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Crime Bake: It's a Mystery to Me

November 14, 2009

Me and Mia Poling

I love to fly, but my favorite part is the anticipation of who will be sitting next to me on the flight.  Now I adore my books and always have one handy to read (currently, Never After by Laurell K. Hamilton, Marjorie M. Liu, Yasmine Galenorn and Sharon Shinn), but I lucked out by being seated next to Maia Poling, who is a 6th grade teacher at the Heilicher Minneapolis Jewish Day School.  Of course anytime I have a chance to talk about books I’m in hog heaven.  So I was thrilled when she pulled out an old and battered copy of The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg.  Maia said her class is currently reading it and since she’s read it several times, she’s always on top of any questions the kids may come up with.  Pages were dog earred, passages underlined.  Obviously a much loved book.  Maia told me it's very popular with the kids and I’m always excited to hear about kids who love to read.


Then it was time to check into Crime Bake.  In keeping with the Sue Grafton theme, the Master Classes were D is for Developing Character with Linda Barnes, R is for Revising and Re-Inventing by Jan Brogan, S is for Short Stories by Stephen D. Rogers and T is for  TV Techniques by Hank Phillippi Ryan. 

Hank’s seminar was particularly entertaining as the 26 times Emmy winner, investigative journalist and author of 4 books proved how a real journalist deals with the unexpected.  While trying to present her seminar, the audio/visual equipment malfunctioned and the guys scrambled to get it all set up as quietly  and unobtrusively as possible.  Hank good-naturedly announced, “Just like reporting on live TV...you don’t know what’s going on behind you, you just hope for the best.”  And the best is what the packed room got as they cheered enthusiastically for her at the end of the master class.

Bottom: K.B. Inglee, Sheila Connolly, Kathryn Gandek-Tighe. Top: Karen Laugel, Melissa Miller, Rhonda Lane, Pauline Alldred, Kathy Whelan

At the Pizza Party, I was lucky enough to sit with a group of Guppies.  The self proclaimed “Great UnPublished” boast a large membership and as authors once become published, they stick around to offer support and camaraderie to the unpubs.  Their name badges even proudly proclaimed them to be a "Guppy."





 

Rosemary and Bruce Harris

The evening seminars offered P is for Pitch by Lynn Heitman and Paula Munier and M is for Marketing with Bruce and Rosemary Harris.  With Bruce as a publisher and Rosemary as an author, they used a terrific tag team style lecture as they took you through the process of marketing a book from both points of view.  It was obvious that there can never be too much marketing and they both made it clear that good marketing can go on well after the book is released.

The night ended with Crime Bake goes to Hollywood as producer/literary manager Ken Atchity explained how you can write your crime novel so that it has a better chance to sell to Hollywood.


Bottom Line:  My first mystery conference and I’m convinced that this group is as passionate about their subject as any I’ve ever met and it’s no mystery how they manage to write such great books.
     

Posted by Barbara Vey on November 14, 2009 | Comments (11)