Jamie Freveletti on Bouchercon
Lawyer Jamie Freveletti's first book, Running from the Devil, will be out in May 2009. Until then, she is mourning her Chicago Cubs. Here's her view of Bouchercon (for all author guest posts, click here): One had his character bricked up in a cellar, another injected a seven percent solution, and a third chased down a Maltese falcon. These great moments from revered mystery writers (I’ll assume you know who they are) inspired the latest group of authors that are descending on Baltimore for the Bouchercon conference. I’ve just joined the ranks of them, having sold my debut thriller a few months ago, but my novel won’t launch until May, so I get to wander around the halls dropping in on the panels that I find interesting.
And if there is one thing I’ve learned this past year, hanging with this crowd beats anything you could do otherwise. Granted, I’m a trial lawyer, and while trial lawyers can be fun, they are most often simply too exhausted from their killer schedules to be entertaining after hours. Especially in these past two weeks, when we all have watched a parade of similarly white-faced people stumbling out of late night meetings regarding the economic crisis. I don’t know about you, but I need a break, and a conference addressing my favorite genre of all time, mysteries, is just the ticket.
These people are funny, charming, intelligent, and sometimes wacky. Okay, most of the time wacky, but in a good way, not in a tragic way, if you know what I mean. Sometimes profound, other times pragmatic, and always willing to sign a book, I have learned that this crowd will put you in an upbeat mood in minutes.
There’s a trick to the signing part, I might add. Buy the book, bring it to them, print your name on a yellow post-it and attach that to the front. This way, the hapless author won’t spell your name wrong. My name is spelled "Jamie," and I can’t tell you how many times people have tried to write "Jaime."
I’m going to cruise around, hang with my friends, hit some after parties, and generally live it up. So, if you want to read what’s going on in Baltimore with your favorite authors, check back in here, or at my web page, I’ll also upload a couple of lines at Twitter when the mood strikes. Feel free to follow!
Categories: Bouchercon/Charmed to Death
While she always preferred The Hardy Boys to Nancy Drew, 
