It's a Writing Thing

BACK!!

TIRED!!!!

FABULOUS WEEKEND!!!!!!

Mayhem, was once again, a wonderful conference. 200 writers and readers (and those readers being mostly librarians) at a lovely hotel (Embassy Suites Omaha). Can't beat it.

My interview of Nancy Pickard went so very well, I had folks telling me all weekend how much they enjoyed it. Guess that journalism background is good for something after all.

The vampire panel rocked. Dean James saw my "Vampires suck very well" pin, put his hand over the microphone, leaned over and whispered: "Gay vampires suck even better". I <3 this man. (I've known Dean for years and adore his snarktastic humor).

Got to hang out with Margaret Maron (the GOH), however briefly, and had a lovely evening bar conversation with Sharan Newman. Yeah, I'm *totally* name dropping. ::g::

I committed charity auction madness on Friday night, bidding and winning a very special pressie for my stepdad as a combo Father's day, birthday and surgery day pressie. Also managed to snag a really COOL women writer's tote plus thermal coffee mug and a box of Goo Goo clusters (donated by my buddy, Mary Saums). I fell in love with it and had to make sure I went home with it. :)

Saturday during the day, the weather was a bit humid, but Donna Andrews, a couple of other buds and me did a mini-shopping trip to the Old Market, which is adjacent to the hotel. I scored a TON of appropriately inappropriate pressies at a place called City Lights. beledibabe - it's similar to a couple of the stores you took me to in Rehoboth. Heh.

Saturday night, several of us skipped the official event and went to dinner at The French Cafe, just up the street in the Old Market. The food was beyond fabulous, as was the wine. I started my meal with escargot, followed by le carre d'agneau (pomegranate and black pepper glazed rack of lamb) with white cheddar polenta, dried cherry demi-glace and lovely grilled veggies. Dessert was a chocolate lava cake with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream. Yeah, totally brilliant food.

Today was a lovely Sunday brunch and the end of the convention. Ended up flying home with Donna, which made the trip all that more pleasant.

Very glad to be back and in my own place, even though the Embassy Suites, the convention and Omaha were so great.

I know I've missed *several* May birthdays - so a belated, yet heartfelt HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all of you.

Hope everyone's weekend has been going well.

Wow, although I *meant* to come home early on Sunday, I never did. Ended up staying late so I could have dinner with SF and Dana Cameron, and then stayed post-dinner for drinks and brain-picking with Dana. Well worth it!

Malice Domestic was a blast, as always. More so this year because Matters is everywhere! My publisher, in the person of John Betancourt, was kind enough to take me to lunch on Saturday and was pimping my book wherever he went during the con.

I got to meet some lovely folks, plus was on hand to cheer on good friends Toni L.P. Kelner on her Agatha win for Best Short Story and Nancy Pickard, for Best Novel. It's so fabulous when folks you know win.

Our panel went extremely well and the audience seemed to enjoy it.

Me, I'm totally pooped! Spent all of Monday trying to veg out and get rested so I could be ready for work this a.m. - not so much. I did rest, but my brain is still on con-time. ::g::

Before I forget - a special congratulations to Charlaine Harris, who will be the GOH at Malice next year on its 20th anniversary. Should be a fabulous time!!

Other highlights:

• Traveling to Barnes & Nobel at Potomac Yard with starrcat and SF (we were looking for the Supernatural comic) and seeing my books in the wild. (I don't have a pic, b/c I don't own a camera but I did sign the copies!)


• Getting to meet Toni's fabulous hubby, stevekelner in person. We've known each other via online for years, but never had met. I've known Toni since about 1998 or so.


• Seeing the advanced copy of Many Bloody Returns, an upcoming anthology edited by Toni and Charlaine and getting to squee over the dedication.


• Spending time with Alexandra Sokoloff - whose book is fantastically creepy and beautifully written.

In conclusion: A photo of Matters in the wild in San Antonio - my dad emailed me the pic just a few minutes ago.

( Behind the cut )

Dear f'list - my editor has asked me about my plans for cons and stuff this year.

Particularly some of the ones listed below. Although I've heard of all of them, I have no personal experience with any of the listed cons, and I know some of you do.

I'd love to hear your thoughts/feedback/personal experiences for a fairly newbie author. THANKS!

NorWesCon
WisCon
Readercon
Romantic Times
DragonCon
World Fantasy

/drive by posting

Back to the insanity of the work day.

Of the good, my buddy Donna Andrews is coming to meet me for dinner tonight, barring weather problems.

My trip to Omaha and Mayhem in the Midlands was highly successful and quite enjoyable.

Spent 4 days hanging with fellow authors, fans and friends, talking about writing - how much better can it get?

Where else can you hang out in a bar with the likes of Laura Lippman, Denise Hamilton, Kent Krueger, Pari Noskin Taichert and many more?

I moderated one panel (Kick Ass Females or She Who Must Be Obeyed) and participated on two others, spent a LOT of time in the book room and perusing auction items, especially one particular one. There was an Advanced Reader Copy of Kent Krueger's upcoming release, Copper River. I made up my mind, it was mine. I'm not going to say how much I paid, but it was worth it. Of course, I can't hold a candle to starrcat, who was bound and determined to buy a character name in an upcoming Krueger book and got in a bidding war with another woman. Both of them got their wish as Kent graciously acceded to naming two characters. (Of course, we won't mention the fact that I bought a character name a couple of years ago, which will appear in Kent's 2007 release, Thunder Bay. Evidently, my character, Maria, will be having teh hawt sex. ::g::)

Saturday night was our traditional friends' dinner at the Flatiron, a nearby and most excellent restaurant.

Sunday was a quiet day, with only the final activity, the closing brunch and roast/toast of our wonderful Guest of Honor, Laura Lippman. Denise Hamilton, toastmaster, did a great investigative job on Laura's background, providing a witty and thoughtful introduction and excellent questions.

Too soon thereafter, most of the gang vanished as they left for flights homeward. Since I didn't leave until the asscrack of dawn on Monday, I rested for the afternoon, and then journeyed to Fleming's, another fabulous local restaurant. I'd considered going out with Donna Andrews and some other friends to visit the Dark Angel, a memorial statue that is local legend, but was overly tired. Donna did, however, bring me back a ton of photos, as I intend to transplant said Angel and use it in my next book. Yay for digital cameras!

If you want to see a photo of me in the bar on Saturday, check out Pari's entry on Murderati - Scroll down to the bottom of the post.

I'm sure Donna will be posting photos at some point, when she does, I'll link to them. I'm such a failure at the picture taking.

My flight back was as uneventful as my flight there - except for the dozens of young teens, many on their first plane ride. The noise factor was truly incredible.

Home by 10:00 a.m. on Monday and I spent the day napping and reading email. Today was work (an all day client meeting) and tomorrow, I get back into the swing.

I love cons. I love being able to hang out with writers and fans, but damn, it sure is nice to be home. :)

ETA: Oh yeah, I wasn't planning on buying anything - wanting to keep down the clutter. Yeah, right. I spent $160 on the auction and nearly half that in the book room. Keel me now. I chalk it up to having had a lovely conversation with my new editor. Matters will be re-released in January '07, and Unnecessary Evil in October of '07 - assuming I finish! EEEee!

My con report - only 1 week later...

( ConDor 2006 )

Next month: Malice Domestic - which, at least, is less than 2 miles from my office, so no travel time involved.

'T'was a holiday for some, but not for moi. Thank goodness many of our clients were not in today. I got a lot done, but enough about work. ::g::

The fun stuff:
Got my schedule for ConDor - looks like I'm on 3 panels and have one autograph session. The 5 p.m. panel is one I suggested, so go me! Looking forward to spending time with allaboutm_e, untamed_sylph and Nancy Holder (who I know only via e-mail, but am looking forward to meeting in person).

( ConDor Con schedule: ) If you all have any suggestions for good questions for the Sunday panel, leave me a note in comments or e-me - the (M) means I'm moderating it.