The Day After

I second all that Liz has to say on her last post. Bloody Words /2012 was awesome. Putting a face to a name from either FB or a book you had read was neat. The panel discussions were great and one of my favourite sessions was the three hour’s we spent with Cheryl Freedman on self –editing. www.crimewriterscanada.com/bios/members-lists. The subject matter was just what we need to get our book ready to roll. It helped that I could hear what was being said. I use a personal microphone and receiver that doesn’t always cooperate. Sitting through three hours at the banquet was difficult but I just laughed when everyone else did and smiled a lot. I could hear Linwood Barclay’s jokes and stories but I missed most of the punch lines from Rick Bletcha who was a super MC.

I was going to add some pictures here today but for some reason I can’t get them attached from camera to computer. I only took a few at the conference, so another time. I intended to add a picture I took this morning of a white resin Buddha. He is about 5 inches high and laughing his head off. He has plentiful breasts and a large stomach. How he manages to cross his legs in the lotus position is beyond me. My husband Peter gave me this .....token this  morning to commemorate our forty sixth wedding anniversary. Yes, forty six years of wedded bliss! Never a cross word or argument. And if you believe that....

So what is the significance of this object d’art you might ask? Was he thinking of me as he gazed upon this Buddha with his ample physique? Or was it the laughing smiley face? I think I’ll assume that he liked it and thought it would give me pleasure. Phew... Another crisis aborted.

We did meet another couple of women at the conference that collaborate as we do. Mary Anne Wollison and Michelle Cooke. They’ve just finished their first book together and we wish them well with it. It was probably the most asked question for us at the conference. “How do you write together?” The writing is still the lonely act it always is but we do get together face to face to iron out any ideas or problems with the plot line. Once we have decided on a general story the characters emerge. We are nearly always in agreement with the characters. Some characters Liz owns and some are mine but we can both write using them. It’s just that; a collaboration (The action of working with someone to produce or create something) We also trust and respect each other. That helps.

Look for these authors new books.

C.B Forrest - The Devil’s Dust- www.cbforrest.com  Dundurn

Mary Jane Maffini – The Busy Woman’s Guide to Murder- www.maryjanemaffini.com -  Berkley Prime Crime

Erika Chase-A Killer Read- www.erikachase.com Berkley Prime Crime

Janet Bolin- Threaded for Trouble- www.threadvillemysteries.com   Berkley Prime Crime

Deryn Collier- Confined Space- deryn@deryncollier.com Simon & Schuster

Vicki Delany- Gold Mountain- www.vickeydelany.com  Rendevous Crime

Happy reading,

Slainte,

Pam