What's your question?

I love events sponsored by the American Association of University Women (AAUW); there's always a good turnout with engaged women and even the occasional male in the audience.

Over the weekend I joined Ann Parker, Diana Orgain, and Kelli Stanley for a panel discussion. Since we'd all been to this venue before, we tried to vary the topics a bit, emphasizing our works in progress. Our usual list includes the craft of writing (developing characters, plotting, setting, and so on), our various processes (outline or not?), and how we do research.

With an audience of university women this weekend, we put more emphasis on how our educational backgrounds affected our writing. Did what we studied in college and after have a direct influence on how and what we write? Well, yes, but in different ways that were very interesting to hear. Enough for another blog some time.

But for the purposes of my blog today, I'm wondering what you do to make panel discussions fresh and interesting? What are your most successful topics? Personal or academic?

And, to rephrase a burning question—what do readers want? Do you go to a book event hoping to learn? To share? To network? To flirt?

(I'm trying to cover all bases here!)

LA and then some

My excuse for being among the missing at the end of last week: I was at Left Coast Crime in Los Angeles, and I have photos to prove it!

Side trip: A few of us made a side trip to San Diego to the wonderful Mysterious Galaxy bookstore. Here we are: me, Penny Warner, Rhys Bowen, and Diana Orgain. Ann Parker was the photographer.



Killer Panel! I was so pleased to meet Betty and Linda and attend their great Cozy-up panel. Linda and Betty are the left and right bookends, respectively, in the photo.



Here's a photo of the auction item I contributed, a one-inch scale scene borrowed from the bathroom scene in The Godfather (if you have to ask, never mind!) Can you find the gun?




Panel: I was on a panel with Rita Lakin and Cynthia Riggs, with Mike Befeler as moderator. The title, which we all cringed at, was Geezer Lit. Ouch. We tried to emphasize the LIT part!



Some of us (ok, me) were a little annoyed at the emphasize on the age of our sleuths. Certainly Geraldine Porter, mid fifties, would balk at being called a geezer! More important, I hope the miniature mysteries that feature her as protagonist aren't about age, but about the mystery, the sleuth, and how she solves the crime. Maybe there should be a category for Bald Lit, or Thick Ankles Lit.

thoughts?