What Free Time? The Meets, Greets, and Eats

by Rochelle Staab, Member-at-Large

Every conference has its own rhythm. In the past, I would arrive with an idea of what panels and interviews I wanted to attend over the next few days, but had no plans for the evenings or early mornings. I’d finally fall into the groove of cool things to do by Day Two.

Not anymore. My new strategy for making the most of my leisure time involves the daily extracurricular events that begin long before panels start or in the evenings after the last panels end. Lucky for all of us, The Great Cactus Caper planned a fun palette of events for attendees to meet, greet, and eat on both ends of the day. 

Can’t miss the first on the list: Opening Ceremonies Thursday evening, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Our first chance to see everyone, reconnect with old friends, meet the Guests of Honor and Lefty Nominees, and mingle among faces sure to be familiar over the next three days. Did I mention there will be appetizers?

Friday morning’s New Authors Breakfast (7:30-9 a.m.) serves up breakfast with a platter of new authors previewing their novels in 60 second blurbs. An entertaining opportunity to discover new talent over the first cup of coffee. Why sleep in when you can meet authors before they become stars? One of the 2014 LCC New Author Breakfast writers became a 2016 Edgar nominee!

Friday evening (5:30-6:30 p.m.) offers a chance to meet your favorite Canadian authors at Meet the Canucks, a Crime Writers of Canada reception. Cocktails, Canadian nibbles, and prizes. Wind down from the busy day in a relaxed atmosphere. What could Canadian nibbles be? Moose? Or Mousse?

Later Friday (9 p.m.), save room at dinner for dessert with LCC Guest of Honor Ann Cleeves when she hosts Have Your Cake and Murder, Too—a screening of a never-before-seen Season 6 episode of Vera, the series based on Ann’s mysteries. Sweets and a screening before bed? Oh, yes!

Thursday and Friday after the scheduled events is Game Night (photo above), an informal gathering to play board games with writers and attendees. All are welcome. I went to one recently and had a blast—Scrabble Boggle, UNO, Pictionary, Wordie Wars, and decks of cards. I learned how to play SPOONS and laughed until I cried. Diane Vallere and Kendel Lynn are wicked competitors! Start time around 8:30 p.m. Room details to be announced. Ask at the registration desk. (The super-secret poker game folks have no idea what they are missing.) 

Saturday morning (7:30-9 a.m.), Poisoned Pen Press’s Discover Mystery Breakfast promises giveaways and authors at every table while you enjoy a continental breakfast. Start the day with an opportunity to meet and chat with authors—new discoveries and current favorites—over your cup of morning brew.

Saturday evening (7-9 p.m.) the big event: Toastmaster Catriona McPherson emcees the Lefty Banquet. Be sure to sign up early (when you pick up your registration packet) for a seat at your favorite author’s table. (Tip: The Tiara Table (right) makes its third return among a sea of author tables filled with goodies, giveaways, and good cheer.) Wherever you sit, it's a night of fun and festivities!

To make a closer connection and spend quality time with a favorite author, there is still time to sign up for the free Author/Reader Connections happening throughout the conference. The list of openings with sign up links can be found on the LCC website.

Ready for fun? Phoenix, here we come! I’ll see you all next week.

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Rochelle Staab is the best-selling author of the Mind for Murder Mystery series, and winner of the LCC 2013 Watson Award.

Our First LCC: Tina Whittle and Annie Hogsett

Tina: My first Left Coast Crime was Sacramento 2012: Mining for Murder. I remember being terribly excited because as a lifelong Right Coaster, I had never been to this part of Left Coast Land (there were rumors of wine country!) But mostly because I was to meet the person who would become my BCB — Best Conference Buddy.

Annie: Seriously? That was Tina’s first LLC? I thought she’d been to
thousands. I remember walking into the lovely convention hotel wearing my (figurative) Screaming-Freaked-Out-Newbie t-shirt. And there They were — the real writers — gathered in small, intimate clusters. I didn’t know anyone. Not even my wonderful new friend, critique partner & pen pal, Tina. Sure, we’d exchanged 50,000 words of email. But what if we couldn’t, like, talk? Ah, well. At least there would be the wine tour. Wine makes for some easy talking, right? It worked.

Tina: And of course I caught some kind of plague-virus on the way over, so I was fevered, sniffling, wretched — not the best first impression. But Annie didn’t banish me to the hallway (this was when I knew she was a gem among humankind) and we set out on our first LCC adventure, the wine tour.

I highly recommend taking advantage of these LCC side trips,by the way — arrive a bit early before the daybreak-to-midnight action of the convention begins and experience the flavor of your host city. An adventurous conference buddy is a boon, and Annie and I enjoyed this particular adventure immensely. There was rolling terrain. There was convivial mystery-loving company. There was wine, so very much wine.

And then properly inebriated acquainted, we went back to our room and cracked opened the ginormous programming schedule.

Annie: Now, about that schedule. I heard Anthony Doerr speak a while ago and he said he had viewed college as “an unlimited buffet.” So there I am, looking at this giant menu … er … program. Except instead of plunging in Doerr-style, I froze.

To avoid schedule planning freeze, try this. Ask yourself, “Why am I going to LCC?” And tell yourself the truth. Write it down. Fine tune it. Let it percolate. Then look at the presenters and the panels with your question in mind. And keep an eye out for a BCB candidate who can provide calm, coherent advice.

Tina: Or more wine. Conference buddies are also good for that.

Regardless, look upon Left Coast Crime as an immersion. Dive deep. Come up for air as you need to. And bask in the warmth of book-loving people. You’ve already got friends here — you just haven’t met them yet.

Annie: One more thing. Here’s something I’ve never told Tina about that “plague virus.” I caught it. I had it for a solid month. And here’s what else: It was SO worth it. See y’all in Phoenix!

Tina: ANNIE!
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Tina Whittle’s Tai Randolph/Trey Seaver mysteries — featuring intrepid gunshop owner Tai and her corporate security agent partner Trey — have garnered starred reviews in Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, and Library Journal. The fourth book in the series — Deeper Than the Grave — was released in November from Poisoned Pen Press.

Annie Hogsett used her M.A. in English Lit to worm her way into a copywriting job in a large Cleveland advertising agency. Those years were great training for making up crazy fabulous stuff you then have to sell to a marketing department. This summer her dogged agent search paid off, and now she writes, rewrites, and waits. Fingers crossed. Annie lives with her husband, Bill, and cat, Cujo, ten yards from Lake Erie in Collinwood, OH. The Great Cactus Caper will be her fourth LLC.

My First LCC, By Tammy Kaehler

My first Left Coast Crime experience feels like ancient history … so long ago, when I was so young.

And yet, it’s only been five years. Los Angeles. 2010.

But maybe author years are like dog years. Don’t you think? At my first Left Coast Crime, I was a clueless, dorky, new kid in kindergarten. Just five years later, this year in Portland, I felt at least like a self-conscious high schooler—projecting an air of confidence and savvy, as if by pretending, I’d really feel them.

Maybe in another couple years I’ll have matured to the level of cool, knowledgeable adult. Then again, I haven’t reached that as an adult yet, let alone as an author, so maybe it’s too much to hope for.

But back to my first LCC. I’d been trying to sell my first book for a couple years, and I hadn’t yet connected with Poisoned Pen Press (still my publisher, thank you very much). I didn’t know much about Left Coast Crime at all, nor about Bouchercon (we could do a whole series on how we discover our great fan conventions), but I knew someone on the organizing committee.

So since the convention was happening near me, I went. And I discovered a whole new world. It’s probably not hyperbolic to say that’s when I first discovered my tribe.

I don’t remember meeting specific people—except for Matt Coyle, both of us pre-published and trying to soak up published-author mojo. And I don’t remember any specific advice or panels, though I remember listening to (and marveling at) Lee Child and the Kellermans.

But what I remember, and what has stayed with me, is the sense of community I felt. At that first LCC experience and at every other since then, I’ve felt connected to other attendees, to mystery readers and lovers, to writers. I always leave inspired to go write something interesting, as well as to read as much as possible.

That’s why since 2010, I haven’t missed a Left Coast Crime. That’s why I’ll be in Phoenix, looking for new books to read, inspiration for my own writing, and people to have good conversations with. Will you be there too? And what’s your first LCC memory?

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Tammy is the author of the award-winning Kate Reilly Racing Mystery Series, published by Poisoned Pen Press. She's also unable to say no when asked to help plan mystery fan conventions.