I've been trying to process what my very first Bouchercon was like and in many ways it felt like bobbing around in a swimming pool crowded with other bobbing heads. I would see people I knew or wanted to meet across the pool and would attempt to paddle toward them but would often get distracted by running into other people I knew and wanted to meet along the way.
Sometimes I never quite made it to the other side of the pool (or bar as it was often the case at Bouchercon) to say hello to someone I wanted to meet or chat with.
At the same time, there were many unexpected meetings along the way. Such as walking back to the hotel along the promenade beside Hank Phillipi Ryan and striking up an organic conversation with possibly the most friendly mystery writer alive. Or sitting down at a restaurant by the ocean at a table next to the most awesome Dru Ann Love and her friends. Or something as simple as meeting a friendly woman on the sidewalk, chatting with her on the elevator in the hotel, being blown away by her career choice to work with special needs kids, and then running into her another day while I was walking with Alex Segura and discovering this delightful woman was his wife's stepmother!
It was a four-day confluence of coincidences and bonding moments.
I'm happy to say that two of my favorite new author friends I got to know at Bouchercon is our very own Jay Stringer and Holly West. Both were so wonderful I only wish I could've spent even more time with them. (I was lucky enough to meet Alex in person a few weeks prior and he is even cooler in person!)
I have so much more to say about B'Con, but will leave you with a few snapshots of my time there if you'll indulge me:
1 comment:
The swimming pool analogy is a good one. I feel that way myself much of the time.
It was a pleasure to get to meet you, if only in the elevator. Looking forward to saying hello in Raleigh.
Post a Comment