What I Miss Most in My Writing Life Since I've Gotten Older

Me in the middle and Radine on the left--at some conference, not sure where.

And when I say older, I mean older.

Used to be, hubby and I went to every Bouchercon and Left Coast Crime and a few of the smaller cons that no longer exist like Love is Murder and Mayhem in the Midlands. We had a great time. We loved visiting the different cities all over the United States--but most of all what we loved the most was all the people we met and became friends with. When we saw them again, it was like connecting with family.

What reminded me of what I'm missing was reading Radine Nehring's post yesterday. Radine and her husband John were two of the people we met and enjoyed spending time with at several cons.

Hubby can no longer do that kind of traveling, and though I did go to a few by myself, I'm not comfortable doing that anymore either. Though I used to love to fly, I don't anymore for many reasons.

Oh, I'm certainly not completely homebound, but I only attend events I can get to by car--and when my daughter is willing to drive me there. Which means mostly I'm attending events in California. One big exception is the Public Safety Writers Association in Las Vegas--and she loves to go to that one with me, and hubby likes to go there too. Both help with selling books at the conference itself.

This year so far I've been to two fairly close book fairs and I'm signed up for a couple of others in the future. I'm participating in a one day writer's conference on the coast--and daughter will be in charge of the book sales.

I'm going to be the speaker this Saturday for the San Joaquin chapter of Sisters in Crime, so I am still getting out there. And yes, I have lots of writers friends at all these events.

What I really miss though, is walking into a big conference hotel and immediately seeing familiar faces--faces of friends (writers and readers) that I've met at other conferences. The feeling is much like a family reunion. What I still do have though, is lots of great memories of those wonderful times and the most friendly and interesting people.

Is there anything any of the rest of  you can't or don't do anymore that you used to? Not necessarily because of getting old like me, perhaps it's the cost, or not having the time, or maybe something you've decided is not the best use of your time.

Marilyn

Me and Lorna Collins at Epic in San Antonio

Reminiscing about Mystery Cons

For a blog I was writing about going to cons and conferences for my upcoming blog tour, I started reminiscing about all the good times, the fun places we've visited, and the great people, authors and readers, we've met along the way.

At Left Coast Crime in Alaska, I met two young Native sisters--or as they prefer, Eskimos, who came to the con as mystery fans. I spent quite a bit of time with them. The older sister, Katina, and I have kept in contact since then via email. I always send her my latest book and she's sent me all sorts of things including an Eskimo cook book and several smoked salmons. When Bouchercon went to Anchorage, I let her know I was coming and she invited me to stay a few days with her in Wasilla. We had a grand time together.

When Left Coast was in El Paso TX, a place we'd never considered visiting, I became friends with David Cole who writes wonderfully dark mysteries with Native American threads running through.

Bouchercon is the biggest mystery con and of course I've run into and made friends with all sorts of people at this one. My very first one was in Monterey where I was on a panel and had no idea what I was doing there as I had no copies of my book with me. Penny Warner's husband took pity on me and visited with me during the booksigning phase where I sat all by myself with nothing for anyone to sign.
Other places we've visited for Bouchercon are Milwaukee and Madison WI--loved both places. Got to see Joe Konrath's car all decorated with the cover of his book and was duly impressed. A Bouchercon in Las Vegas began our friendship with former private eye and now author as well as other exciting pursuits, Joyce Spizer Foy. We even had breakfast with Joyce in her penthouse suite. We've run into each other from time to time and she graciously came to the Public Safety Writers Conference in Las Vegas this year as one of our keynote speakers.

Really got to see Joe in action at Love is Murder in Chicago. Getting there was exciting because we flew in along with a snow storm. This is also where I met Morgan Mandel and visited Mary Welk's home. Mary had become a friend at several conferences, including Malice Domestic. I also got to meet Robert Walker and read some of his wonderful books.

Going to Epicon has taken us many interesting places and we've stayed in a couple of very haunted hotels: the Queen Mary in Long Beach and an old hotel across from the Alamo in San Antonio TX. Epicon has also taken us to Oklahoma City, Bellevue Washington, Henderson NV, Tampa FL where we spent a lot of time with the famous Piers Anthony, and our first trip to Omaha NE was because of Epicon. Usually my husband is my roommate, but not always. My first Epicon I stayed with Gaye Totl Kinman and we've been roommates since. We even went to New York to the Edgars together, visited the Museum of Modern Art and headed down to DC to go to Malice. I met new publisher of my Deputy Tempe Crabtree mysteries, Dan Rietz of Mundania Press at Epicon.

Omaha NE was not a place we'd ever had a desire to visit. At a Bouchercon I ran into a bookstore owner who told me she'd give me the best booksigning I'd ever had if I came there--and she did. We have fallen in love with Omaha and returned many times to attend Mayhem in the Midlands. Because it's a small conference compared to LCC and Bourchercon, I've had the opportunity to meet some great people including Evelyn David who I post with on the Stiletto Gang blog, http://thestilettogang.com and Mary Welk, Radine Trees Nehring, Jan Burke, Wm. Kent Krueger, and many more whom I now consider my friends. Other good friends from Mayhem include the mother and daughter team of Benay and Sara Weiss. At a con in Austin, Sara took me and a couple of others on the wildest ride to the very best barbecue in Texas.

Of course I'm heavily involved with promoting and handling the program for the Public Safety Writers Association's conference which has been in Las Vegas the last few years. I've been thrilled with the caliber of writers and speakers we've been able to recruit including Betty Webb and forensic handwriting expert, Sheila Lowe. It's also where I met the publisher for my Rocky Bluff P.D. series, Billie Johnson of Oaktree Press. Mystery author Michael Black came this year and has agreed to give a presentation for next. We have a whole slew of folks willing to share their talents next June. Take a look at http://www.publicsafetywriter.com to check them out.

I can't remember all of the wonderful places and people I've met and if I did this blog would be far too long. As you can probably tell, my life has been enriched because of mystery cons.

Don't forget, my latest Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, Dispel the Mist, is now available from the publisher and all the usual places.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

This and That About Mystery Writers and What They Get Away With

Next week I'm going to Epicon, the electronic writers convention. While I think about what to take, and old friends I hope to see again, new friends I hope to meet, I got to thinking what an odd bunch writers are and mystery writers in particular.

It isn't the least bit surprising to read posts on Sisters in Crime or the Mystery Writers of America's lists asking for the best way to murder someone and get away with it. The particular question may be about mis-use of medication, drowning, poisoning by all sorts of ways, or it could be about guns, or any unusual sort of mayhem.

I've often wondered if these lists are ever looked at by real detectives or FBI agents who might wonder about the people asking these gruesome questions. There's also a website called Dr. Lyle, where the good doctor will answer all sorts of questions about the ways and means of getting rid of someone.

And to make it even more interesting, often you'll see someone on these list requesting a roommate for a particular conference. Now, you can see where my mind is leading. A wonderful mystery could be written about someone rooming with a perfect stranger who had murder on the mind.

I've delved into this roommate business a bit more on my own blog, but for here I'll confess that I'm guilty of finding a roommate for a conference on line and in two cases, it was someone I really didn't know ahead of time. I can assure you though, once you've spent a long weekend with someone you truly do know them.

You'll know if they snore or not, if they get up a lot in the night (I'm guilty of both), if they hog the bathroom, if they are an early or late riser, if they're messy or neat and before the weekend has passed, you will have learned how to get along.

And, even if you pick mystery writer, you probably don't have to worry about being murdered in your bed.

Marilyn aka F. M. Meredith
http://fictionforyou.com