Ivy Vine Book Club, Great Lakes Region, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Alpha Sigma Omega Chapter – Virtual Author Appearance

Networking is a beautiful thing. This was my second virtual author appearance and this opportunity came about while I was booked to make my first virtual author appearance with The Ladies Who Love Literature book club meeting in October 2020. It all happened when Soror Gayle Lloyd, its founder connected me with Soror Crystal Echols, IVBC Chairman of the Ivy Vine Book Club, Great Lakes Region, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Alpha Sigma Omega Chapter.

Ms. Echols booked me as the guest author for their last book club meeting of the year on December 28, 2020 at 7 pm. I was thrilled to spend the evening with these wonderful ladies who savored every bit of the juicy drama, the characters, plot twists, and surprises of my first romantic suspense novel, Gotta Let It Go. 

The Agenda for the evening was as follows: 

• Welcome (Soror Carrie J. Clark, Great Lakes Regional Director)
• Introduction of Author  (Soror Crystal Echols, IVBC Chairman)
• Book Discussion (Soror Gayle Lloyd, IVBC Committee)
• Author Q&A  (Soror Wiona Berry, IVBC Committee)
• Author Giveaway/Toast (Ms. Deliah Lawrence)
• Closing Remarks 

We had a fantastic time talking about what pulled them into the book and I explained that an author should always strive to hook their readers with the first line, the first paragraph or the first ten pages of their book. Next, some of the Sorors mentioned they loved that I created real characters doing real things like eating and working out. I told them authors should always make their characters believable to the point where readers could see themselves, their friends, lovers, etc. 

With that being said, there was one question that got a lot of comments: “What adjectives would you use to describe Deidre, Kyle, and Detective Harris?” Here’s what some of the Sorors had to say: 

Deidre: Enabling, “Doing the most,” real, no patience, strong, etc.

Kyle: Fine, arrogant, controlling, slick, unkind, womanizer, etc.

Detective Harris: Chivalrous, secretive, protective, mysterious, fine, etc. 

The Sorors also had a lot to say about this question: “Are there some secrets that should be taken to the grave?” Many of them said that secrets no matter how painful should be told upfront with minor exceptions and that secrets hurt the folks who hold on to them the most. I totally agree with this.

Overall, it was a wonderful and energetic evening filled with great discussions and questions. Thanks again to Soror Gayle Lloyd for making the introduction and thanks to Soror Crystal Echols for coordinating this event working alongside Sorors Carrie J. Clark, Gayle Lloyd and Wiona Berry. We closed out the evening with a toast I made to the group for a Happy, Healthy and Safe New Year! Awesomeness! 

Here are some photos from the event. Enjoy!