Returned from "the last frontier" late last night...well, actually this morning (it was after midnight).

Whoo-hoo, I had a blast! 100% incredible.

Conference: Very well run, smooth, everyone seemed happy :-) As promised, the conf people set up a table just outside the dealers room for authors whose books were not there. Only one dealer had Footprints in the Butter, and they only had a couple of copies, so I felt justified in selling my own books. And I sold a ton. I saw a bunch of my author/friends, made new friends/fans -- it was totally great. One of the conf volunteers bought FITB - kept calling it "the yellow book" - and loved it. She was so enthusiastic, other people were buying it on her recommendation. Word of mouth, the best kind of PR!!!

Then...off to the "bush." I flew to Homer and immediately attended a (Homer) library fundraising talk. Afterwards, I had a booksigning - but I underestimated the amount of 'The Rainbow's Foot' (my saga) I'd need and promised I'd mail more to the Homer bookstore. I love it when that happens since NY told me "no one buys/likes generational sagas" and it was published by a small regional (Colorado) press.

I stayed with a lovely couple who live near Anchor Point. Walked into the house they'd designed and built themselves, and gasped. The living room rose up 19 1/2 feet, with THE most incredible view - they own 20-some-odd acres, covered with fir trees. They also collect art work by Alaskan artists, and I was almost blinded by the beauty of their eclectic collection (moose, polar bears, eagles, scenic prints).

Last Monday I visited the Nikolaevsk school in the Russian village of "Old Believers." The kids were great, dressed in Russian clothes, girls with l-o-n-g, never-cut hair. Main occupation of the village is fishing. Reminded me of Amish communities. Tuesday morning I went back to Nikolaevsk and worked with individual students, plus one retired teacher who wants to write a mystery series set in the village (sleuth would be a cleric at the Russian Orthodox Church). Tues afternoon I went to the Anchor Point library to meet with some home-schoolers, then straight to the Anchor Point library fundraiser. Wed was the Chapman school (Anchor Point). When I saw a kindergarten class on my schedule, I panicked. But the kids were so cute. After school I visited a bunch of art galleries and bought one print (a moose looking at a cat through a window) by a local artist. Alaskan artwork is so intricate, and winsical, and...lovely . Good thing I was on a budget . Thursday, I visited the school in Ninilchik (my fave). I loved the kids (9th - 12th grades), and at the end of the day they presented me with a Ninilchik High School sweatshirt, embroidered with their team mascot -- a wolverine! Sometime during the afternoon, they'd all gotten together to buy it for me, and they took pictures (of the presentation) for the yearbook. Bliss.

I took a roll of pictures (of course) and will try (eventually) to get some up on my website. The weather was brrrr-cold, but 'tis a dry cold. Everywhere I looked I saw water and mountains -- and eagles! and moose! It did snow and I worried about flying back (in my teentsy plane). But no one else seemed the least bit worried and they were right. The flight to Anchorage (early yesterday morning) was clear and breathtaking. The perfect exclamation point to my visit.

Bottom line: it was the experience of a lifetime, and I'm so glad I took advantage of the opportunity.

Now, back to work. Quite a few conference "fans" asked when the second Ingrid/Hitchcock and third diet club mysteries were/are due, so I'm focusing on my mystery deadlines (no historical romances for a while ).

My head is filled with beauty and bursting with words.

Hugs,
Deni
w/a Denise Dietz
FOOTPRINTS IN THE BUTTER - an Ingrid Beaumont Mystery co-starring Hitchcock the Dog
THE RAINBOW'S FOOT - generational saga (1893-1925 Colorado)