The 2025 South Dakota Festival of Books will be seeing Jane and me this September in Spearfish. Word came in late May that my workshop proposal was accepted, and I couldn’t be more pleased. Here are a few reasons why:
- Our son was born at the Spearfish hospital in May of 1982, a day my husband and I will never forget.
- Before our baby was born we loved to camp at the Spearfish City Campground. After he was born, we didn’t. Now that he’s grown we stay there when we pass through because it is a beautiful place. We’ve already reserved our campsite for during the Festival.
- Spearfish is located on the northern edge of the Black Hills, which means the city is West River, as in The West River Mysteries. What could be finer than to be smack dab in the middle of the series’ target audience?
- The city is ninety miles from Camp Crook, where we lived from 1978-1985. After the Festival we’ll head up there to visit friends for a week. (Don’t tell anybody, but that’s the reason we love best.)
Here’s what I know so far about the Festival:
- It will be held September 26-28 at a variety of venues throughout the town.
- There will be well-known authors and lesser known ones (like me) doing workshops, but all of them have South Dakota, Midwestern, or Western roots.
- Most of the events are free, and there will be many, many books available for purchase.
- Henry’s Books, my favorite Spearfish bookstore, will be handling the See Jane book sales and my book signing. Wahoo!
- My confirmed workshop is called Building a Book from the Bones of Your Life. It uses See Jane Dig! to demonstrate how to use life events as a springboard for a story, as well as how to augment it through creative research.
- There’s a good chance I’ll present another workshop and participate in an author panel.
More details will be passed along at a later date. For now feast your eyes on this photo of the Spearfish City Campground. Yes, it really is this beautiful!
