I was part of a writers’ conference this past weekend and talked about developing characters for mysteries.
The audience was attentive, the library that hosted the event was gracious, and my topic seemed to go well. People laughed at the right places and even took notes.
But my favorite part of the whole event? Lunch afterwards. We met at the Artist’s Cafe in Newton, NC and had a delicious lunch and a very productive conversation on poisons. I’m on the lookout for different poisons (2 different series) and need something good. I have a great book on poisons, but it was so much more helpful to have the other mystery authors discuss poisons…and for me to listen in.
I think we may have startled the waitress. I was so caught up in the conversation that I didn’t notice, but one of my friends explained to her at one point that we were mystery writers. “Oh,” she said, “that explains a lot!”
I really enjoy my time with other writers, both online and in person. Sometimes writing is such an isolating activity that we forget there are others out there we can make contact with. Sometimes making contacts is good business sense—but other times it just keeps us sane.
Make that glad to hear. Just too early..Ugh.
I get a similar high from connecting with other writers, particularly ones working on projects that are similar to mine. Because you’re right: writing can be very isolating. Glad to hear you had fun!
Glad to here the conference went well. Presentations are fun…when they go as planned. Getting to exchange ideas and pickup new information from others is a bonus. Are you planning more speaking engagements in the future and how did you arrange this one?
Best regards, Galen
GalenKindley.com
Hi Galen,
I’m going to do a couple of different workshops this year and some signings. I have to admit–they’re not my favorite things to do (the introvert thing). But I love being around other writers.
I’m in a group of Carolina mystery writers, the Carolina Conspiracy. Joyce Lavene (who has written a ton of mysteries for several different pubs) is the leader of the group and she does quite a bit of touring (getting contacts as she does). The library system has been good to us, too.
Elizabeth
Poison is almost an exotic way of killing people, dating back thousands of years. Many great leaders died under mysterious circumstances and its been somewhat assumed they were poisoned. Alexander the Great for example. Poisoning victims is much more fun than shooting them.
In current events, Ukrainian political opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, is assumed by many to have been poisoned. Fascinating story that received much press a few years ago.
Terrorists would love to poison a water system and kill tens of thousands of people, or at least disrupt the day-to-day drinking water.
– Steve Tremp
http://stephentremp.blogspot.com/
Always great to make face to face contact with colleagues and “e-buddies” – glad you had such a great experience. :)
The Old Silly
Sounds like the conference was great! Do you, by any chance, belong to the Yahoo group crimescenewriters? Its a great group of writers, police, forensics experts, medical personnel and such – they are great for helping writers with facts for writing realistic scenes in your books. Questions about poisons, explosions, what the body would look like after (insert situation here). If you aren’t familiar with them, you might want to check them out!
Nancy, from Just a Thought…
I love conferences and conventions–the energy, the people I meet, and the book room where I always buy too many books.