Terry Shames's Blog: 7 Criminal Minds, page 64

Our Crime Family Reunion, by Josh Stallings

Q: Life - Do you bring non crime writing friends or family with you to conventions? Pros and cons please.

A: The hardest part about going to a big event like a mystery convention are the days before, the flight in, the bus or train or cab from the airport, all those opportunities to worry if the kids on the playground will like me. Or will they discover that I don’t know anything about writing and am just another con artist? Will they ride up and run me out of town with torches and pitchforks? ...

Worlds Collide, by Catriona

Life - Do you bring non crime writing friends or family with you to conventions? Pros and cons please.

I usually don't. For all the reasons Cathy outlined yesterday - cost, time, focus - but I'm a complete hypocrite because I love it when other people bring friends and family with them.

Erica Stallings, who is married to Josh Stallings of this parish, and Diane Krueger, spouse of William Kent Krueger, are two of my favourite new friends in (or near?) the American crime-writing community. I've had ...

Me, myself, and...? by Cathy Ace

Life - Do you bring non crime writing friends or family with you to conventions? Pros and cons please.

Photo taken of me at LCC 2019 by Husband
Usually, no. Being at a festival, convention, or conference is wonderful – but it’s busy!

Panels, get-togethers, informal and/or formal meetings, drinks parties, lunches, dinners etc. It’s all go.

Yes, there are social opportunities between attending panels and get-togethers, but even then, I enjoy that time to be with fellow authors, bloggers, reviewers, ...

Come Together by Gabriel Valjan

 

Q: Do you bring non-crime writing friends or family with you to conventions? Pros and cons please.

 

Not so long ago, when I was new to this thing called Writing, I was advised to attend conferences. It was where the cool kids met and played, where authors networked, pitched to agents, and talked about themselves on panels before readers and reviewers. For a few days every year, I’ll answer the siren call and pull myself away from the screen, away from talking to myself and M...

Who, Me?

 Q: Do you bring non crime writing friends or family with you to conventions? Pros and cons please.

- from Susan

 

Sorry, this particular question doesn’t fit me. My writing friends already go and I love spending time with them at conventions and conferences (see you at California Crime Writers in LA and Bouchercon in San Diego, anyone?). I can’t think of a non-writing friend who’d be interested. My sons have families and even though they write, they aren’t published (yet) as fiction authors and do...

Constantly Failing Upwards

by Abir

 

Which do you find harder to cope with, success or failure? In either event do you have ways to keep the world's view of your work from affecting your work?

 

Interesting question today. 

 

Success and failure – those two imposters, but which is easier to live with?

 

As my colleagues have pointed out earlier in the week, success is always relative. It’s incremental. It’s getting your first agent, then your first book deal; it’s getting long-listed, then shortlisted, then winning awards; it’s y...

Better than a Poke in the Eye from James W. Ziskin

Which do you find harder to cope with, success or failure? In either event do you have ways to keep the world's view of your work from affecting your work?

Victory, 2017 Macavity Award                                     Defeat, 2017 Edgar Award

Success is easy. At least it should be. I haven’t experienced every shade of success in my writing career, but I can’t complain. Sure, my books and stories have been well-enough received critically, and I’ve been fortunate to have won a few awards, But sal...

On circling the drain

Which do you find harder to cope with, success or failure? In either event do you have ways to keep the world's view of your work from affecting your work?

by Dietrich

When success comes knocking and things are going my way, there’s no struggle, it’s all good, and there’s just an open road ahead. Who doesn’t love that feeling?

Of course, it doesn’t always feel that way. That open road to acceptance, nominations, awards, and other accolades can sometimes seem dotted with potholes of criticism and re...

Coping with Reality

 

Terry Here. Our subject this week is whether we find it harder to cope with, success or failure. Also, if the world’s view of our work affects us. 
For years I was embarrassed to say I was trying to get published, because regardless of my hard work, I kept getting rejections. I kept beavering away, first on a yellow pad with a pen, then on a computer keyboard. All my friends knew I was writing mystery novels, and they’d always ask how I was doing with the writing. Early on they would ask with ex...

Those Special Moments

Which do you find harder to cope with, success or failure? In either event do you have ways to keep the world's view of your work from affecting your work?

Brenda
This is an easy choice. Failure is much harder to cope with than success. Yet even as I acknowledge this, I also must admit that the failures have their own importance in maintaining balance. Ultimately, failures make the successes even sweeter.
We're all told as authors starting out to expect rejection in bucketfuls. Others have been thr...