Yesterday was Labor Day, Lord, and for the first time in many, many years, I haven’t labored on Labor Day. For most of the past twenty years I’ve been in France on the first Monday in September, and there’s no holiday over there. But for the four times in the past twenty years when I’ve been in the US over Labor Day weekend, I’ve spent that weekend hard at work and loving it.

All because of The Decatur Book Festival.

The first time I attended what has become the largest independent book festival in America was back in 2008. Bethany House, my publisher, graciously reserved me an Exhibitors booth where I spent all of Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend, tucked inside a tent with my novels, sharing with many, many people who stopped by the booth to browse, ask questions, or share that they knew of my novels. And many of those people bought a copy of one of my books. Hauling the books to the festival and being ‘on call’ for two days straight in the hot Georgia weather was a lot of work, but also a delight.

I had THE BEST TIME being surrounded by all of my Atlanta family as they went above and beyond to help me publicize my books at the festival.

And of course what a treat to meet so many of my readers! I even had a whole book club stop by to encourage me.

In 2010, I couldn’t wait to be back in Atlanta for another wonderful weekend at the Decatur Book Festival. This time, my nephews wore sandwich boards to publicize my books.

My sweet father even got in on the sandwich board fun as he and my mom strolled the streets of downtown Decatur along with about 10,000 other book enthusiasts!

And my brand-new daughter-in-law, Lacy, joined in with husband, Andrew, my parents, and two bridesmaids for the weekend’s adventures.

At the festival in 2012, I had the joy of having all three of the novels in The Secrets of the Cross trilogy for sale, including the third in the series, Two Destinies. I’d written the trilogy in 1996, 1997, and 1998, but Two Destinies remained unpublished until 2012.

The extra special blessing was to be able to celebrate the release of Two Destinies with my mother, as the novel was dedicated to her.

My last visit to the Decatur Book Festival was in 2016. It was a bittersweet festival because Mom had passed away quite unexpectedly only 5 months earlier. She had always been one of my biggest cheerleaders and loved attending my book events almost as much as I did. Although I was celebrating the release of The Long Highway Home, after a hiatus of several years with no new book contracts in the US, it felt strange not to have Mom there with us.

Still, Paul, son Chris, and many other family members, including grandson, Jesse, came out for the weekend fun and made Mom’s absence a little less painful.

I was so looking forward to being at the festival this year and getting to interact face-to-face with wonderful readers from across the city and country. The Decatur Book Festival has become a highlight for me as an author. So when the actual festival was cancelled because of Covid-19, I was disappointed.

A change of plans.

So many of our plans have been changed because of this pandemic.

Instead of working very hard for 48 hours at a fun festival, Paul and I had a different type of Labor Day. Our son Chris and his precious girlfriend Ashlee came up from Atlanta to spend the weekend with us in Flintstone, Georgia. We had a magical time hanging out together, hiking on Lookout Mountain, and enjoying a truly labor-less weekend of love.

How did you spend Labor Day weekend and did any of your plans have to be changed because of Covid?

ELIZABETH MUSSER writes ‘entertainment with a soul’ from her writing chalet—tool shed—outside Lyon, France. Find more about Elizabeth’s novels at www.elizabethmusser.com and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and her blog. +