Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Writing Conferences

On the weekend of November 9th, I attended the the 6th annual New England Crime Bake (www.crimebake.org) a conference that is run by the New England Chapters of Mystery Writers of America (MWA) and Sisters in Crime (SinC).

The panel discussions that were there covered everything from building scenes and developing plot to creating multi-layered characters and how to look for an agent.

Some of the authors who made an appearance included Joseph Finder, Chuck Hogan, Kate Flora, Archer Mayor, John Katzenbach, Michele Martinez and the guest of honor for the conference: Lee Child.

Aside from meeting author’s that you’ve read for a long time and discovering ones that you haven’t, let’s not forget one of the biggest reasons people attend these conferences: (no, it’s not the large amounts of booze that gets consumed at the end of each day or the freebies that you get, although these certainly add to the experience) NETWORKING, NETWORKING, NETWORKING! That’s right kids. Networking. In today’s world (not just publishing) networking can certainly help move you along and open more doors for you.

For example, some other people you can meet in the business include publishers, editors, and agents (conferences are a great place to try and pitch to an agent). Not to mention the opportunity to meet other writers of all levels, from total novice to bestselling author.

So, if you’ve never attended a writing conference before, don’t you think now would be a good time to look for one and sign up? I certainly do. You never know who you might run into.

The End of an Era

This past weekend, the literary world suffered the loss of one of its greats: Norman Mailer.

” What ruins most writers of talent is that they don’t get enough experience, so their novels tend to develop a certain paranoid perfection.”
– Norman Mailer