Left Coast Crime Report

Today I came home from Left Coast Crime in Sacramento. I arrived by train in California's capital 1t 12:30 p.m. and my panel was at 2:45. Whew! I checked into the hotel, took my suitcases to my room, headed back down to the reception area and registered for the conference.

I'm not exactly sure what else I did, probably found something to eat, but it was soon time to head for the room where my panel was located. Going anywhere involved going up or down two flights of stairs (until someone pointed out the way to use the elevators--unfortunately on my 3rd day at the con.)

My fellow panelists are in the back row from left to right:
Susan C. Miller, Clark Lohr, Vicki Doudera
Front row left to right: Me and Madeline Gornell

Our subject was Writing for Small Presses

The room was packed, and I think we did a great job telling why we'd gone with small presses, our experiences good and bad, and we were asked many, many questions. I even had one your woman ask to pick my brain privately. Of course I agreed and she talked to me for about 20 minutes.

Was this good way to sell books? Not particularly because we were told not to bring our books to show despite the fact that we were herded to the book room to sign books that no one really knew what to look for.

However, that did not keep me from have a grand time. Best of all was seeing so many author and reader friends that I haven't seen for far too long. I received and gave so many hugs, sat in the lounge and gabbed away, ate goodies and talked some more in the hospitality room, shared wonderful meals with so many friends.

All the panels I attended were great, the author sparkled.

Everyone asked about my husband who stayed home to fix our oven. It's amazing how many remember his name.

Monday morning I received my 4 a.m. wake up call. Got ready, finished packing. Looked over the hotel bill they'd shoved under the door--and of course it was wrong. So before I could check out I had to spend time with the desk clerk explaining what was my part of the bill and what belonged to my roommate. A taxi took me to the train station and I was on my way home by 6:45 a.m. The train sure beats going by air and it was lots cheaper.

Now that I'm home, I playing catch-up like crazy. And tomorrow is the first day of my blog tour for No Bells. The first stop is here: http://blog.marjamcgraw.com/

I'm giving away copies of prior books in the Rocky Bluff P.D. series to the person who comments on the most blogs. You can find the schedule on my blog site,Marilyn's Musings

 To tell the truth, I think I've got far too much to do. 


Marilyn a.k.a. F. M. Meredith