Con Survival Tips by Josh Stallings

 Q: With Covid restrictions starting to ease, many of us are thinking of conferences and festivals. What are you planning? Any fond memories of past events you’d like to share?

A: I went to Bouchercon XXXVI with a messy early draft of my first novel and a dream that I’d sit in the lobby and a publisher would discover me like Lana Turner in Schwab’s and sign me up. That isn’t how it happened for me or Ms. Turner. The problem with this kind of magical thinking is it gets in the way of seeing the re...