My Left Coast Crime Report

I had a super great time at Left Coast Crime in Monterey, CA.

This was my second LCC there, and I'd also gone to Bouchercon at the same venue.

Madeline Gornell met me in Porterville and we headed off to Monterey, yakking all the way. Our hotel room was great except for the shower--the drain was stopped up and the faucet dripped when showering. A plumber came and fixed the drain, but the drip continued on.

Of course we ran into many, many authors that we knew and we attended two panels: The Life Of Pi about real life investigators who pen mysteries--fun.

Then we went to Sue Grafton's interview--also delightful. I'd seen her in the elevator and asked if she'd remember being at the Soquel mystery conference held in a rustic camp many, many years ago. She said she did.

Madeline and I had dinner in the hotel dining room with Ellen Kirschman. Good food and conversation.

Friday, after the Sisters in Crime breakfast, I want to the panel with Jan Burke, Sue Grafton and Marcia Muller reminiscing about when they began their writing careers. Fascinating.

When Setting Matters was another great panel with Caroline (Charles) Todd, Timothy Hallinan, Craig Johnson, Sara J. Henry, and William Kent Krueger. (I was tickled to get the opportunity to chat briefly with Kent and his wife.) Also Kent won best mystery with his Ordinary Grace.

I spent some time visiting with Libby Fischer Hellmann in the lobby.

My panel was that afternoon, Writing the Native American Protagonist. Panelist were Deborah Ledford, Shannon Baker, Dorothy Black Crow, me and--ta da--Craig Johnson who writes the Longmire series. Thanks to him we had a big crowd.
He is charming and tells great stories.

I'd attended another panel right before mine called Light, Camera, Actions! Hollywood Mysteries. One of the panelists was Kathryn Leigh Scott who starred in Dark Shadows years ago. I had the opportunity to speak to her at another time and told her how much my oldest girls and I loved that show.

That evening we went to the wharf for dinner with Lorna and Larry Collins, Victoria Heckman, and Barbara Hodges.

Saturday came around quickly.

I worked for two hours in the Hospitality Suite, mainly selling raffle tickets.

I spent about an hour visiting with a fan--someone I hadn't seen for a long, long time. We had fun catching up.

A fun panel was Responsibilities and Issues for Women Writing Women with Kelli Stancley, Lisa Brackman, Robin Burcell, Marcia Clark (yes, the Marcia Clark), and Sara J. Henry.

Lunch was at a crepes place--yummy.

Saw the end of Behind the Badge which Ellen Kirschmann moderated.

At 5, the OTP authors in attendance at LCC met in the bar with our publisher, Billie Johnson.


Two more arrived after the picture was taken.

Saturday evening was the Awards Banquet. I was fortunate to be able to sit at Naomi Hirahara's table.
But--dinner didn't start until nearly 8 p.m. (my usual bedtime) and I faded before dessert and left.

In the a.m., had breakfast with Bobbye and Howard Johnson--long time friends I met in Omaha at Mayhem in the Midlands, but we haven't crossed paths for years. We had a great time yakking away.

Beside packing up, I attended Madeline's panel, Good Things in Small Presses.

Madeline Gornell and me.


After telling folks good bye--we hopped in the car and headed home. Hubby and middle daughter met off of 99 and 190 and I transferred cars after hugging Madeline good bye.

There were many others that I saw at LCC, too many to mention--but it was a great convention.

Marilyn









Comments

JoAnnAinsworth said…
Good times...made new friends.
M.M. Gornell said…
Marilyn, I just can't believe it's all over! What a great time, such wonderful supportive author friends. And having a great roommate and travel companion made all the difference. I'm still thinking about bits and pieces of the conference...

Madeline
River Glynn said…
Marilyn, I'm posting my LCC experience today, too! What a great time! Already signed up for next year, and I checked the box for being on a panel. Yikes! What do I know???
River Glynn said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Madeline, we did have fun didn't we?

Sharon, I was so glad to get to see you again and have a few moments to visit.
Unknown said…
Dang, I could have gone if I knew I'd recover so quickly. Sounds like I missed a lot, especially visiting with you and Madeline.

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