I think it was Laura Lippman who said "Dying to Write" is a great name for a mystery writers' event. She was the keynote speaker yesterday at the second annual Dying to Write one-day conference in D.C., sponsored by the Mid Atlantic Chapter of MWA. It's one of the smaller conferences, but since it's focused mostly on writers, that's a good thing.
Many fine writers and book industry professionals gave presentations, including (more or less alphabetically) Patrick Anderson, the Washington Post reviewer and nonfiction author; crime fiction authors Donna Andrews, Dana Cameron, John Gilstrap, Chris Grabenstein, Kathryn Johnson, Toni Kelner, John Lamb, Laura Lippman, Nancy Martin, Katherine Neville, and Marcia Talley; editors John Gregory Betancourt of Wildside Press and Marcia Markland of St. Martin's; literary agent and attorney Elaine English, and Kathy Harig, owner of the bookstore Mystery Loves Company.
This blog will be featuring summaries of a few of the presentations during the next week, so stay tuned for those.
Speaking of conferences, they are a wonderful way for writers, both published and unpublished, to network and learn from one another, and also for fans and readers to get to know their favorite authors. The List has a section on Conferences and you can also check out the calendar link highlighted on the right-hand side of the blog. There are three of them coming up next weekend, Forensic U in St. Louis, Tony Hillerman's Mystery Writers Conference in Albuquerque, and Men of Mystery in Irvine, California. Conference events are sprinkled pretty much throughout the country, from coast to coast, so find one that fits your schedule and interest, and plunge right in.
I'm delighted that you enjoyed the conference, and look forward to your summaries.
Posted by: Carla | October 30, 2007 at 12:33 PM