So, how did the event go? you ask #mnwriters

March 26, 2022 by Julie Holmes, author 9 Comments

Fellow SinC author Barb Deese and myself

Last week I went to my first in-person event. I went as a representative of our local Sisters in Crime (SinC) chapter, and my fellow author and our chapter’s Member-at-Large joined me to man the booth while I was in my panel and when I was doing my workshop.

There weren’t as many people there as in the past. Small wonder. There were more, though, than there would have been if a couple of the local news stations hadn’t come by. A number of people said they came by because they saw it on the news.

Anyway, didn’t sell much (low traffic), but the panel and my workshop went well. Our panel was about women protagonists, and we did the panel as our newly-formed group, the Midwest Mystery Works.

MIdwest Mystery Works: (r to l) Chris Norbury, Brian Lutterman, moi, Bob Junghans (writes as Rob Jung). Missing: John Baird Rogers

We’re testing the waters as a group of mystery writers, hoping the logic of numbers will work on our favor (more brains, more ideas, more opportunities, hopefully). Of the five of us in the group, four of us have female protagonists, so it was a good panel. It was really interesting to hear the guys talk about writing from the POV of a woman and the considerations they have to be conscious of that I don’t have to think twice about.

My workshop, 10 Clues to Writing Mysteries, was well-attended: about a dozen people give or take, pretty good considering the attendees paid $15 for each session. My SIL was one of the room monitors, and she shared that the evaluations rated the workshop pretty high. And I have no idea what that means in the grand scheme of things. I don’t think I sold any additional books because of it, but I do think we gained a few new members of our SinC chapter.

All in all, it was a good day. A long day for sure, but a good day. It was so good to see some of my author compadres in person again. In a couple–EEK! Okay, how about a week and a half or so until I head to Albuquerque for Left Coast Crime. Here’s hoping it isn’t cut short like San Diego. I’ll be on a panel, and moderating a panel for the first time. I had a great time in San Diego for the one day I was there, so I’m looking forward to (hopefully) four days of fun with writers and readers.

Needless to say, since I’m trying to read a book from each of the four authors on the panel I’m moderating, I haven’t been writing as much as I should be. Still waiting on a couple beta readers, but darn it, if I don’t hear back from them by the end of the month, I’m sending the manuscript off to my agent anyway.

After a couple gorgeous early spring days last week, we’re back to 30s and maybe 40. Ugh. It even snowed the other day, just a coating, but still. Hope you are all enjoying spring where you are (and fall, for those south of the equator). Keep on writing!

Who’s waking me up?