First things first. Here are the Christy Award Winners:

Contemporary: Winter Birds, Jamie Langston Turner
Contemporary series: The Brethren, Beverly Lewis
Historical: Madman, Tracy Groot
Lits: Sisterchicks in Gondolas, Robin Jones Gunn
Romance: The Measure of a Lady, Deeanne Gist
Suspense: Plague Maker, Tim Downs
First Novel: Where Mercy Flows, Karen Harter
Young Adult: William Henry is a Fine Name, Cathy Gohlke

That "lits" category is new and not to be confused with something like, say, The Age of Innocence. Rather it's more along the lines of chick-lit, as you can see by the name of the winning title.

Now that we have the news category covered, I'll fill you in on my own comings and goings. I had days full of meetings and greetings, and nights slumber-partying with roomie Mary DeMuth. Most events were work-related. Did an interview with CBA Retailers and Resources, the trade mag for booksellers. Met lots of bookstore owners (the main purpose) who expressed interest in carrying my stuff. Kelly Stern from the DTS Book Center proved herself quite the sales-friend as she helped me give away about four cases of my two new Bible studies to strategic people in a little over an hour. Good news: I'm told Lifeway has picked up the series and plans to do an "end cap" display of them in August.

While at dinner Monday, I received a call from my friend and former DTS prof, Bob Pyne, who was there to launch his book with his coauthor and my friend Joni Powers. I met up with them for dessert at the uber-cool Thai restaurant/church-plant location, Spoon, located in the eclectic Westside community just a mile from the convention center. The church planter joined us as he could throughout the night and blessed us with both his presence and a chocolate-chip-mousse-filled crepe (or its Thai equivalent) on the house. The evening gave the whole convention experience (ugh) a needed humanness (ah!).

Sidebar: You know how when you walk into a cathedral you can feel small, but it's a great small? You realize how big God is and how amazing it is that you're considered so precious. Well, at a convention, you can walk in and feel small, but it's a bad small. You realize how little you matter to anyone there. So it's always good to go with friends because they make it easier to remember you have a whole other life and relationships outside of the convention/book signing/sales floor that won't rise or fall based on how many books you sell or the predicted success of your latest.

I took Kelly and her foodie husband to Spoon the next night, and they gave it two thumbs up with phrases like "fresh" and "outstanding flavor" and "excellent." (I'm telling you, if you're ever in Atlanta and want some fantastic fare that's a little left of center and right on the money, check out Spoon.)

Kregel gave away lots of copies of the third edition of Sexual Intimacy, and even had color photos of it in the daily news for convention-goers. And I did a book signing of pre-release copies of Informed Consent. A highlight of that time was meeting a couple from a book store in Tillamook, Oregon, which is near our family vacation spot on the Oregon coast. (I told them I may name my next protagonist Peter Iredale, the name of the boat shipwrecked near Tillamook at Ft. Stevens. It'll be our inside joke.) They gave me their card and invited me to do a signing next time I'm in town.

My last event was a tour of CNN's national headquarters, during which I found out how to become a news source for them.

I'm glad to be home. Though it's July in Texas, I have moss growing on my sidewalk. We've never had moss here, let alone in July. But after going without sun for about seven weeks, I think I see some light peeking at me this morning. Sunshine on a green lawn in July? It's extra great to be home!