Peg Herring's Blog - Posts Tagged "conferences"
Attending Cons
Conferences, conventions, whatever. You need to go.
As a reader, you will be thrilled to meet your favorite writers, chat with them, get their autographs, and return home geeked to have rubbed elbows. I still can't help adding, "Oh, she's so nice when you meet her in person," to conversations that arise about authors.
As a writer, you network, you learn, and you pay your dues. I didn't feel like a "real" writer until I went to my first con and discovered that -- Well, you know: the whole putting your pants on one leg at a time thing. They write. I write. They publish. Maybe I could, too. And I did.
Add to that the atmosphere of a bunch of people who love the written word and could talk about it for days. The panels where writers spill their secrets, where agents reveal how they pick winners (just kidding - nobody really knows how to do that), and editors explained the complicated and perilous journey a manuscript makes.
Throw in some unusual stuff, like experts in crime-solving who tell you how it's really done. A few cocktails. Some eating fo fancy food. It all adds up to fun, so when the next con comes anywhere near you, you should go. Just leave lots of room in your suitcase for all the books you're going to buy.
As a reader, you will be thrilled to meet your favorite writers, chat with them, get their autographs, and return home geeked to have rubbed elbows. I still can't help adding, "Oh, she's so nice when you meet her in person," to conversations that arise about authors.
As a writer, you network, you learn, and you pay your dues. I didn't feel like a "real" writer until I went to my first con and discovered that -- Well, you know: the whole putting your pants on one leg at a time thing. They write. I write. They publish. Maybe I could, too. And I did.
Add to that the atmosphere of a bunch of people who love the written word and could talk about it for days. The panels where writers spill their secrets, where agents reveal how they pick winners (just kidding - nobody really knows how to do that), and editors explained the complicated and perilous journey a manuscript makes.
Throw in some unusual stuff, like experts in crime-solving who tell you how it's really done. A few cocktails. Some eating fo fancy food. It all adds up to fun, so when the next con comes anywhere near you, you should go. Just leave lots of room in your suitcase for all the books you're going to buy.
"Bound for Malice
It's been done before, and I know why. Bloggers need topics, and a trip is an easy one. So for the next week or so, I'll tell you about my preparation, travel, and experiences relating to Malice Domestic in Washington, D.C.
Today is Planning What to Drag Along Day: clothes, books, and assorted miscellaneous items.
We'll begin with clothes. Here is my process. I think about the things I will be doing on the trip, and carefully lay out an outfit for each activity. Travel clothes will be comfortable but coordinated. Appearance clothes will be chosen to hide my figure flaws as much as possible. I always pack a black sweatsuit (which my son calls my Ninja suit) to wear around the hotel room. It's non-tight everywhere and modest enough that I could wear it to breakfast or down the hall for a bucket of ice. Then the extras get added: sweaters and/or jackets in case the weather turns cold, an extra, neutral colored top in case of an accidental stain on a planned outfit (it has happened before), and jewelry to match appropriate outfits.
Then it's on to shoes, my nemeses. After thirty years of standing/walking on concrete school floors, there is no such thing as a shoe I can comfortably wear all day, so I shoot for best available, knowing that at the conference I'll change halfway through the day to give my poor feet a break.
There. The clothing choosing is done, today's task complete. However, I know myself, as Socrates said I should. When I am actually on the road and it's too late to change my mind, I will hate every one of these outfits and ask myself why I made such stupid choices.
Except the Ninja suit. That I always like.
Today is Planning What to Drag Along Day: clothes, books, and assorted miscellaneous items.
We'll begin with clothes. Here is my process. I think about the things I will be doing on the trip, and carefully lay out an outfit for each activity. Travel clothes will be comfortable but coordinated. Appearance clothes will be chosen to hide my figure flaws as much as possible. I always pack a black sweatsuit (which my son calls my Ninja suit) to wear around the hotel room. It's non-tight everywhere and modest enough that I could wear it to breakfast or down the hall for a bucket of ice. Then the extras get added: sweaters and/or jackets in case the weather turns cold, an extra, neutral colored top in case of an accidental stain on a planned outfit (it has happened before), and jewelry to match appropriate outfits.
Then it's on to shoes, my nemeses. After thirty years of standing/walking on concrete school floors, there is no such thing as a shoe I can comfortably wear all day, so I shoot for best available, knowing that at the conference I'll change halfway through the day to give my poor feet a break.
There. The clothing choosing is done, today's task complete. However, I know myself, as Socrates said I should. When I am actually on the road and it's too late to change my mind, I will hate every one of these outfits and ask myself why I made such stupid choices.
Except the Ninja suit. That I always like.
With Malice Aforethought
Day Two of Preparing for Malice Domestic: Now it's time to be sure I have all the non-clothing stuff covered.
I have packed bookmarks and books, business cards and copies of relevant documents. I have my passport (I know where D.C. is, but we may return through Canada, so there.) I have two suitcases: an on-the-road dufflebag and my official Malicewear suitcase. So what's left to do?
I need to make sure that my laptop has everything on it that I might need while I'm gone. I tend to forget to bring things like passwords and email addresses, and when I need to get into a site or contact someone, I can't. I know, there should be a file somewhere, and there probably is, but it won't be up to date and it won't be easy to find. Schedule that for this evening, while I watch the Tigers lose yet another game.
My panel is on the history of sleuthing, but I'm not the moderator, so I just have to discuss. That I can do. I should review the questions the moderator sent once more, though.
Then I have to make sure my S.O. can find things like cat litter and peanut butter, and I think I'm good to go!
I have packed bookmarks and books, business cards and copies of relevant documents. I have my passport (I know where D.C. is, but we may return through Canada, so there.) I have two suitcases: an on-the-road dufflebag and my official Malicewear suitcase. So what's left to do?
I need to make sure that my laptop has everything on it that I might need while I'm gone. I tend to forget to bring things like passwords and email addresses, and when I need to get into a site or contact someone, I can't. I know, there should be a file somewhere, and there probably is, but it won't be up to date and it won't be easy to find. Schedule that for this evening, while I watch the Tigers lose yet another game.
My panel is on the history of sleuthing, but I'm not the moderator, so I just have to discuss. That I can do. I should review the questions the moderator sent once more, though.
Then I have to make sure my S.O. can find things like cat litter and peanut butter, and I think I'm good to go!
Packing for Magna--with Very Little Method
I've tried being organized, laying out things a week in advance in order to not be last minute about what I will take to a con. It never works.
Whatever I've laid out, a week, a day, or even half a day before will become my most hated items of apparel when the time comes to actually put them into a suitcase. "What was I thinking? Those pants make me look a mile wide!" "And that necklace never hangs right." "Those shoes are sure to hurt after an hour."
Better to wait until an hour before. Forced choices tend to become efficient ones: these pants never wrinkle, this necklace goes with anything, and shoes don't matter anyway if the pants are long enough. And if I keep smiling, no one will care if I end up with one taupe stocking and one suntan.
Whatever I've laid out, a week, a day, or even half a day before will become my most hated items of apparel when the time comes to actually put them into a suitcase. "What was I thinking? Those pants make me look a mile wide!" "And that necklace never hangs right." "Those shoes are sure to hurt after an hour."
Better to wait until an hour before. Forced choices tend to become efficient ones: these pants never wrinkle, this necklace goes with anything, and shoes don't matter anyway if the pants are long enough. And if I keep smiling, no one will care if I end up with one taupe stocking and one suntan.
What in the World Is a Bouchercon?
I've given up telling people I'm going to Bouchercon next weekend, at least the people who aren't rabid mystery writers like me. Instead I say I'm attending a big meeting for mystery readers and writers in Cleveland. Most of the time that gets me a funny look that might mean, "I knew you were a little nuts."
Mystery conferences are in some ways like the teachers' meetings I used to have to attend. There has to be programming, a sort of raison d'etre, so panels on various aspects of reading and writing are slated. These turn out a lot the same, so after a few years of attending cons, the panels aren't as alluring. Some I know don't attend the panels at all, and I find I'm more interested in learning what an author or agent is like as a person than in what they can tell me about writing or publishing. Like those long-ago teachers' meetings, however, there's often a gem of wisdom that I file away for later, something that fits my style and work habits.
Conferences provide a chance to get together with others who are as passionate as I am about writing, reading, and the business that we must participate in if we're to continue to be published writers. Meeting new people, touching base with acquaintances, and (to be honest) being seen in public as a writer are important aspects of promoting our work. Bouchercon is a big conference, so there are lots of "little" authors like me who are published but not PUBLISHED. It's humbling to see so many of us scrambling for what notice we can garner while the big names are feted and praised, but it's also fun to meet those big guys and gals and learn that they were once where we are, struggling to get some agent or publisher to notice them and give them a chance.
Bouchercon, I suppose, is less like teachers' meetings and more like an author circus: the headline acts in the center ring, the secondary acts in the other two rings, the sideshows that people seek out if they have an interest, and if the truth must be told, the freak shows. It's all great fun--some time away from the daily grind, a chance to admire the talent of the stars of the show, and a chance--however small it might be--to grab that brass ring, something that turns the spotlight on me and my work. I just hope if that happens, I don't fall on my dupa in front of everybody.
Mystery conferences are in some ways like the teachers' meetings I used to have to attend. There has to be programming, a sort of raison d'etre, so panels on various aspects of reading and writing are slated. These turn out a lot the same, so after a few years of attending cons, the panels aren't as alluring. Some I know don't attend the panels at all, and I find I'm more interested in learning what an author or agent is like as a person than in what they can tell me about writing or publishing. Like those long-ago teachers' meetings, however, there's often a gem of wisdom that I file away for later, something that fits my style and work habits.
Conferences provide a chance to get together with others who are as passionate as I am about writing, reading, and the business that we must participate in if we're to continue to be published writers. Meeting new people, touching base with acquaintances, and (to be honest) being seen in public as a writer are important aspects of promoting our work. Bouchercon is a big conference, so there are lots of "little" authors like me who are published but not PUBLISHED. It's humbling to see so many of us scrambling for what notice we can garner while the big names are feted and praised, but it's also fun to meet those big guys and gals and learn that they were once where we are, struggling to get some agent or publisher to notice them and give them a chance.
Bouchercon, I suppose, is less like teachers' meetings and more like an author circus: the headline acts in the center ring, the secondary acts in the other two rings, the sideshows that people seek out if they have an interest, and if the truth must be told, the freak shows. It's all great fun--some time away from the daily grind, a chance to admire the talent of the stars of the show, and a chance--however small it might be--to grab that brass ring, something that turns the spotlight on me and my work. I just hope if that happens, I don't fall on my dupa in front of everybody.
Malice Domestic, Invisible Sleuths, and Me
I got my panel assignment this morning for Malice Domestic, May's mystery conference in Bethesda, Maryland, . (One year we had a gentleman stop some female participants and congratulate them for banding together to fight spousal abuse, but that ain't it, kid!)
My panel is on invisible female sleuths, those characters who can investigate crime largely because no one pays them any attention. I was chosen for the panel because of Loser, my homeless protagonist, and she fits the bill perfectly. I got the idea for her from living in Richmond for a few months and seeing the street people every day, visible to me as a newcomer but largely unseen by the residents. I began thinking about what those street people must notice, what they might be thinking. I know some of them are hampered by chemical or psychological problems, but what if there was one who observed, was able to form conclusions, could make a plan and follow it through? From those thoughts, Loser emerged.
The first Loser Mystery has done well, and I even got a note from a former student who was waiting to pay at a faraway B&N when a woman came up and asked for Peg Herring's new book. Now the second one is almost ready. I'm doing final proofing this week and it should be out in early April. Once again Loser uses her anonymity to eavesdrop and observe, and she's ignored until...well, until she isn't, which leads to lots of action and danger and all the things one expects in a mystery.
Loser has become very real to me, and as I finish Book #4 of Simon & Elizabeth's adventures, I'm already thinking of what the next Loser Mystery will entail. In the meantime, I'll be interested to meet my fellow panelists for Malice Domestic and see what they've done with their invisible sleuths.
My panel is on invisible female sleuths, those characters who can investigate crime largely because no one pays them any attention. I was chosen for the panel because of Loser, my homeless protagonist, and she fits the bill perfectly. I got the idea for her from living in Richmond for a few months and seeing the street people every day, visible to me as a newcomer but largely unseen by the residents. I began thinking about what those street people must notice, what they might be thinking. I know some of them are hampered by chemical or psychological problems, but what if there was one who observed, was able to form conclusions, could make a plan and follow it through? From those thoughts, Loser emerged.
The first Loser Mystery has done well, and I even got a note from a former student who was waiting to pay at a faraway B&N when a woman came up and asked for Peg Herring's new book. Now the second one is almost ready. I'm doing final proofing this week and it should be out in early April. Once again Loser uses her anonymity to eavesdrop and observe, and she's ignored until...well, until she isn't, which leads to lots of action and danger and all the things one expects in a mystery.
Loser has become very real to me, and as I finish Book #4 of Simon & Elizabeth's adventures, I'm already thinking of what the next Loser Mystery will entail. In the meantime, I'll be interested to meet my fellow panelists for Malice Domestic and see what they've done with their invisible sleuths.
