Having Fun at the Puerto Vallarta Writers Conference

I recently spent six days in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to speak at the Puerto Vallarta Writers Conference, which took place Friday, February 21st, to Sunday, Frebruary 24th, at the local library, Biblioteca Los Mangos (see two photos below). Thriller author David Lyons was the keynote speaker, and presenters other than myself included author James Callan, editor Terra Mar, publisher Billie Johnson, mystery author Jinx Schwartz, and literary agent Suzie Townsend.

My husband and I arrived Thursday, and after lunch and a chance to unpack and unwind, we were whisked away by our hosts, conference organizer Douglas Danielson and his wife Karen to the Sea Monkey Bar for a beachfront gathering of the conference committee and speakers. The bar is next to the town's new artistically designed pier that looks beautiful lit up at night.

On Friday, after helping Karen with food preparation for the conference's Friday evening reception, I headed over to the library for a relaxing and inspirational visit with my muse, a workshop led by Terra Mar. Then I sat in on a fun "guess the author" session led by Ginger Tindall and Gina Lopez, the leaders of the local "Sweaty Ladies Literary Club." After a conference welcome by Douglas and a Keynote Speech on "Writing and the Writer's Life" by David Lyons, it was time to break and eat all that wonderful food prepared by Karen (a petite powerhouse, as shown with me in the photo below).

On Saturday, I went to work. I presented two workshops on "Unleashing Your Inner Schmoozer" and "Series Writing for the Organizationally Challenged" twice each to the two different conference tracks of about 25-30 people each. During my break in the middle of the day, I listened to James Callan's talk on "Character Development."

That night, some of the speakers and conference committee members got together again for dinner at a restaurant alongside the Cuale River, a lovely setting and yummy food.

Sunday morning at the conference, fellow mystery author Jinx Schwartz and I presented a panel on "Internet Marketing for Dummies" that was followed by a sharing of personal stories by attendees about overcoming obstacles for success. Then it was time for the Book Fair and a dancing show put on by a local children's troupe. In the fourth photo, I'm sitting next to my husband, who took all of these wonderful pictures.

After that excellently organized conference, on Monday we got to be tourists and spent the day along Puerto Vallarta's Malecon (boardwalk), taking photos of the excellent statues there, relaxing over a seafood lunch and touring the old town.

On our last day, we went with our hosts to a marina at the north end of the bay, where Douglas had to survey a damaged sailboat and check out another one that he and two crew mates are currently moving for the owners, sailing it from Puerto Vallarta to San Diego. It was a gorgeous sunny day and I enjoyed my last fresh seafood meal there, shrimp ceviche. What a great trip!