner's)

(Swag from Rachael Brownell)

AND FROM TINA DONNELY..

(Candles)

(Origami Owl necklaces)

(This is a locket with the word LOVE, a kitty head and red jewels in it representing July rubies)

(OUAB pendent with Books are Forever on the back)

FROM TINA DONNELLY AND HER SISTER CASSIE SHIVELY...

(A tote full of goodies)

(An awesome cup with kitties on it)

(Toys and treats for Angel Bell)

 (And of course.....

Angel Bell Loved it all) 

AND MORE YARN FROM BRENDA HASSE

 MY SIGNED BOARD MADE BY BECCA VINCENZA

(Signed by Author and Book Friends alike)

Jenny's final words.....

Like I said above, we have a wonderful tribe and I am forever grateful to them all for making my dream to be at OUAB again this year!! A huge thank you to Stacey Rourke, her husband Jay and all the volunteers and helpers that made this year another epic one to remember!! I got to make new friends and hang out with friends I made in the past events. I am very sad that Lynn Shaw and her MIL, Mary could not make it due to flight cancellations but I hope to see them next year and give them HUGE hugs!! Next year's event is scheduled for July 24-25 and the theme is Monster Ball!! I hope to get to go again for year 5 and I hope to see you all there too!! I highly recommend this event to all ages to enjoy!!

Jenny's Rating