Off to the Pikes Peak Writers Conference!

I'm driving down to Colorado Springs today to attend my favorite writing conference, the Pikes Peak Writers Conference, at the Colorado Springs Marriott hotel. This is the 20th anniversary of the PPWC, so lots of special activities are planned. I'm really stoked about attending!

If you're attending the conference, I hope you'll stop in at my panel at 3:20 PM on Saturday, "Fooling the Reader Fairly" with fellow mystery authors Robert Spiller, Laura DiSilverio, and Donnell Bell. My topic is fishy smelling--red herrings! We'll all be signing our books in the bookstore after the panel. I'll also be hosting a table at the banquet and hanging around in the hallways and at the bar, hoping to chat with old writer friends and to make some new ones.

Good Times at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference

My previous blog post listed my required activities at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference, but in between those, I managed to sit in on a few sessions, such as Kelley Armstrong's pacing talk and Donald Maass's micro-tension talk, and socialize with writing buddies. Here's a few photos of the fun times.

The first photo shows me hosting a table at the Saturday banquet. Table mates included Barb Nickless, PPW VP of Programming, and Charlie Rush, one of the founders of PPW. The next photo shows me with three of my critique group writing buddies, M.B. Partlow, Barb Nickless and Robert Spiller. The third photo shows Ellen Phillips helping us play a joke on Robert--related to his obsession with black plastic bags. Don't ask! ;-)






































The fourth photo is of the Sunday Morning Writing and Marketing Short Fiction panel, including Carol Hightshoe, Barb Nickless, R.T. Lawton, and myself. And the last photo is of Donald Maass, Todd Fahnestock, and Jodi Anderson "sashaying" across the stage at the Sunday brunch. Again, if you weren't there, don't ask! ;-)

The Pikes Peak Writers Conference

This weekend I will be busy at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference in my hometown of Colorado Springs, CO. I'm looking forward to hobnobbing with other writers, agents, and editors there and soaking up the energy I need to keep those creative writing juices flowing. PPWC is my favorite writing conference, and this will be the 13th one that I've attended. Here's times and places where you'll be guaranteed to find me, though I'll be hanging out in the dining room, hallways, and bar ;-) during the event. Please come up to me and say hi if you're attending!

Friday, April 23, 4:30 - 5:45 pm, Read & Critique 1-2-3 with an author (me), agent and editor

Saturday, April 24, 2:00 - 2:30 pm, Conference Booksigning
(I'll be signing copies of A Real Basket Case, To Hell in a Handbasket, and The Epsilon Eridani Alternative.)

Saturday, April 24, 5:00 - 6:00 pm, Mystery Writers of America Panel with moderator Mario Acevedo, me, Laura Hayden, R.T. Lawton, and Becky Martinez, followed by:

Saturday, April 24, 6:30 - 7:30 pm, MWA Mixer
(Come find out about the organization while having a drink and a snack. I'm the Chapter Membership Chair, and I love to encourage new members.)

Sunday, April 25, 8:00 - 9:00 am, Writing and Marketing Short Fiction Panel with Carol Hightshoe, R.T. Lawton, and Barb Nickless
(We'll have prizes for those in the audience who ask questions, so PLEASE COME!)

Sunday, April 25, 9:10 - 10:10 am, "They Said 'Send It!' Now What?" Workshop
(I'll talk about how to make that follow-up submittal to that agent or editor shine and will answer questions about the query process.)

Whew! A busy weekend. I hope to fit in attending a few workshop sessions myself, along with doing lots of networking and taking photos to post here on my blog after the event.