As I settle into the rhythms of life at home, I have received two wonderful reminders of my Beauty & Grace Journey throughout South Dakota.
The first came from the Midwest State itself, in the form of a newspaper story about my Beaut & Grace presentation to The South Dakota Women's Prison Book Club.
The story was written by Del BartelsDel Bartels, a reporter for The Pierre Capital Journal Newspaper, published in the state capital of Pierre, SD.
Del's story appeared online the day after my September 30th prison book club presentation. I was thrilled and assumed the online exposure would be the full extent of the story's publication.
As the age-old saying goes...never assume.
My new SD friend, Vonnie Karlen Shields, sent this copy of The Pierre Capital Journal's October 2nd edition with a front page story and full color photo of the two of us and a turn to p.3 with the continued story alongside a photo of me with the outstanding SD Women's Prison Warden, Wanda Markland
Talk about surprised...and grateful to Vonnie and Warden Markland for making that presentation happen. And thanks to Del for sharing my Beauty & Grace experience with the Pierre Community and beyond.
Then yesterday, as I was attempting to catch up on 12 days of mail, errands and client work that accumulated in my absence, I stopped to see Jen Heaton Reisdorf, owner of @Bookworm Books in East Aurora.
Jen had messaged me that there had been a recent run on my books and she needed more. As we chatted about my South Dakota Book Festival trip, she noted the story in The East Aurora Advertiser as the catalyst for bringing people into the store to purchase Beauty & Grace.
Realizing the story must have published while I was away, Jen retrieved her office copy of the paper and opened to a half page story with two color photos.
Again, I was surprised and grateful for the recognition by my new hometown's newspaper. And for the book lovers in East Aurora for supporting my work and Jen Reisdorf's gem of a local bookstore in our community.
Good to go away. Good to come home.