On Saturday July 27 I got a last minute invitation to Authors in the Park in Freeland, PA. I wish I had heard about this event sooner, but I am glad I still got to go. We had beautiful weather in a picturesque location. It turns out we have quite a few writers in our area, as the event had about twenty present. It was a great opportunity to network, meet a few new readers, and I also got to spend the afternoon chatting with one of Schuylkill County’s newest published authors, Dean Alan Conrad.

I first met Dean at the author class I hosted at the Orwigsburg Library back in February of 2023. He had three completed novels sitting in his closet, had already been burned by a publisher who bought his book then disappeared, and wasn’t sure what to do next to make his dream a reality. We kept in touch after the class, and I did what I could to share my experiences with self-publishing. Well, long story short, Dean kept at it, and the first book of his trilogy is now in print. Authors in the Park was his first signing, and from what I saw, he may have done better there than anyone. It’s definitely a good sign when another author across the room buys your book and starts reading it right then and there.

The message here is that if you believe in your book, you can get it into the hands of readers that will love it. Dean overcame years of rejections, health issues, and a busy family life and still managed to get his work edited, get a great cover, and publish it. Now it is in readers’ hands. That is a huge milestone. I love seeing fellow writers with a dream do their homework and then get out there with their story.

I hope the other aspiring writers reading this find some inspiration here to never give up. Yes, publication is a ton of work, whether you self publish or go the traditional route. Your book may or may not end up a bestseller, but you have to remind yourself that by reaching that goal of seeing your work in print, you have finished what you started. That is the accomplishment.

Best of luck to Dean! And if there are any Horror readers out there that like a good vampire story, please check out his book, After Dark.