A Writer's Weekend

I spent  last weekend with about 100 authors and readers for the Creatures, Crime, and Creativity Conference, a gathering of mostly thriller authors, with a smattering of us speculative-fiction authors. I can't tell you what a joy it was to be among so many amazing writers, some of whom I've admired for years and some of whom I just met and fell in love with.

Our keynotes were stunning as well: Hank Phillipi Ryan, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and James Grady. Holy mackerel! All of them reinforcing the same theme: Just keep writing. 

As if I have a choice?

Jeff Markowitz told a story at Noir at the Bar about a dinner at the home of the Dean of Douglass College, my alma mater, so of course I had to spend some time reminiscing about Douglass with him. Phil Giunta was amazed to find someone who got his Firesign Theatre allusions. Christopher Ochs and I spent hours chatting, just chatting, about everything under the sun. I had a great time with Kelli Peacock and Carolyn Rowland, and met an author of Jewish crime novels from right around the corner in Marlton, Rabbi Ilene Schneider. I can't begin to name all the other wonderful authors I met. Look at them all!

The cool part was that we were all talking about the craft. It wasn't a collection of fan panels or esoteric philosophizing about Joseph Campbell's hero in the Mandalorian. It was authors talking about writing, encouraging one another to keep writing. I was absolutely high for four days.

My steampunk reading at Noir at the Bar went over quite well. If you'd like to read it, it's one of the Free Stuff on my website at efdeal.net. All weekend long, folks for whom I was fan-girl squeeing told me they really enjoyed the story and my reading of it. 

Chuff, chuff, chuff!

I've already registered for next year!