Tag Archive for: Reader Convention

Setting dates

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Bouchercon convention is fast approaching. This year it is being held in Minneapolis, Minnesota and it will be my first time in this city. For those that don’t know, Bouchercon is the world’s finest annual crime fiction event, bringing together more than 1,500 authors, fans, publishers, reviewers, booksellers, editors, and every other part of the community for a fantastic four-day event.

As a longtime fan of Prince, I’m hoping, mobility issues will hamper this, to visit Paisley Park. If it does, I was told there is a Prince store at the airport.

So I’ve read and scrutinized the schedule for what panels I hope to attend. It looks like I’ve penciled in two to three panels that I want to attend throughout the four days. There are also publisher’s events where you can get free books and meet the authors. I look forward to this event.

One of the activities I can’t wait to do while attending this convention is seeing my friends and meeting new ones. Some, it’s been two years since I’ve last seen them. Some I saw at one of the last two conventions I went to this year.

But the most important activity is setting dates for meals. Yep, I am almost booked.

What do you look forward to when attending reader/fan convention or writer’s conference?

Going in . . .by Dru Ann

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This past month, I got on a plane or two or three to attend two reader/fan conventions.

First was to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the Left Coast Crime convention. This was the first time I was in a crowd of over 100 people. Was I anxious, yes, but that feeling of being among your tribe took over and except for a few blips, I had a wonderful time. In New Mexico, the mask wearing was optional. I wore my mask when I was in mixed company, meaning if I didn’t know three-quarters of the group, my mask went all. Hugs were plenty, but I asked before giving out hugs. I was on a panel “Decades of Books” and it was cool research books during a section decade. We received kudos for our panel. As for the airplane ride, mask was still mandatory, so I was feeling comfortable on my flight. Next year, Left Coast Crime will be in Tucson, Arizona where I will be Fan Guest of Honor.

Second trip was to Bethesda, Maryland for the Malice Domestic convention. This time the mask mandate was lifted, but I still wore my mask. My guess is that 75% still wore their mask. I was Fan Guest of Honor this year and moderated a panel “Writing a Series: Keeping it Fresh” with Edith Maxwell, Amanda Flower, Cheryl Hollon, SC Perkins, and Barbara Ross. After the panel, there were continual compliments on how well it went. At the banquet, after my speech, I was surprised when I received a standing ovation.

The best part of the month of April and attending these conventions, was I got to be with my crime fiction family after an absence of two years and it felt so good.

My turn at Bouchercon

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First night: First night there, my friend and I took a cab ($15 CAD) to Eva’s Original Chimneys and tried their hand-made ice cream cone – I had the typical vanilla/chocolate twist with rainbow sprinkles on the cinnamon coated cone. Yummy. To prevent the ice cream from falling through the bottom, they put a chocolate truffle as the base. We decided we would brave their subway system, which is so cool. We couldn’t just buy a one-way ticket, so we paid $20 for their reloaded card and darn if we couldn’t figure out how to pay for our fare. It was fun taking their subway – although, we couldn’t figure out if we got off the correct stop because we were looking for a particular word – but with help from a train rider we were on our way.

Second day: My friend and I went to Dundas Square / Eaton Centre to take the City Sightseeing Tour, only we planned to stay on the bus for the whole two-hour tour and besides the weather was dismal with rain and a damp day. We saw Casa Loma, Bata Shoe Museum, China Town, CN Tower, Hockey Hall of Fame, St. Lawrence Market and the Distillery District. Then we decided to walk back to the hotel from within the Eaton Centre mall and the walk wasn’t that bad, since when we came out of the underground mall, we were right next to the clock building. Later I had a pre-convention board meeting and after, there was more hanging out with friends.

Third day: I went to the panel that I was on: Bouchercon 101. We had to tell a story and for the life of me, I could not remember Sue Grafton’s name so instead I said “you know the Y-Lady, the one who writes the alphabet book.” And everyone knew who I was talking about and then the other panelists talked about their encounter with the “Y-Lady.” It was funny.

photo courtesy of John Thomas Bychowski

Later that afternoon, a group of us went to SOMA Chocolatemaker in the Distillery District for a chocolate tasting, where I braved sampling the three different types of dark chocolate and yes, they had one milk chocolate sample. We also got to taste pure chocolate nibs and chocolate dust (that’s what I’m calling it. It which was very informative. Then it was dinner with another group at Maezo Restaurant, an Indian restaurant, where we and shared five dishes. Everything was delicious. Then onto the Opening Ceremony and then the HarperCollins reception.

Fourth day: Then there was the GMM board meeting where we voted four new members on the board. Next up was the Librarian’s Tea where an unexpected event happened – – the fire alarm went off and like the person she is, Hank Phillippi Ryan held court with great aplomb, even incorporating the fire alarm in her talk. Interesting note was the fire alarm had a nice melody as it rang throughout the evening. The evening closed with the Pub Quiz, hosted by the Crime Writers of Canada, which was a barrel of fun. Our team lost with a score of 13 points, but we had a good time.

Fifth day: A group of eleven went to the Fairmont Royal York Hotel for an Afternoon Tea event. The Library Room where the tea was held was picture perfect, although one of the picture on the wall was slight skewed. The tea was perfect. I selected the Jasmine tea which was heavenly as was the traditional finger sandwiches and their selection of pastries. Then it was off to the Minotaur reception and the Seventh Street reception.

Photo courtesy of Art Taylor

Sixth day: My last day with the crime fiction tribe. Of course, at 4 in the morning, there was a loud argument outside my door (drunken guests) and soon I heard banging on the doors (not my door). I heard later that security was called. On the agenda, was brunch and the Anthony’s Award. After a few goodbyes, it was time to leave where I encountered a 3-hour delay due to air traffic. Finally arrived home at 11:30 and crashed.

Looking forward to next year’s Bouchercon which is being held in St. Petersburg, Florida. Who will meet me there?

Rambling

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It’s my turn again and I have nothing. So I’m going to ramble a bit about nothing.

It occurred to me the other day that I’ve been to twice as many conferences this year than ever before. January I was in Honolulu, Hawaii with Left Coast Crime – had a blast and able to cross this trip off my bucket list. April saw me stateside in Bethesda, Maryland for the annual Malice Domestic Convention. This convention will always be in my heart as it’s the first reader/fan convention I’ve ever attended. The first week of June I was on a Marketing/Social Media panel at the one-day Mystery Writers of America/New York Chapter’s Fiction Writers’ Conference held in Stamford, Connecticut. That was a fun excursion as it was my first time taking Metro North and going to Stamford. Two weeks ago, I attended the Deadly Ink conference in Rockaway, New Jersey. This is mostly a writer’s conference but readers do attend. This was also the first time I took a different New Jersey transit train, normally I’ve traveled on the NE Corridor.

So if you’re counting I’ve been to four conventions/conferences so far and I’m not finished. Next up I’ll be in Toronto, Canada at Bouchercon and I’m looking forward to that and last but not least I will be attending for the first time, the New England Crime Bake conference held in Woburn, Massachusetts. They have pizza parties and I heard something about a red carpet.

So all in all, that’s six author/reader-related conventions this year and this does not include the book signings, the MWA monthly events where I get a chance to meet readers and authors. Oh there another conference, ThrillerFest which is held in NYC, I may not attend any events, but I do hope to meet up with authors. I already have a lunch set up with fellow Stiletto Gang member Kay.

Okay, I rambled enough and it was about something.

So do you have anything to ramble about?
What are you looking forward to?
What’s on your bucket list?