GCLS Day 2

My first session of the day was the one I’d been most looking forward to as a reader. It was titled “Who Done it Better?” It was better than I expected and now I have new books to add to my TBR and new authors to follow.

As suspected, I was enthralled with listening to Katherine V Forest talk about her Kate Delafield books. Also, I thought there might be a bit more rivalry, but there wasn’t any of that. Either they were being very careful not to offend, or they genuinely felt that one is not better than the other. I admit that I thought the procedural writers would be a bit snobby because the readers definitely are, but that did not happen.

I’m really glad about that as I like both types. It just depends on my mood. Cozy mysteries are fun and easy, but I still get to solve the puzzle. I really enjoy cozies, but sometimes, I just need a gritty procedural to sink my teeth into.

It’s got me thinking about possibly starting or trying to write a mystery. It seems really hard, and because I know next to nothing about procedures, it would have to be a cozy. It might be fun to try.

The rest of the sessions were all about finding resources to get published, so I took off my fan hat and played writer for the rest of the day. I learned a lot of really good information and took good notes. The biggest takeaway was to find my tribe and nurture those relationships with other writers.

I started doing that at lunch time when a group of writers took pity on me sitting by myself and invited me to join them. I was actually just waiting for a few of my sprint writer buddies to join me, but the table was big enough for all of us and we had some good conversations.

Later at dinner, some of those same women invited me to join them, and the conversations got quite lively as the alcohol was consumed. I’ve acquired some interesting insights into the very small world of sapphic books and even got a business card or two.

I was in bed much earlier last night than the night before, but as this is my fourth bed in four weeks, I did not sleep well. The crazy weather we’ve been having has also given me a headache, so today’s sessions may be a bit of a challenge. Wish me luck.