Report From Bouchercon

Bouchercon 2011 happened to coincide with my mother's 90th birthday. As both Bouchercon and Mom are in St. Louis, I was able to make both.

I had not been to Bouchercon since 2005, so I had a lot of friends to catch up with, but that's what the bar and the hospitality room are for. I spent way too much time and money in the bar and talked myself hoarse on Friday night.

One of the best things about Bouchercon is the book bag. This one was huge. I won't list all of the books I received, but two that really look exciting are The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg and The Deputy by Victor Gischler. Lackberg is one of Europe's top novelists. The buzz at Bouchercon is that she will soon be one of America's. Gischler is the author of hard-boiled crime fiction such as Gun Monkeys and Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse, so I know this one will be a wild ride.

The Private Eye Writers of America held the Shamus Award dinner on Friday night. Lori Armstrong's book, No Mercy, won best P.I. hardcover. Lori seemed shocked to win. A lot of people expected Robert Crais to get the award for The First Rule. I'm going to get Armstrong's book for sure. Mercy seemed to be the theme for the night. Michael Ayoob won Best First P.I. Novel for In Search of Mercy. Sarah Paretsky was given the Hammer Award, a new award for best character for, who else?, V.I. Warshawski. The award so move Sarah that she was speechless. The Shamus award dinner is always held off-site. This year it was held at a St. Louis landmark, Anheuser-Busch Brewery. All the beer we could drink. Thank God I didn't have to give a speech.

Bob Randisi, who founded the PWA, was one of the special guests of the convention. He's written over 550 books, averaging 16 books a year. For most writers, 16 books would be a productive career. He did not reveal any secrets except that he likes to tell stories.

None of the panels struck me as extraordinary this year, though with five concurrent sessions each hour, it was impossible to get to all of them. There might very well be some great ones that I missed. Don't get me wrong. Most of the panels I attended were informative and fun: Max Allen Collins telling about his relationship with Mickey Spillane; Collin Cotterill, Linwood Barclay, Bill Crider, Lisa Lutz and Elaine Viets talking about their one star Amazon reviews.

In reality, the panels are secondary to the real fun of Bouchercon—a four day conversation about crime fiction with writers and readers from around the world that flowed in and out of the bars, the dealer room and through the halls.

Mark Troy
Hawaiian Eye Blog
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Only in San Francisco

While attending Bouchercon, I went on a three hour long cable car tour of San Francisco. The cable cars we toured in had actually been turned into busses. We went everywhere you'd expect to go, Fisherman's Wharf, we had a great view of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz, Chinatown, lots of wonderful parks and classy neighborhoods and some not so classy neighborhoods. We visited Golden Gate Park and the ocean with surfers. We also drove through Haight Ashbury, which hasn't really changed a lot since the 60s and through the rainbow flag decorated Castro district contrasting a lot with the austere buildings in the financial district. Each of these places had distinct types of inhabitants as well as the tourists gawking at the sights and the people.

One place we passed that brought back old memories was the hotel I'd stayed in during the early 60s when I attended a PTA convention. Some things hadn't changed a lot, while others had definitely changed, one being back in my earlier visit cable car rides were free, this time it cost $5 one way.

I've reported about the actual Bouchercon in other places, but to make this mystery related, one thing I noticed were the many homeless people who parked themselves around the beautiful Hyatt Regency Embarcadaro where the con was held. Some, I'm positive because of their actions, were crazy.

One night, my roommate, Gay Kinman, and I went to a P.I. awards dinner in Chinatown. We took the cable car and the only way we knew it was time to get off was when I spotted all the Chinese lanterns decorating the very steep hill into the tourist part of Chinatown. After the great dinner upstairs in the old Empress restaurant which had been there long before my fist visit to San Francisco, we headed home. No cable cars were availabel though we waited in a marked cable car stop, and despite Gay's valiant efforts, no cabs wanted to stop for us. Finally, we decided to walk back to the hotel which fortunately was downhill, unfortunately, several very long blocks.

It was about 10 p.m. and there were others on the street, mainly young folks going into local pubs and dancing establishments. We also passed some of the aforementioned homeless. And no cable cars passed on the way downhill so it was a good thing we hadn't waited. Was it safe for us to be walking on the street at that hour? Probably not, but we made it.

My ride to the airport Sunday a.m. was also an adventure. I'd been told to wait in the street in front of the hotel. The valet said not to do that but to wait on a bench in front of the hotel. The van arrived early. He had a horrible time maneuvering around to get to his next pick-up because many streets had been barricaded because of a pending marathon race. Finally we arrived in front of a rather seedy hotel in Chinatown to pick up the next traveler, a young woman from Columbia who was here because of job training. While we drove, I spotted homeless people sleeping on the sidewalk in both good and bad parts of town. Next we parked on a very steep hill while the driver looked for an address--was glad when he got back in because I'm not sure I could have made it into the front seat to steer the van if the emergency brake hadn't held, in which case we would have zoomed down the hill to end up in a concrete wall. The passenger was waiting in front of a house at the bottom of the hill--a Chinese woman heading home to Seattle after visiting friends.

A note about Bouchercon itself, nearly 2000 people attended and a large percent were mystery writers (famous and not so), those who wanted to be mystery writers, and the largest group were readers and fans. The best places to find people to talk with was in hospitality room where refreshments were free, or in the bar where nothing was free.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

Life Getting in the Way of Writing

Recently I wrote a blog about writers writing--something we all need to do. I'd like to write on my work-in-progress for at least three hours every day. Sometimes I can, more often, I'm lucky if I can write a page or two.

This coming week life will certainly get in the way of my regular writing. And it all began last weekend when we headed for San Luis Obispo and the Central Coast Book Festival. As all writers know, we all must spend some time on in-person events where we can interest readers in buying our books.

While I'm there I have a dinner planned with a good writing friend the first night and after the festival, dinner with my publisher. I don't get to see her often, though we're in touch via e-mail (a plus of being with a small publisher), so this will be a treat.

We didn't come home until Monday and as anyone knows who goes on a trip, I came home to mail to be taken care of, phone calls to answer, laundry, etc. When this come out, I'll be grocery shopping.

On Wednesday, I have a meeting with a group that I write a monthly newsletter for. Most of it is done already, but when I get home I'll have to finish it up and get it ready to send out.

I'll take the newsletter to the printers on Thursday (they also do the mailing, I've got the stamped envelopes ready to go) and then on to get my yearly mammogram. When I get home I have to make preparations for the huge pot of chili I'll be making at or family reunion on Saturday--plus pack, etc.

We leave Friday morning for the family reunion and may be taking a great-granddaughter with us (not sure yet.) The reunion is in Barstow CA. Anyone who knows anything about Barstow knows it's in the middle of the Mojave desert the last city before Las Vegas. Why have a reunion there? Because it's right in the middle for my sister's family (they all live in Vegas) and mine (scattered all over Southern and Central California.)

Sis and two female cousins are the elders of the crowd. We have kids, grandkids and great grands who attend with the youngest around two. Two granddaughters and a niece are in charge, and everyone is kept busy when they aren't just visiting, and it's really fun. I do bring my latest books for anyone who might be so inclined to buy one. But no, I don't get any writing done.

It is a good time to observe characters though--we have many in our family. We don't have any fighting, thank goodness, the ones who don't get along well with others don't come.

Often, while on long drives I do some brainstorming with hubby about what's going on in whatever book I'm writing and I always have a notebook to jot down ideas--but that's about as close to writing as I get on these trips.

One this month is over, I'll have some writing time until Bouchercon.

I know I'm not unique--life always elbows it's way into our plans for writing.

Marilyn Meredith

Mystery Convention Time

The Edgars were this week and Malice Domestic this weekend, and I've been hearing all kinds of banter about both on Facebook and all the lists that I'm on. Obviously, I didn't go to either.

I've been to Malice twice and once to the Edgars. Enjoyed both, but living in a dinky place in the middle of California, traveling to the East coast can be a pain. I've decide that from now on, I'm only going to events that are easy to get to.

Having said that, the mystery convention I'm headed to next is Mayhem in the Midlands. It used to be an easier trip than it is now. Last year we were stranded in Denver overnight due to some weather and missing the only plane out of Denver to Bakersfield and there wasn't another the next day. We ended up flying to Fresno and having to ask a relative to pick us up there and drive us to Bakersfield airport to pick up our car.

This year, we're still coming back through Denver, but will be flying from there to San Francisco and then Bakersfield. (Haven't broken that news to my husband yet.)

We love Mayhem and Omaha so hope we have so much fun it won't matter that we're making this weird trip to get home. And I'm on two panels, moderating another, and doing an author chat with two others.

In June, it's the Public Safety Writers Conference which is a writers conference with a lot of speakers and panels geared toward the whole writing experience as well as writing mysteries. Because I'm in charge of the program, I'm a bit anxious but also looking forward to it. It's the only place where I can boss police officers, FBI men and others in the law enforcement field around. Kind of heady for an old lady.

I'm also planning on going to San Francisco in the fall to Bouchercon. A good friend asked me to be her roommate and I figured it was a sign that I ought to go. Bouchercons are always a bit overwhelming, but lots of fun.

What conventions/conferences to like to attend?

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

Conferences...Learn Something New? by Chester Campbell

My high school alumni association holds a monthly luncheon at a cafeteria not far from where I live. The largest attendance is from classes in the 1940s and 1950s. That makes sense as most all of us from that era don’t have to worry about day jobs. It’s always fun to reminisce about what we did “back then,” as well as chat about what the grandchildren are doing. We usually have a speaker on some subject of interest, and Thursday it was a woman who had written a book on discounts for seniors. She made an amusing talk, but as we were leaving my wife asked me, “Did you learn anything you didn’t already know?”

Very little, if anything, I was forced to admit. It got me to thinking about mystery conferences and conventions. Do I learn anything new when I go to one those?

In the past I’ve attended as many as six in a year, ranging from Florida to Indiana to Texas to Las Vegas. With the current economic climate, I’m cutting down to three in 2009, including one just across the county line to the south (Killer Nashville). The other two are SleuthFest in Florida, a perennial favorite, and Bouchercon, an easy half-day drive away in Indianapolis.

During the first few years, I took copious notes, digesting all sorts of useful information on writing, publishing, marketing, and a slew of other subjects that go into the mix. I also made lots of contacts with other writers, a number of fans, bookstore people, agents, editors, etc.

Now, rather than learning new things about the business, I find I am more often reminded of things I learned in the past but have not been putting into practice. Conferences have become more like a refresher course. Dialogue? Break up all those quotes with a little action. Sure, I knew that, but had I been paying enough attention to it? That’s just a minor example.

I chat with old friends and meet new ones. It’s an opportunity to put a face to those names I’ve been scanning in the emails. I might find somebody new who’d be willing to blurb the next book. And there’s always the chance of picking up a promotional idea I hadn’t considered, or unearthing an interesting way to jazz up a book signing. You’re never too old or jaded to learn something new. It’s just that there aren’t all that many things out there you hadn’t encountered before.

In earlier days I was always concerned about getting my books in the Dealer Room. I still like to have them available. But I’ve learned that lacking a household name in the mystery world, the chances of selling more than a handful of books at a conference are pretty slim. Especially at a major event like Bouchercon. I’ll never forget my first one in Vegas when I sat at my table in the signing room like the proverbial wallflower. The vacant table beside me had a line winding out into the hallway. I later learned they were waiting for James Lee Burke. One guy said he meant to come by my table but he didn’t want to get out of line.

Now I mostly choose small conferences, where you get a chance to meet most of the people and interact with those who are really interested in reading your books. Killer Nashville is one of those. This will be the fourth year, and it’s developing into a nice venue with some great speakers and interesting panels. And it’s fairly inexpensive. If you haven’t checked it out, here’s a link.

Bottom line, conferences have important values, whether you learn much new or not.