Saturday, March 30, 2013

A two-fer: Left Coast Crime and a new release

Left Coast Crime in Colorado Springs, Colorado, exceeded all my expectations. The facility was beautiful and spacious. The volunteers were oh-so-helpful. The authors and fans were friendly. And the food was great!

The sessions at LCC were mostly panels or interviews, and it was easy to drop in and out of the rooms. Sometimes it was very hard to choose between the four concurrent sessions. I have no industry news to report, only that mystery authors and fans are alive and well in Colorado!

I was selected to participate on two panels. The first panel was on Thursday, March 21, "Romance and Mystery-Finding the right mix," moderated by Donnell Ann Bell. Panelists included Tina Whittle from Statesboro, Ga, and Mara Purl, a former actress from "Days of Our Lives" turned mystery writer. Thanks to Donnell's insightful prompts, we talked about blending romance and mystery into our current releases, followed by a lively question and answer session.

Pictured from left: Maggie, Donnell, Mara, and Tina.

Author Mike Befeler organized the established author breakfast on Saturday morning. About 30-something of us got up one at a time to speak for an entire minute about our book for sale at the conference. I practiced the day before with my friend Barbara, so hopefully I wasn't such a motor mouth that actual words could be heard...

The second panel is participated in was on Saturday, March 23, after the established author breakfast. "Traditional Mysteries: Murder by the Book" was ably moderated by Patricia Stoltey, another Five Star author. Panelists included G.M. Malliet, Sheila Simonson, me, and Nancy G. West. Another fun group of mystery writers and interesting topics. One attendee came up after the panel and said this was the first panel she'd ever been to where she wanted to buy everyone's books.

Pictured from left, Gen, Maggie, Sheila, Nancy, and Patricia.

On Friday a group of us "left the building" for a ride around town and lunch at the top-rated "Marigold's". What fun! Thank you, Donnell, for inviting me along on this outing.

Pictured from left, Donnell, Maggie, Barbara Graham, Kari Wainwright.

I spent some time with Bob Spiller in the raffle basket room. He did a great job of keeping everyone straight. My only regret is that I forgot to take a picture of my gift basket I donated with Death, Island Style, a shore bird, a turtle and lots of seashells.

Beth Groundwater clowning around with Edgar; Barbara Graham, left; LC Hayden
Terry Odell with Mike Befeler
Bob Spiller, standing. Cathy Dilts, sitting
Some of these pictures are from the Saturday breakfast, others from our Friday night gathering - a group of Five Star authors met in Deni's office, aka, the bar. What fun! Even better, a bunch of soldiers in their dress uniforms thronged the place too. Lots of nice scenery.

Barbara Graham, editor Deni Dietz, and Maggie
On Saturday morning, snow fell so fast from the sky that the huge panoramic view of the mountains was completely blocked. It let up a bit in the afternoon, but I was glad I'd worn boots and layered my clothing.

Nancy West, Sheila Simmons, and Maggie
Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed the conference, made some new friends, and hopefully found new readers. The really good news is that my hot pink ink pens were very popular. Many people picked them up off the promo table, thus moving me one step closer to being a household name (I wish!).

The bonus was seeing the grandkids afterward, which delayed our return home. Newspapering kept me busy through the rest of the week, and I woke up today to find my romantic suspense, Hot Water had released on Kindle. I'm scrambling to get the link distributed, but I'd love for you to check it out, and if you decide to read it, be sure and post a review.





Buy link for Hot Water at Kindle: http://tinyurl.com/d9ly236 In Hot Water, a cop and an arson investigator are on the trail of a serial arsonist.


That's it. Whew! I'm so glad to be home. I love attending conferences, but there's nothing I like better than coming home. Now I just need to update my website and write a newsletter!

Maggie Toussaint
www.maggietoussaint.com

14 comments:

  1. More great pictures! Thanks for the report. I love LCC and was sad to miss it this year.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Kaye. LCC is a conference I'd like to attend again. Next year its in Monterrey CA.

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  2. Enjoyed this post a lot. Sorry I missed this LCC. Hope to see you in Monterey.

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    1. Hi Marilyn,

      Thanks for your kind comment. I would love to go to LCC in Monterey. Just need to sell several thousand books first....

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  3. Thanks Maggie for posting our pictures. So much fun to hang out with you. Cathy Dilts is the lady who loves horses. She's got a book coming out from Poisen Pen, I believe in December. Terrific writer. We're going to have to make Marigolds a yearly tradition. Such fun!

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    1. Thanks for giving me Cathy's name. As soon as I read it, I'm like, "oh yeah, that's right," as if you'd think to give me the wrong name, LOL. What a great time at LCC - and what a great host the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers were. LCC is now one of my fav conferences.

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  4. Great pictures and recap. I had a great time at the convention, but there's never enough time to connect with everyone! So I was happy to see these pics of additional fun things going on.

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    1. Hi Gigi,

      I'm sorry our paths didn't cross at this conference, but there's always next year! I liked the pace of this conference, and I really love hanging out with mystery writers and readers.

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  5. Looks like you had a great time. :-)

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    1. Thanks for stopping by, Loraine. I had a very good time. It all starts fading so fast, so I'm glad to have snapped a few pictures. One of these days we need to plan a Bookspa gathering.

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  6. I really enjoyed our panel together, Maggie. Thanks for posting the photos. Wish I were back there!

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    1. Thanks, Gen. I know the feeling. Being back in the world and not having people hanging on my every word - that's reality!

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  7. Maggie,
    I love seeing your pictures and hearing your tales when you go to a conference. Monterey is about 5 hours north of me - it might be doable next year for me to come up if you make it out.
    Smiles
    Steph

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    1. Gosh, Steph. That would be awesome if we could connect at LCC.

      Thanks for your comment!

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