It’s Bouchercon or Bust for me this weekend as I head up to Minneapolis for the huge convergence of mystery authors and fans, the World Mystery Convention, aka Bouchercon. Thursday through Sunday, September 8-11, I’ll immerse myself into the world of my fellow mystery authors and many eager fans of mysteries. This is my first time attending this event, so I don’t know what to expect. I’m pretty sure I’ll come home exhausted. But I hope to meet dozens of fellow writers, new customers/fans, and some of my writing idols, like Dennis Lehane!
I’ll be on one panel, titled “Using Social Media Effectively,” and I’ll participate in author “speed dating,” whereby teams of two authors each give a two-minute promo speech about their books to a table of ten potential readers, then switch to another table, then another, until all tables have been pitched by all the authors. I’m bringing 150 “swag gifts” to give away, so I expect to interact with at least that many people in the space of two hours. Whew! Sounds exhausting already.
I’ll also do some volunteering as a room timer and in the hospitality room since this is my home turf. Many Twin Cities Sisters in Crime siblings are volunteering to help since no paid staff is running the show. It should be exciting and fun. I’ll have a full report next week.
A shout-out to two of my favorite beta readers
Polly (L) and Betsy have been best friends for decades, both retired teachers who did terrific beta reading for me with Straight River and Castle Danger. They sent me a photo of them showing off Dangerous Straits after my wife and I visited Colorado and had a mini-reunion with her sisters. Betsy is the oldest of the four surviving daughters. We didn’t get to see Polly this trip, but it looks like she’s doing quite well and is happy to have a new book to read! 🙂