My Trip to South Dakota

This past weekend I got to travel to South Dakota for two reasons. The first was to visit one of my best friends who moved there last year. The other was to sign at the Author Event in Deadwood. I got to see and experience many things on this trip. My favorite (other than spending time with my friend) was getting to see Mt. Rushmore! I’ve always wanted to see it. It was very cool to witness, and even though there were a ton of tourists, we got to witness a group of people from other countries becoming US citizens! It was so cool to see these people that went through all the right channels and become citizens the correct way! It was lovely to listen to them speak about the process and how it was something that empowered them to join our country. Very cool.

It is definitely an event that really made the trip so much fun! We also went to see Crazy Horse, which was awesome because the museum there was having a Native American art show! I got to meet a ton of Native American artists that specialize in glass bead jewelry, which is my absolute favorite kind of jewelry! It has been ever since I was young and watched some Native American’s in Syracuse make earrings by hand. At one point I was even taught, though I wouldn’t know how to do it now. It’s a lovely practice, and finding authentic jewelry like that is difficult. It really was a great time to take this trip.

Also got to have my first experience signing at Wild Deadwood Reads. I met some new readers, though paranormal romance was not the go-to genre for this event. The readers were definitely looking for more sweet romance, cowboy romance, and motorcycle club romance. None of which I write. It was a really nice experience though, and the hostess, Ginger, was great! I can see why authors enjoy that event. It was put together nicely and the area is just beautiful. They have the event during Wild Deadwood Days, and there are a lot of people in town that trickle up to the event.

I have to say that my favorite part of the event was meeting the two authors near me and all 3 of us discovering that we used the same model on our books. I thought it was hilarious, and the 3 of us talked about purposely doing this again, but making a triplet-book out of it. I don’t know if that idea will ever come to fruition, but it was fun to talk about. My book is a shifter, Kaci’s book is a mountain man, and Tam’s book is a Celtic warrior. It was awesome to discover this oddity. I know that it’s not super rare to find like models on covers, it was just so cool to find it among the ladies right next to me.