Back from Bouchercon 2009

Just got home a few hours ago from Bouchercon 2009 in Indianapolis. Wow. What a terrific five days.

Bouchercon is a fan conference named for Anthony Boucher, hence it's Boucher's Conference, see? This year, my pal Jim Huang, from The Mystery Company in Carmel, Indiana, was the person in charge. Jim's a ball of fire, a great resource for the entire book industry. He really put a lot of thought and effort into the event. It was my first Bouchercon, so maybe all the rest have been super, but...I don't know how you could top this.

Of course, it's always super to visit with my mystery writing pals from around the country. Below is a photo of me and Deb Sharp, whose book Mama Rides Shotgun was featured on the Today Show. Here's a link: http://www.deborahsharp.com/

We met before we were published mystery authors. I have to tell you, there's a special bond among those of us who met before publication. We were kind to each other then, so we're cheerleaders for each other now. And Deb's just the sweetest, smartest person. I think you can tell that from her eyes, right? Some of you will recall her post about doing research on a trail ride. She's promised that we can go on a ride together next time I'm down in Florida. Giddyup.



Below is a photo of the massive Book Bazaar, an idea floated by my friend Joe Konrath. (You gotta love a guy who comes up and says, "Give me some love," then presents his cheek for a kiss.) Joe reasoned that at many conferences, attendees get free books--but not necessarily the books they want to read. Instead, he suggested that at this conference, each attendee receive 5 tickets redeemable for books by participating authors. I went through 75 books in about an hour! That was a thrill for me! And I was able to autograph them for new readers, which made the event really special. Did I mention I was seated next to Alexandra Sokoloff? http://www.alexandrasokoloff.com/index2.html (We were alphabetically arranged. Lucky me!)

I think we're proof that naturally curly hair rocks! I can't wait to read her book The Harrowing. Perfect choice for Halloween, eh?

As you can see from the photo, the lobby of the Indianapolis Hyatt was a total mob scene of happy book-lovers exchanging red tickets for new reads. In fact, the event proved so popular that they ran out of red tickets (people could purchase more and the $$ went to charity), and the organizers were forced to be inventive. They used brown bits of yarn instead! How's that for crafty?

My "contribution" to Bouchercon was the idea that we have a Craft Room. More than 200 people participated, making dishclothes (Betty Hechtman), counted cross stitch bookmarks (Monica Ferris), and "flower"art ( Camille Minichino). Killer Hobbies sisters rock!

My project was a scrapbook page. My wonderful friends at EK Success donated more than $20 in craft supplies per person, as well as supplying that wonderful page design I posted earlier. Gosh, we had so much fun! And that was so very, very generous of EK Success.

My dear friend Jamie Freveletti showed up to learn to scrapbook. http://www.jamiefreveletti.com/

Guess what? She took to it like the proverbial duck to water. Yep, you guessed it: Jamie and I met before we were published. Proof positive that when you run with good peeps, good things happen to you.

The women in my Craft Room group were just the sweetest, most creative people I've met in a long while. I gave them the basics about our page, and they were off, running and having fun. Gosh, their variations on the page layout were amazing. See them at "work" below:

I was followed in the Craft Room by my new/old friend Cricket McRae, author of Lye in Wait. I say "new/old" because we've met as Midnight Ink authors online, but we'd never met "in the flesh." What a delightful, fun person Cricket is! We chatted for hours. Check out her beautiful website http://www.cricketmcrae.com/

Cricket's protagonist Sophie Mae sounds like all sorts of fun. I hope that Sophie and Kiki can get together some day and have an adventure! I mean, after all, our heroines can do anything, right? That's why they call it FICTION.

Here's to Bouchercon--the most fun I've had in a long, long time. It was a joy and a pleasure to "come back home again in Indiana." For a little girl from Vincennes, Indiana, the whole event was a fantasy come true! Imagine this: I'm all-grown up, traveling the world, and writing books. It just doesn't get any better than this.

Report from ScrapFest 2009

News Flash--Had to show you the project I'll be teaching people to make at Bouchercon. How cute is this? A designer at EK Success did it for us! WOW!

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Last year Paper, Scissors, Death debuted at ScrapFest, the gigantic scrapbooking event that Archivers holds annually at Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This year I was fortunate enough to be invited back to share Cut, Crop & Die at the same event. Wow, what a weekend. What a party. What a totally crazy experience.

More than 3,000 scrapbookers showed up late Thursday and stayed until Sunday. They stood in long lines to create “Make-n-Takes,” the projects that can be completed on the spot. They took classes in the open mall spaces where long rows of tables were set up. And of course, they shopped.

What a total delight it was to say, “Hi” to fans who’ve read and enjoyed my series. I was greeted with hugs, requests for photos, books to be signed and green peppers. Yep, Kathy at Archivers remembered how much I love veggies, so she brought me two green peppers from her garden. I also saw other folks from the scrapbooking community—including the adorable Julia from Bo Bunny Press, my longtime friend Joy from EK Success, and the wonderful Katey from ANW Crestwood. You know, when you’ve been in an industry for a decade, you meet a lot of people, you go through a lot of changes, and you might make a lot of detours, but you still see the same faces.

My philosophy when leaving town is to schedule multiple engagements. That way, I know I’ve spent my time and marketing dollars wisely. So I started Friday morning at ScrapFest (9am to 1pm), coffee with my Midnight Ink publisher and my publicist from 1 to 2pm, went to Barnes & Noble at MOA (2 to 5pm), then onto Uncle Edgars to sign books, and finally, dinner with my wonderful editor, Connie Hill. The next day (Saturday) started at ScrapFest again, Barnes & Noble again, and then onto Scrapbooks Too, a lovely store nearby, where I met the sweetest people. One shared her Diet Dr Pepper with me, and another gave me two beautiful cards she'd made. On Sunday, it was back to the Mall where I signed until 5pm, then left for the airport. Home at midnight. Posting this morning here and at http://www.spottedcanary.com/ where we're running a six-week long contest. You could win $500 in scrapbooking supplies and a chance to name a character in Book #3, out this coming May (National Scrapbooking Month).


I thanked Archivers in the Acknowledgements of Cut, Crop & Die for all their help and support. This year—in my upcoming book--I owe them an even larger thanks, because this year, it was more like old home week. I don’t sit down when I sign. I think it makes an author harder to approach, so by Sunday, my energy was totally flagging.

One of the Archivers staff noticed I was fading. She hustled me into their back room and fed me chili. I mean, you’ve got to love people who work as hard as they do and yet have the time and kindness to other people.

We moved a lot of books. We pressed a lot of flesh. More importantly, we solidified old relationships and build some new ones. All in all, it was a great weekend.