This was my first time attending the Florida Writers Association annual conference. The theme was “What A Character.” I didn’t attend the Thursday all-day workshop with bestselling author David Morrell, but I did hear him speak later on. Instead, I checked into the hotel and went to faculty orientation followed by a general welcome for conference attendees.
Friday morning, things began in earnest with a breakfast buffet at 7am. Scrambled eggs, bacon, potatoes, bagels and pastries were on the menu. We sat at genre tables to speak to other writers in our specific categories. Here I am with true crime author Carla Norton.
First on the agenda was my talk on “Writing the Cozy Mystery.”
I put away my laptop and attended Carla’s workshop on “True Crime – Stranger than Fiction.”
Then I wandered through the bookstore organized by Murder on the Beach and the silent auction rooms. Lunch was a bountiful buffet of Italian food.
At 2pm, I was on a panel titled “Dredging Up Your Dark Side” moderated by Ken Pelham. Also on this panel were Carla Norton, Doug Dandridge, Micki Browning, and Dan Alatorre.
Later that afternoon, I attended a panel on “Effective Book Marketing with POEM” by speaker Keith Ogorek.
That evening was a welcome reception with superhero-costumed characters. The picture with a foursome has Carla Norton, Ken Pelham, Vic DiGenti, and literary agent Mark Gottlieb.
A sit-down dinner was followed by a keynote address from bestselling author Steve Berry.
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7 thoughts on “FWA Conference – Day 1”
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In December, I host Friday Writers’ Notes topic “Conferences.” All my spots are filled but I’d love to get your opinion on this conference.
I’ll have a few more posts coming from this conference. Not sure what you want?
December posts will be an overview of conferences and how to chose: one-size-fits-all; small vs large; specialized vs general; readers/fan-based conferences vs. craft events. Also, genre-related is pretty broad. For instance, I write mysteries but wouldn’t attend a conference that specialized in cozys as I write police procedurals. This is what my posters will be discussing. I gave you all this info in case you had a comment that related to any of the above. I’m thinking about extending this topic into January. If so, would you be interested in a post?
Sure, I can write a post. Contact me at nancy.j.cohen(at)comcast.net
Have you ever attended SleuthFest?
Nope, never been to Sleuthfest. So far, I’ve stayed on the West Coast (and Las Vegas), but the 2018 Sleuthfest program has someof my favorite authors-PJ Parrish, Katherine Ramsland, wow! As it stands now, I’m going to a day long conference in Santa Rosa (the part that didn’t burn down…) in April and Public Safety Writers Conference in July in Las Vegas.
BTW, I will certainly link my December 1st post to your about this conference!
You must be on the west coast. I’ve never gone to Left Coast Crime. There’s also Killer Nashville that I haven’t yet attended either.