On Friday, I'll hop in my fuel-efficient Prius for the day-long drive across eastern Colorado and most of Kansas to the lovely college town of Manhattan, KS, where I'll be attending the Great Manhattan Mystery Conclave. Normally I try to carpool with someone on these long drives, but my roommate at the conference, Pat Stoltey, decided that she's going to fly instead (and save her butt from getting sore!). So, instead of chatting with a friend to keep me awake on the journey, I've checked out a couple of books on CDs from the library to listen to. The books are funny mysteries by Alexander McCall Smith and Elmore Leonard, so they should keep me laughing and alert on the long drive.
I'm really looking forward to the conference. I went to the first two and thoroughly enjoyed the friendly, home-town feel of the small gatherings. I missed the third one last year, due to having to chaperone a marching band event for my son, and I can't wait to catch up with folks I haven't seen in two years. I'm also looking forward to rubbing shoulders with Diane Mott Davidson and Nancy Pickard again. I just loved Nancy's Virgin of Small Plains novel, and Diane gave me some very useful promotion advice a year an a half ago at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference. Serving on the same panel as Diane will be a milestone in my career.
If you read this and plan to attend the conference, please come up to me and say hi!
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