When I first got wind of the seriousness of COVID-19 in the spring of 2020, it never occurred to me that we might still be feeling the ramifications of the pandemic two full years later. Yet here we are.
Even so, spring has sprung. I find fresh hope in seeing local
businesses and restaurants and airports re-open (following sensible guidelines.)
Most of all I’m ridiculously thrilled to be penciling in writer’s conferences on
my calendar again.
By the time you read this I will (hopefully) have attended
Malice Domestic (MD) in April 2022. Held in Bethesda, “Malice” has celebrated
the traditional (and cozy) mystery genre for thirty years. MD is one of my
favorite conferences because I get to catch up with my Pennsylvania and East
Coast friends, find out what they’re doing (contracts, editors, new agents,
etc.) and get the latest publishing marketplace scoop.
The first time I attended MD, my sister went with me for a
getaway weekend. She says that when she opened the lobby door and peeked at the
crowd she saw “300 Marthas walking around.” That’s true. I had found my people.
Let’s have some fun. True fact: one year, I won the “Best
Hat” award at MD. If you see me at a writer’s conference this year and you
mention this factoid to me, you’ll win a free signed copy of LOVE POWER, my
latest NOLA mystery. (And in spite of the ongoing difficulties of 2021, LOVE
POWER brought home a Killer Nashville Silver Falchion award, so as noted above,
life goes on.)
Next up is SleuthFest, the annual conference for Mystery,
Suspense, and Thriller Writers sponsored by the Florida MWA and held in
Deerfield Beach, FL in July. Being a Florida resident, I’m a little leery about
attending anything in Florida in July, but it is a writer’s conference, so I
assume I’ll be spending most of my time talking to other authors in an
air-conditioned bar sharing the space with shades of John D. MacDonald and
Ernest Hemingway.
Mid-August takes me to the 16th annual Killer
Nashville (KN) International Writer’s Conference. As a writer, I’ve found KN to
be one of the most rewarding conferences because of its more intimate size. At
KN you really get the chance to meet and talk with new people and make those
oh-so-important community connections. The moonshine tasting and the mock crime
scene investigation are also stand-out events. This year, Hank Phillippi Ryan
is a KN Guest of Honor. I’m not missing that.
And then, in September, the big top circus rolls into town
(Minneapolis, MN) with Bouchercon (BCON) and “The Land of 10,000 Crimes.” Bouchercon
is the largest annual crime fiction conference, held in different cities every
year. I’ve had great fun attending BCON in St. Louis, 2011; Cleveland, 2012;
Albany, 2013; Long Beach, CA 2014; Raleigh, NC 2015; New Orleans 2016; Toronto
2017, and St. Petersburg FL 2018. The St. Pete convention actually changed my
life because I fell in love with the city and moved there.
What conventions are you planning on attending in 2022?
Which one(s) are you most looking forward to, and why?
Have fun at your conferences, Martha. None for me this year, but we do have some travel plans after being homebound for two years.
ReplyDeleteGood morning, Jim. I got back from Malice on Sunday and I'm still trying to recover. LOL What great fun. Seeing everyone live, in-person and three dimensional meant more to me than I anticipated. Walking through the door first up was Dru Ann Love. I'm calling her the official greeter and it took off from there. I hope you have as much fun with your 2022 travel plans.
ReplyDeletesee you in Nashville
ReplyDeleteHi Margaret - happy travels! Will you be going to the moonshine tasting?
ReplyDeleteI'm not quite ready to venture out to things like conferences, but I'm happy to see them coming back, and hope to join in the festivities one day soon.
ReplyDeleteI love attending conferences, but this year looks like I'm taking a sabbatical -- seems we are having a run of family event s almost simultaneous to the conferences I usually attend. 2023 will be different for me, I hope.
ReplyDeleteThis year I've added SleuthFest, sponsored by MWA, now that I'm a Florida resident. I'll report back on it as well.
ReplyDeleteOh, Martha, they all sound wonderful. I’m not planning to attend any 2022 conferences, but I’m hoping to pencil in some for 2023!
ReplyDeleteIt was great to meet you, Martha! What a great experience it was for me as a debut author. Upon your recommendation, I'm putting Killer Nashville on my list for next year too.
ReplyDeleteLuckily, Kait, some of the conferences are going hybrid/virtual. I've been able to attend Bloody Scotland and the St. Hilda's Conference in Oxford that way. Meeting in person is my personal favorite way, but virtual is second best.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed meeting you, too, Korina and finally putting a real face to your name. What a great group of writing WWK is. It struck me again when we took our picture just how much talent was represented. Let me know if you have any conference questions, and welcome aboard!
ReplyDeleteMartha, what wonderful luck that the alphabet put us together and we got to sign together! So happy I got to meet you (and gaze enviously at your gorgeous. jacket!) I felt the same way about our group photo - what a terrific, talented group.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about BCON, but now I'm looking at Killer Nashville. Hope to see you soon!
Hi Shari - It was fun trotting out my party clothes again. I'm thinking I'll need to come up with a new outfit for K-N. (New for me; I like buying vintage.) I hope you do decide to go - if so, let me know. Let's meet up for coffee or an adult beverage. Safe and happy travels.
ReplyDeleteMartha, it was great to meet you at MD! We need to get together about our proposal to pitch to the rest of the group! :)
ReplyDelete