BOUCHERCON 2017 - Passport to Murder

Two years of anticipation and it’s over in a flash!

Pam and I registered back in 2015 and were confident we’d be published authors by the time the conference rolled around. We were excited to be attending a book conference of this calibre and weren’t disappointed. We also determined that we'd have the first draft of the sequel to "The Silk Shroud" done before Bouchercon and that's also been accomplished.

About 700 authors and nearly twice as many readers, aspiring, and nearly-published writers were in attendance. The Sheraton Hotel on Queen St in Toronto provided comfortable accommodations and all the space required to showcase so many participants. We won’t mention the day we had two fire alarms, shhhh! 

The view from our 34^th floor room provided a vista of downtown Toronto, and beyond, that I haven’t seen in a while.

Authors and books and panels, oh my! 

The bookseller’s room held thousands of books for sale. What a great opportunity to pick up books and then have them signed by the author!

As debut authors Pam and I were invited to participate in the Debut Author’s Breakfast held Friday morning, along with about three dozen new authors. It was a fun event as we each had a turn to sell our work within just a minute or two. This is when having a writing partner is invaluable for moral support!

Pam, Liz, Lynn McPherson, Jennifer Soosar

We connected with two other Black Opal Books authors – Lynn McPherson and Jennifer Soosar – who have their debut works published this year as well.

We also took turns promoting Crime Writers of Canada on Saturday, when CWC hosted the hospitality suite. A terrific opportunity to meet fans and other writers.

As well the conference provided the opportunity to reconnect with friends we haven’t seen for a while.

Panels were interesting, informative and fun, but my favourite was the intimate chat between Louise Penny, Rhys Bowen and Deborah Crombie. The ballroom may have been standing room only, but yet the three authors obviously share a friendship and ease with each other which made the attendees feel as if we had joined them for a personal visit.

Rhys Bowen, Louise Penny, Deborah Crombie

Standing room only to listen to the three ladies, but Gloria Ferris and Kay Kendall managed to find two of the best seats in the house!

I was so pleased to be able to hear from the likes of Peter Robinson, Ann Cleeves, and Kathy Reichs to name a few. And so many wonderful, and successful, Canadian authors. If I start naming, I’m afraid I will leave some out! Among them Linwood Barclay, Vicki Delaney, Melodie Campbell and so many more!

Pam with Linwood Barclay

Our Genre5 group have come away with memories, tips and advice. For a while, Genre5 turned into the Magnificent7, when we hooked up with good friends Kay Kendall and Lorie Lee Steiner. I never managed to get a photo with all of us. Lorie is missing from this one.

Donna Houghton, Gloria Ferris, Kay Kendall, Pam, Liz, Donna Warner

I came home tired, but energized, with a new focus on writing. But my writing partner, Pam, left the conference and then headed to Edinburgh, Scotland! I hope she was able to catch some sleep on the flight. She’ll be out of the country until early November, and I have to return to the corporate work world tomorrow.

But on Thursday Oct 19, I’ll be joining  Donna Warner, Gloria Ferris, Alison Bruce and Cheryl Cowtan for our workshop “Conjuring Up a Work of Fiction” at the Elora Public Library. Sure to be another good time!

Kudos and much appreciation to Bouchercon Co-Chairs Helen Nelson and Janet Costello. You and your team provided a memorable event.

And now I think I have a book or two to read.

Cheers!

Liz

Printed and bound. Yea!

What dreary weather we are having. One day is nice and then we have high winds and rain. The gardens look good of course. Everything is so green. My favourite colour.

Liz and I had a very emotional moment this week when I picked up the manuscript from the printers of Madelaine, all bound and looking like a book. Next month it will be two years since we started our journey in storytelling. I can honestly say that it has been so much fun and a great learning experience for both of us. Long may Jamie Tremain continue.
Madelaine is being read in the bound form by two friends at work whom we really feel will give us an honest critique. So far so good.... No we didn't bribe them.

Last night I finished the first draft of editing and revising Body Perfect. It is 20 chapters but not quite finished. After the conference we will sit down and see where we want to finish up and where we will go from here. We have been throwing ideas around when we manage a coffee break together but nothing concrete yet.Liz is still very overloaded at work so she is especially looking forward to the break.

Pouring over the program for "Bloody Words" has us dizzy. We are in for a jam packed three days and there are some super speakers and events. It will be hard to cram them all in as there are three events going on at a time.

Will keep you all posted about the latest in forensics and police procedural. At least Liz will tell you all about the Forensics as I am not sure if that is my forte.

Will write soon.
Slainte,
Pam

Spring cravings

When it gets to this time of year I long for plants and flowers, so yesterday I treated myself to some tulips. It is also a time to crave asparagus and strawberries. Not that we can't get them all year round at inflated prices no less, but that they seem to taste different as well.
Yesterday Liz was supposed to spend the whole day with me but the paying job... was calling and she had to work overtime. However when she did get here we had quite a profitable afternoon before we tucked into a slow cooked pot roast and fruit crumble. Nothing like comfort food to...well comfort you.

We decided to go to the conference in June and hopefully the taxman will help us pay for this investment in Jamie Tremain.
Reading the first two chapters we still fiddled around with little words but we are definitely finished and it is being sent out to three agents this week. One American, one British and one Canadian. That will leave us free to go back to Body Perfect as it may be months before we ever hear from them. That is just the nature of the business. An editor will evaluate the manuscript at Bloody Perfect. Will tell you more about the conference when we get an agenda.

Easter next w/e and hope to spend time with a couple of grandsons. Not sure about the weather but as long as the sun is shining.

Talk later,
Pam