
A HUGE thank you to Beagle and Wolf Books & Bindery in Park Rapids, MN, for the invite to Author Fest!
Twenty-fiveish authors from the Minnesota area (and a nice lady from Bismarck, ND) gathered at the American Legion to swap books, stories, and friendship, and to sell and sign books.
Unwillable enjoyed a wonderful following and lots of questions?!? (And a new marketing plan where I'll pretend to be Caitlin Clark!)
Scenes from Author Fest, Park Rapids, MN:
Take One: Author of Unwillable, Jackie M. Stebbins, sits behind a table at the American Legion with copies of her books to sign, when a woman in her early seventies approaches to pick up and flip through the book.
Woman: “The woman on this book cover looks just like that good basketball player from Iowa.”
Jackie: Beams. Then realizes the woman doesn’t realize that’s Jackie on the cover.
“Awww, that’s so sweet. I actually get that a lot.”
Woman: A tiny bit confused. “Did you play at Iowa?”
Jackie: Starts to answer-
but is cut off by her new friend at the table next to her, who is a Lutheran Pastor’s wife
Lutheran Pastor’s Wife: -“No! Jackie’s too short!”
Jackie: Tries to be humble, but also feels the fervent need to set the record straight, as somewhere the song Glory Days begins to play. “Oh no, I didn’t play at Iowa. But I DID play basketball. At age 14, I was the state free throw champion.”
Lutheran Pastor and his wife stare. “Really! Seriously?”
Jackie: ☺️ “And I shot a lot of 3s. But not like that.”
Woman: Smiles and walks away (without a copy of Unwillable and seemingly very confused by what’s just transpired 🤣).
Pastor’s Wife: “I think you should put a basketball on your book table.” 🏀💛🖤

If you've never been to Park Rapids, head there asap, because it's the cutest lake town ever! And check out the world's best indie bookstore - Beagle and Wolf!!