I must have enjoyed myself because I forgot to take any pictures. I took my first plane trip in two years and attended the Killer Nashville Conference at the Embassy Suites (actually in Franklin, TN) a couple of weeks ago. I know a lot of writers were hesitant to make the trip and it was a leap of faith taken by the organizers to “schedule it and they will come.” Good move. The conference went off without a hitch, in spite of the need to make quite a few adjustments. The dining room at the hotel was not open, but the conference provided a lovely luncheon on Friday and Saturday, breakfast in the lobby each day, and they made ordering deliveries easy.
About the plane. I flew Delta (unfortunate name at this particular time) and every seat was taken on each of my four flights. But unlike the horrors I’ve seen on TV recently, all passengers and crew wore masks and nobody complained. Maybe someday flying will be fun again.
Our guest of honor was the great Walter Moseley. I was looking forward to seeing him in person and getting him to sign a book for a friend of mine who is one of Moseley’s biggest fans, but that was not to be, because Walter himself was not there. He was virtual.
I was disappointed at first, but we had a big screen interview with him at the Saturday luncheon. Conference organizer, Clay Stafford, present in real life, asked questions. Moseley, much bigger than real life, answered. I enjoyed this a lot more than the usual interview where you can’t see the facial expressions and have to look over the heads of people at tables nearer the stage. This was actually much better than the old way. I hope conferences will start doing this even when the guest of honor is on the stage.
tI was on two panels. Beyond our Borders, a good fit for me since I write stories set in foreign countries, and The Believable Amateur Sleuth, also a good fit because Dotsy Lamb is definitely an amateur. I got more than I gave on both panels because my fellow panelists were so smart.
BTW, this is the first blog I’ve posted in quite a while but I intend to keep doing it once a week. Don’t go away.
Maria Hudgins 