Left Coast Crime Conference

I had the pleasure of attending the Left Coast Crime Conference in Sacramento last week. In addition to being on two panels, I had the opportunity to introduce twenty-four new mystery writers whose first mystery novel was published in 2011. Award winners included Donna Andrews, The Real Macaw, for the Lefty Award for best humorous mystery; Ann Parker, Mercury’s Rise for best historical mystery; Kelli Stanley, City of Secrets, for best novel set in California; and Darrell James, Nazareth Child, for best first mystery novel. A few sound bites: Jacqueline Winspear, guest of honor – a first draft is clay on the wheel; during a panel on forensics one of the panelists called the CSI effect “tricknology;” Elle Lothlorien described the publishing cycle through Amazon as four weeks compared to the over one year for traditional publishing; one panelist described receiving, “rave rejections;” one reader gave me a geezer line: “I may be over the hill, but I’m not under it.” Next year's conference will be in Colorado Springs.