Left Coast Crime and Then Some

by Peg Brantley
Evocative Characters. Intriguing Crime. Compelling Stories.


I still haven't settled back to normal (whatever that is) since Left Coast Crime. After the conference in Monterey, my husband and I headed south on Highway 1, then looped inland from Ventura up to Sequoia National Park. We got home late Wednesday. Sillily, I thought I'd be back to my routine immediately.

Didn't happen. Hoping for tomorrow...

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy a couple of photo highlights. (We took around 600, so be happy I'm only posting 5!)

The Last Panel of LCC
With Donnell Bell, Warren Easley, Cathy Perkins and Terry Shames

A wonderful meetup with Sheila Lowe. Time flew!

They grow big pineapples in California!

At Sequoia National Park. The snow surprised us! We only saw  rain in the weather forecast. Oh! And we stayed in the same suite where George W. Bush stayed when the park reopened in 2001. Kinda cool.

They grow some big trees in California too!

Here's to the memories of a wonderful LCC in Monterey and a huge excited shout-out for LCC 2015 in Portland!

Left Coast Leftovers

By Gayle Carline
Mystery Author and Exhausted Gal

Where's Marlyn?

I went to Left Coast Crime last weekend and boy was it fun. It's always great to see my CFC buddies. I live in Orange County (California) which, BTW, is the only place in the universe where you identify yourself as being from a county and not a city. Peg lives in Colorado and LJ lives up in Oregon, so these conventions are practically our only face time, but Marlyn and I can't understand why we live 15-20 minutes from one another and still can't seem to get together, not even for lunch. (Drew would like me to be his personal assistant, but he lives near San Diego. Too far for me to commute.)

Clowning with Drew

We did a fun panel together, where we told lies and truths and had the audience guess which was which. I was prepared to tell nothing but lies. I'm a bit of an imp in that way. But after everyone ahead of me told a lie, I broke down and told the truth, only because I thought everyone was expecting me to lie.

Some of the fun for the weekend included:

Quite a few panels on alternative paths to publication. It was fascinating to see this conference catching up to what writer's conferences have been discussing.

I met August McLaughlin. (Warning: her site has a few NSFW references.) I'm a huge fan, and she was all, "Oh, I'm so happy to meet you! I feel like I've been stalking you!" And here I thought it was the other way 'round.

Tee Burrell and her legal cohorts had a fun mock-trial, each of them portraying their protagonists. It was a very creative panel.

In addition to our CFC's "Lying for a Living," I was on a panel called "Closer to Death: The Older Sleuth." It was a depressing title, but ended up with a huge audience and I met some of the most delightful authors. You can bet I'll be checking their books out!

Beginning with me on the right, there's Cathy Ace, Sandra Brannan, and the inimitable Rita Lakin (standing).

One of the things that made it fun was that my hubby Dale came along. I like having him along because he's not one of those needy spouses who tugs at your sleeve and asks you when you're going to be done because he's bored. He's an independent guy who goes off and finds something to do. For this trip, he had the NCAA tournaments to keep him occupied. And a walk to the bay, from time to time.

I snuck off one morning with him to have breakfast at LouLou's, and had dinner with him every evening. On Friday, we had a fabulous dinner at Domenico's with Peg and her hubby George, and our writer-friend Tim Hallinan, who may be the nicest man on the planet.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a banquet ticket for Dale, so Saturday night we scampered off for drinks at the local bar, then dinner at the Crown and Anchor British Pub. Fish and chips and Newcastle Brown.

Belgian Red, served at Peter's BrewPub. Yum.

How was your weekend? What are you doing this weekend? You can find me at the Ladies of Intrigue event in Huntington Beach. Because the fun never stops when you're a mystery writer.

Left Coast Crime 2014

By Teresa Burrell

Author of The Advocate Series

March 20, 2014

Today is the first day of Left Coast Crime 2014, Calamari Crime, in Monterey, California. I love these conferences because the panels are so informative but mostly because I get to see friends who I have come to know over the past

seven years. Most of these people I see only once or twice a year so it is a real treat to catch up.

It’s especially fun to participate on panels. This year I’m on two and both are very unique. The first is on Thursday from 2:30 to 3:15. It’s called “The Truth and Nothing But: Law and Murder.” Our moderator is Daco Auffenorde and the other panelists are Susan Goldstein, Lynne Raimondo, and Robert Rotstein, all attorneys. We’ve decided to have a mock trial in which we will appear as our characters. I will be Sabre Orin Brown, but Susan Goldstein will appear as her character, Samantha Crowley, the defendant who is accused of killing her husband. We will also be dressed in character. It should be a lot of fun.

Then on Friday from 4:00 to 4:45 I have the pleasure of appearing with many of our own Crime Fiction Collective authors, Marlyn Beebe (Moderator), Peg Brantley, Gayle Carline, Andrew E. Kaufman, and L.J. Sellers. The title of our panel is “Lying for a Living: Crime Fiction Collective.” This will be a hoot. We plan to present in a format where we tell the truth with an occasional lie thrown in to see if the audience can tell the difference. Please stop in to see if you can tell when we are fabricating. You may even win a free book.

If you’ve never attended Left Coast Crime, you should. It’s a lot of fun, but more importantly I always learn something and I come home pumped and ready to write, write, write!

I hope to see you there.

Teresa Burrell

Author, Attorney, Advocate

Calamari Crime, here I come!

By Gayle Carline
Mystery Author and Excitable Gal

I'm going to Left Coast Crime next week! Come on, sing it with me - let's dance!






Actually, I don't know which is more exciting this year, the convention or the fact that it's in Monterey, one of my most favorite cities on the planet. If I ever wanted to pack up all my stuff and move anywhere, it would be someplace in the Monterey area.

)

I'd even live in Spreckels (population 673). Of course, I'd never really want to pack up and move anywhere. Sounds too much like work.

Not that the convention isn't going to be fun - it is. I'll be on two panels, one with my CFC buddies ("Lying for a Living"), and one about writing protagonists of a certain age ("Closer to Death: The Older Sleuth"). I admit, that last panel's name is disconcerting. Peri, my main character, is only 50, and yes, the further 50 appears in my rearview mirror, the more I say only.

I also volunteered to help out with a couple of panels. I get to clear away trash, provide water, and escort panelists to the signing area. If my impish side appears, who knows where I will lead these folks? It is Monterey, after all. I could take them right down to the bay...

Of course, it will be great fun to see all my pals again, as well as to meet new folks. This is my third LCC. What I'm finding with this convention, as well as with most of the recurring events I attend, is that I can't judge everything on the first year. I need to repeat the experience several times, to build a network of people I know. Then it stops being about whether I have a new book out and starts being about who can I talk to, brainstorm with, enjoy.

One of the more fun things I'm looking forward to doing is giving out a copy or two of my newest mystery. It's a standalone, featuring brand new characters and I hope to have a couple of ARCs to give away to some lucky reader. I really like this book, and although I don't see it as a series, one of my beta readers is dying for me to write at least one more.

"She was looking for a horse. What she found was romance. And danger.

Willie Adams is at the L.A. Equestrian Center shopping for her first horse. A young widow struggling with the idea of dating again, she never expected that a gorgeous trainer like Tyler Ransome would notice her. But he did.

He wasn’t the only one, either. Bobby Fermino is not as handsome, nor as pleasant. After attacking Willie he ends up dead in her tack room, leaving her the most likely suspect.

Willie has to convince Detective Lucas Macy that she’s innocent, but her physical attraction to him isn’t making the task easy.

With growing evidence pointing to her, and two famous actors drawing attention to the investigation, Willie decides to take the reins. She must find the murderer before they find her, but will she survive opening her heart to someone new?"

 

Anyone else going to LCC this year? Let me know and maybe we can meet up for coffee!

The Trigger: It's Finally Launched!

by L.J. Sellers, author of provocative mysteries & thrillers

After a long six-month wait, The Trigger is finally available!

Even better news: The ebook is $.99 for a few days—as a thank to readers who have supported my work.

Better yet: If you buy a copy of The Trigger on January 1 and email the receipt to lj@ljsellers.com, you'll be entered to win a trip to Left Coast Crime 2015 (airfare, hotel, registration)!

And on top of that: I'm also drawing winners for 10 gift certificates of $50 each. More details here. (Just click one of The Trigger links to get started.)

But if you're still reading this and would like to know more, here's the book description:
 

Agent Jamie Dallas loves undercover assignments that get her out of the Phoenix Bureau. But when a woman and her baby disappear from an isolated community of preppers in Northern California, she knows the risk of infiltrating the armed group is dangerously high.

Once inside the compound, she discovers that the brothers who founded Destiny are scheming something far more devious than kidnapping or murder. Meanwhile, her local FBI contact, Agent McCullen, is pulled from her team and assigned to investigate the murder of a woman with phony ID, found at the bottom of a motel pool.

Soon Dallas finds herself in deeper trouble than she's ever encountered—with no way to reach her contacts. Can she break free of the bunker and stop their bizarre end-of-world plans? Will Agent McCullen identify the killer in time to help?

The Trigger is a gripping story that highlights our greatest fear—how a megalomaniac and a hacker-for-hire can threaten civilization as we know it.

Early readers have given it 5 stars, calling it a "“An exciting mystery with a kick-ass heroine. Great fun!”

Grab an ebook now. And maybe one for a friend. At $.99, it's a steal.

Thanks for your support—and Happy New Year!

I'll never go to Colorado in March again!

(Or, Yet Another Left Coast Crime Report)

by Marlyn Beebe

When I first heard that Left Coast Crime 2013 would be in Colorado (in March!) I decided I wasn't going to go. 

Never mind that it would be at the lovely Cheyenne Mountain Resort.  Having grown up in Canada, I've had enough winter to last me a lifetime.  That's why I live in Southern California, and never visit my family at Christmas.

But the members of Crime Fiction Collective had the opportunity to do a panel together, which was a real draw.  And, I reasoned with myself, I wouldn't have to leave the hotel if the weather was inclement.

In the month or so before the convention, I checked the weather forecasts obsessively.  The week before, it was sunny and 60ish.  When I left for the airport on Wednesday afternoon, the forecast was positive.  But by Thursday morning, I was hearing muttering about predicted snow, and The Weather Channel confirmed the rumours.  And yes, I had to go outdoors to get from my room to the conference area.

Here's the view from my window on Saturday morning:

But I had a marvelous time.  Our panel went very well.  As the moderator, I had the easiest job.  (If you're interested, you can purchase a recording here.)

Some of the wonderful panels I attended were Gritty Details: The Forensics of Crime Writing, (with Robin Burcell, J.T. Ellison, and CFC's own  L.J. Sellers, moderated by Jan Burke)

and The Woman With a Gun (guest of honor Laura Lippman interviewed by Twist Phelan).

Awards were presented at the banquet on Saturday night.  The winners were:


The Lefty (best humorous mystery) : Brad Parks, The Girl Next Door
Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery: Catriona McPherson, Dandy Gilver and an Unsuitable Day for a Murder
The Rocky (best mystery Novel set in the LCC geographical region): Craig Johnson, As the Crow Flies
The Watson ( mystery novel with the best sidekick): Rochelle Staab, Bruja Brouhaha

I'm looking forward to Left Coast Crime 2014, in Monterey, California where it seldom snows.

My duck and I are ready for Calamari Crime!

I went to LCC and all I got was...

By Gayle Carline
Author of Mysteries and Humor - and sometimes together!

I just got home from Left Coast Crime, so perhaps my brain is all muddled from the trip, but dammit, I owe you all a column, and you're going to get it.

LCC was in Sacramento last year. Sacramento is not that horrible of a drive for me, so I went for the first time and had a blast. I met lots of readers, sat on my first panel, and made new friends, including the very funny Elle Lothlorien, who I now trade jokes with on Facebook daily. Maybe hourly.

While in Sacramento, I saw the ads for LCC in Colorado Springs in 2013 and thought, "Um, no. Too far away. Too expensive. Plane trip. No."

Then I released The Hot Mess and realized I needed to go. I may be a legend in my own mind but I need to meet more readers who love quirky characters trying to solve puzzling crimes. (By the way, I've searched the internet looking for these people. Turns out Google and Bing aren't as helpful as they advertise.)

So I checked The Weather Channel a gazillion times, packed a bunch of clothes, crossed my fingers and boarded a plane. How was this convention?

Does this answer your question?

Actually, I met some lovely readers and writers. I got to spend time with most of my Crime Fiction Collective pals, some of whom I had never seen face-to-face. I had met everyone previously except for Jodie Renner and Peg Brantley. Peg and I found ourselves hanging out in the bar and getting to know each other, which was great fun.

Our Crime Fiction Collective panel, Truth is more Violent than Fiction - Or is it?

Me and Michele - she's the cute one.

I also got to spend some quality time with author Michele Scott, who is a good friend of mine. She lives in San Diego, I live in Placentia (about an hour apart), but we had to go to Colorado to meet up. Not many people will put up with us, because within two sentences of meeting, we start talking about our horses. Michele and I both have horse books coming out in late spring, so we made plans for cross-promotion.



Some other highlights for me:

1. I got to audition to be Drew's assistant (as in, Mr. Andrew E. Kaufman). If it wasn't for the hour-and-a-half commute and the fact that I'm already up to my tush in projects, I'd have the job. Totally.

2. Marlyn Beebe (pronounced Bee-Bee, BTW) is going to take me to see her mother-in-law, who owns and operates a lingerie store I've been dying to visit - The Wizard of Bras. Finally! A bra that fits me!

3. The organizers tried out a thing called "Blogs Around the Campfire" where a writer would spend 30 minutes in a small meeting room and people could come in and talk to them about anything. It was mostly a bust, but during my session, I met another author and we discussed ebook marketing. She had a lot of great ideas that I'm going to try out.

4. I met Brad Parks, who won the Lefty Award this year (most humorous mystery) and captured this little gem:

Okay, you know this is a player piano, right? But he does sell it.

5. I drank too much wine on Saturday night, if you define "too much wine" as volunteering to go to the LCC board meeting on Sunday morning (7:30, oy vey!) and agree to submit a bid to host LCC in San Diego in 2016 or 2017. All I meant to do (really!) was to tell them if we had the convention in, say, San Diego, I could write to Dean Koontz and see if he still does this sort of thing and would he come down for the day and be our special guest? By the time I left the room, I had agreed to something completely different.

Oh, well... bring it on.

6. I got to snuggle up in my room on Sunday night, order room service (a buffalo Reuben with sweet potato fries, and salty caramel cheesecake - yum), and watch the snow fall outside. My only regret was that I didn't bring my laptop, and I was in the mood to write. I read instead.

7. I got to spend time with my other good buds, LJ Sellers and Tee Burrell. LJ's up in Eugene, Oregon so I usually only see her at conventions, but Tee is about half-an-hour from me, so we have no excuse.

Usually, I like to end this post with a question, but I'm feeling a little wintry, even if it is officially Spring.



Okay, maybe I do want some answers: What conventions/conferences do you like to attend? Why?

Bouchercon 2012

by L.J. Sellers, author of provocative mysteries & thrillers  
Bouchercon was terrific for me this year. I finally felt like a real author with a wide reader base and respect from other authors, even though the conference programmer didn’t offer me a panel until I politely pointed out that I met all the criteria. But in the long run, it didn’t matter.

My highlight this year was having dinner with the Thomas & Mercer team and getting to know Andrew Bartlett, the acquisitions editor. At that dinner, I also met Blake Crouch, Sean Chercover, and Dana Cameron, and walked back in the rain with with Tom Shreck, whom I’ve known since we were both with the same small press. (Blake and Tom are in a lower photo.)

But let me back up. I started Friday with a Sisters in Crime breakfast, complete with singing a chorus of “You show me your gun, I’ll show you mine.” Then I attended a panel called Old Friends, New Friends, nicely moderated by Jen Forbus, followed by Eve of Destruction—with authors Sophie Littlefield, Deborah Coonts, Tracy Kiely, and Rochelle Staab—who talked about their kickass female characters.

I spent a lot of time with Rochelle, who I’d Skyped with earlier in the year for a Big Thrill feature. She’s just as dynamic in person. (Bottom photo in gorgeous red leather.) A little later I met up with longtime online friend Debbi Mack for the first time—lovely woman—and had lunch with her and fellow panelist, Conda Douglas, and new author friend, Molly Cox Bryan. Friday afternoon, I attended Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, a terrific panel where they talked about writing from the opposite gender’s perspective. The room was packed to see Elizabeth George, Val McDemid, Alan Jacobson, Tom Shreck, and another friend, Alexandra Sokoloff. The moderator, Daniel Palmer did a great job of keeping it lively.

Saturday was a day of conversations. I chatted with readers and authors all day—including Zoe Sharp, Julie Hyzy, Claudia Whitsitt, and Annette Dashofy —and had lunch with my terrific roommate and author Terry Shames (top photo), along with Keith Raffel, Boyd Morison (and his wife Randi) Tracy Kiely, and another delightful author whose name escapes me. By that point, I’d met and chatted with so many people, it was hard to mentally keep everyone straight. We talked shop, but also veered off into other stimulating subjects.

Still, that evening at the awards ceremony, I met more authors for the first time. Edgar nominee Darrell James was charming, and so was Kathy Wiley and new author Anne Cleeland. I went to dinner with Darrell James and a female author named Darrell who writes under the name Avery Aames, as well as Rochelle, Terry, Dana Cameron, Roberta Isleb, and another woman I should remember. I also chatted with numerous authors in the bar that evening, staying up late to connect with as many people as possible.

That’s the problem with blogs like this. I can’t possibly mention everyone I talked even if I could remember all their names. So if I left you out, please don’t be offended, and feel free to comment and remind me! And I have to mention that I chatted with Stan and Lucinda Surber who talked me into being a chair for Left Coast Crime 2015 in Portland. It'll be fantastic, so put it on your calendar.

The best panel I attended was on Sunday morning and called Red Herrings. Moderator Keith Raffel (a great guy!) was sharp and funny, despite a late night in the lounge, and the panelists—Beth Groundwater, Pennie Ross, D.M. Pirrone, and Melodie Campbell—all kept up with him.

Afterward while waiting to leave, I chatted with agent Janet Reid, who did her best to convince me that personal one-to-one emails are worthwhile, even with a thousand-name email list, and I know in my heart she's right, even though the task would be overwhelming.

And I shared a cab to the airport with Gigi Pandian, an delightful author I shared a shuttle with at B-con 2010. We both seem to fly home to the west coast at the same time I also talked with people on all of my flights coming and going, two of whom have already emailed me, hoping to stay in touch. I wish I had total recall for all the wonderful people I’ve met.

If you attended B-con, please share one of your moments.

Are you a conferee, a conventioneer, or a little bit of both?

By Gayle Carline

On Monday, Jodie Renner gave us a wonderfully organized list of writers’conferences and conventions, and in the comments, Jeri Westerson pointed out there is a difference between the two.

As well I know, having been to both.

Writers’ conferences are for writers, and by writers, I mean anyone who might even be thinking of writing but is not certain if they are ready to sit in front of a blank screen or sheet of paper and open a vein. All genres are welcomed, discussed, deconstructed and built anew. The nuts and bolts of the writing business are presented, from the craft of writing to the logistics of business. The rooms have tables with their chairs, so you can take notes comfortably.

At least, a good conference should do this. If every evening ends at the bar, telling jokes, swapping bad publishing stories, and juggling swords, well, that’s a bonus. And if there is an impromptu field trip to a porn store, you’re looking at a trifecta.

My first writers’ conference was in Palm Springs and it’s where I got the idea for Freezer Burn. Subsequent conferences taught me how to write a damn good book, how to find a publisher, and ultimately how to publish and promote my damn good books by myself.

Conventions, on the other hand, are where authors meet their readers, both old and new. They are, as a rule, genre-specific. There are several mystery/thriller conventions, from Bouchercon to Love is Murder to Left Coast Crime and beyond. Romance authors have their soirees, as well as sci-fi/fantasy, and I’m guessing YA and/or children’s books.

Conventions are about panels. The chairs are set up in rows and there are no tables, so the taking of notes, while not discouraged, is not expected. There will be no exam later. Four or five authors sit at a table and a moderator asks them questions for most of the 45 minutes, leaving about ten minutes for questions from the audience.

I’m pretty sure this is to keep the audience from telling long-winded tales of their own that don’t really have a question attached. Sometimes it works.

A convention also has an entire room full of booksellers, so if you have never read an author, but see her* on the panel and decide to check out her books, you can buy one and hunt her down for an autograph. (*Or him, but I really like it when it happens to me.)

A really good convention begins with a continental breakfast and ends at the bar, telling jokes and swapping bad publishing stories. (There might be sword juggling, but I’ve never witnessed this.) And even though I’ve been to two conventions and have yet to go on a field trip, it would not be out of the realm of possibility.

This is when it would suck to write literary fiction. No convention, no drinks with people who love your work despite the fact you’re a jackass, and no field trips.

At my first convention, which was Bouchercon, I spent one evening sitting at a table, watching a steady stream of authors and their friends come and go like a tide. LJ Sellers and CJ West sat down. Gary Phillips arrived and LJ left. CJ left and someone else arrived. It was like an entire night of cameo appearances. The high point was when Lee Child sat down next to me. He was so darned sweet and gracious, you wanted to take him home to meet your mother, just to prove to her that you knew someone with a lick of manners.

At my second convention, Left Coast Crime, I didn’t meet Lee Child, although I did get to schmooze with Gary Phillips and LJ and a bunch of fun-fun authors. But the best was Sunday morning, when I was waiting for a seat in the uber-crowded café and a group of readers waved me over to sit with them. Three women who didn’t know me from Adam/Eve and had never read my books, asked me tons of questions, requested my card and bookmarks, and made me feel like an Author. I was as tickled to be with them as they were with me — how cool is that?

Obviously, I find something in both kinds of gatherings that feeds my creative soul. Now that I have described them both to you, which ones do you like to (or wish to) attend, and why?

What's new? Not much. Only everything.

By Gayle Carline

It's been almost two weeks since I went to Left Coast Crime, which is, like, a year in a dog's life, so I should be talking about the future instead of the past. So I'll do that, except that I first have to tell you all what a fun convention it was and how much I enjoyed seeing LJ again and meeting Marlyn for the first time.

This was my second convention - in 2009 I went to Bouchercon. Normally I go to writer's conferences, which are a lot different than conventions. Conferences are about getting fired up about writing and doing the work. Conventions are more about chilling and meeting people. After LCC, I finally think I know how to relax and be at a convention.

On to the future: I came back from the convention to shifting priorities. Before I left, I was writing three books, in various stages. I'm smack-dab in the middle of my third Peri mystery. I've started development of a new mystery with new characters. And I'm about 10,000 words into my horse's memoir (see his blog for an explanation). I was juggling these balls without problem.

Until I got my rights back to my first mystery, FREEZER BURN. Suddenly, if I wanted to keep it available, I needed to get a new cover, find the last version of the novel and put all the parts together myself.

Other projects? What other projects?

The good news is I'm not derailed, only detained (and a little deranged). I've got the cover, I found the file* and it should be up and rolling on Kindle and CreateSpace soon. Here's the new cover:

What do you think?

*After I found the file, I couldn't resist editing a few things. So it's the same book, only a little better!

Highlights from Left Coast Crime

by L.J. Sellers, author of provocative mysteries & thrillers
This blog was founded after a group of us met at Left Coast Crime last year in Santa Fe, and three of us made it to LCC again this year in Sacramento.

It was a terrific conference with guests of honor such as John Lescroart, whom I was lucky enough to meet when I moderated a panel about Writing the Criminal Mind. (William Kent Krueger, Rick Reed, and Denise Hamilton were also panelists.) Rick Reed told harrowing stories about encounters with criminals, including a serial killer, and John Lescroart expanded on his belief that the best way to reveal the criminal mind is through dialogue.

I also participated as a panelist for the subject: Writing Is a Real Job. Simon Wood, a top-ranked Amazon author, moderated. The panel included a ghost writer, an author who also runs a small publishing company, and a screenwriter/novelist—giving the audience a wide view of how various writers make a living.

One of the most interesting panels I attended discussed the new age of movie-making, and how inexpensive and easy it is now to create a high-production-value film, then expose it to potentially millions of viewers through You Tube.

Then there was the Men of Mystery panel, in which we heard from more than a dozen authors, many of them quite humorous. The moderators also entertained us with video clips—writers heads digitally imposed on dancers of all types, including Chippendales. Hysterical! Wish I had a good photo of it.

And I had a blast hanging out with other CFC bloggers, Gayle Carline and Marlyn Beebe (who read and reviewed many of the award-nominated books). As well as good friends Teresa Burrell, Terry Shames, Susan Shea, Terry Odell, Simon Wood—and I could go on and on. The best thing about these conferences is the opportunity to talk shop with others who love this business as much as I do.

Am I there yet?

By Gayle Carline

By the time you read this, I will either be on the road to Sacramento or running amok through my house, attempting to get on the road to Sacramento. Either way, I'm going to Left Coast Crime, where I will get to see people I've met and meet people I've seen.

It's a strange kind of gathering, for me, in that I'm used to writers' conferences, where I know I'm there to learn something. LCC is a convention for mystery fans, so I guess I'm there to introduce myself to potential readers, as well as be a fan myself and meet other mystery authors.

I just hope the correct version of me shows up.

I believe in experiencing reincarnation while you're still alive to appreciate it. As a child, I was very shy. I muddled through my school years all right, but by the time I was in my early twenties, I would literally vibrate with nervous shaking if I had to meet new people.

Believe it or not, I chose to leave my home in Illinois and move to California, where I had to meet new people all the time. By now, I had stopped shaking, and had replaced it with a sort of trance, where I watched everything as it happened around me.

Then, I needed an extra flow of temporary income, so in addition to being a engineer by day, I took a job as a waitress at night. Not just any restaurant, but at Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor, where everyone came for their birthday and servers led the patrons in a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday to You", and then they ran a gigantic bowl of ice cream ("the Zoo") around the room while someone banged a drum and it was a little like going to a Mad Hatter's Tea Party, only louder.

Shy people do not work in that establishment, so I needed to be Someone Else. Thankfully, my Inner Diva appeared. I delighted in singing "Happy Birthday." I loved awarding the ribbons for eating an entire Pig's Trough (2 banana splits). I even wore a grass skirt and lei while I served the Hot Fudge Volcano. The Diva enjoyed many years in the spotlight, before going into semi-retirement.

Mostly, she and the shy girl have been replaced with a more relaxed, more confident, yet still goofy woman who can look people in the eye and shake their hand.

Even though I'm that woman now, I know, when I get to Sacramento and approach the convention gathering, there will be a moment when my shyness says, "Oh, no, there are so many strangers. Let's go home." The Diva will tell her, "Shut up. They can't start the party til I get there."

And as long as I can navigate between those two, I'll be able to walk through the door.

Does anyone else have multiple personalities, or is it just us me?

**OH OH OH I NEARLY FORGOT!

Because I'm looking forward to such a grand and glorious time at LCC, I'm offering two one-day Kindle e-specials on my mysteries, HIT OR MISSUS, and CLEAN SWEEP (short story). CLEAN SWEEP is free today, March 29th. HIT OR MISSUS will be free on Saturday, March 31st. Get them while they're hot!