The 2022 Left Coast Crime convention was held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from April 7-10th. This was technically my third time attending LCC. However, the 2020 San Diego conference was stopped on its first day due to the COVID pandemic. It’s hard to claim that I learned or experienced much from that outing. So, I’m going to say that this was my second full convention. The first took place in Vancouver. I was wide-eyed and slightly intimidated by the event. I wanted to be better prepared for this one.

Road Trip! (Part I)

I drove Vanessa, my 2021 Thor Tellaro, to the convention. This was at the encouragement of my girlfriend, who thought I should “connect” more with the van. As you can probably guess, she’s a big fan of glamping and getting in touch with my feelings.

By the way, do you know where we got the name ‘Vanessa’ from? Leave a comment below or send me an email with your guess. I’ll share the results and the correct answer in a future post. - Colin

The idea of a road trip by myself held some appeal, though. I’d never done anything like it. Oh, I’d taken shorter trips in my car many times. And we’d made several family trips in the van together. I thought spending days on the road might seem like a retreat from the hustle and bustle of the real world.

While driving south, I listened to several audiobooks, the best of which was Brandy Colbert’s Black Birds in the Sky, a look at the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. If you haven’t read it or listened to it, I highly recommend it.

The RV campgrounds I stayed at were all nice. Mountain Home RV Park (Mountain Home, ID) was large, but I would stay there again. The Portal RV Resort (Moab, UT) is fantastic. We stayed there last year as a family while visiting the national parks in the area (Would you like to see those videos?). The High Desert RV Park in Albuquerque featured a menagerie of metal statues. I found them fascinating and took many pictures (see them below).

Workshop

Before the official start of the conference, I attended a workshop led by David Morrell, the author of First Blood, The Brotherhood of the Rose, and many other works. It was a fantastic event, and it exceeded my expectations. David spoke about some of his experiences in the industry, gave advice on the writing process, and answered various questions.

I’m a massive fan of First Blood, and I’ve read the book about a half dozen times and watched the movie at least that many times. I also loved his novel, The Fifth Profession. I felt like a giddy fanboy when I got to ask a question and later say hello to him.

This was the first workshop I’ve attended at a writing conference, and I’m looking forward to going to more.

Friends of the 509!

My flagship series of novels is known as the 509 Crime Stories. I’ve created a sister series of anthologies—the 509 Crime Anthologies wherein I have invited other authors to come and play in my fictional world. I’ve labeled these contributors as ‘Friends of the 509.’

It was a blast to see Holly West, Travis Richardson, Dana King, James L’Etoille, and Frank Zafiro—all of who I had met before. They are neat people, and I’m glad we got to share several laughs.

I was also able to meet Bill Fitzhugh in person! He’s a great guy with an infectious personality. From our initial introduction, we laughed like old friends.

As I attend future conferences, I hope to add more pictures of Friends of the 509!

Panels

I attended various panels. Some of the more memorable were:

- Writing Police Procedurals: Just the Facts or Just the Clichés?
- Amateur Hour: When Bad **** Finds Your Protagonist
- The Contradiction of Humor & Crime: What’s Funny?
- Writing for the Screen
- Writing Characters Who Aren’t Like Me
- Graphic But Not Gratuitous: Getting Police Procedurals Right
- Fireside Chat: Crime TV on Streaming Platforms

Many interesting authors participated in the panels, and I enjoyed hearing them speak. I didn’t think I would enjoy the crime TV panel as much as I did. Friend of the 509, Holly West, was a contributor, so I stopped in to check it out. It ended up being thoroughly entertaining and made me realize that there were several recent shows that I should watch.

How Cozy is Cozy?

The panel I participated in was on Friday morning. How Cozy is Cozy? was its title, and author Becky Clark moderated it. Also on the panel were Jenny Anderson, Emmeline Duncan, and Julie Hennrikus.

Becky asked for audience participation in identifying tropes within the genre. After an audience member called one out, each author was able to comment on how their series either embraced the trope or broke it. The entire panel was a blast.

Afterward, I was approached by members of the Book Dragons, a local reading club, who told me they had read Cozy Up to Death before arrival. Their compliments about the story sent me soaring.

Readers!

As an author, the best part of attending a reader conference like Left Coast Crime is meeting people who have read your work. I was surprised at how many readers came up to say hello and that they had enjoyed my novels. The Cozy Up series seemed to be the most popular that week, and many said they had read Cozy Up to Death in preparation for the conference.

The Book Dragons were amazingly sweet throughout the conference. Two sisters (Jean and Patricia from Walnut Grove, CA) were also extremely nice. I met them in San Diego during the previously mentioned LCC event.

One reader came up to me on Saturday night. She said she had read Cozy Up to Death after seeing my panel. Not only did it surprise me that she immediately purchased the book, but she read it that evening. That’s what they call a super reader!

On the Lam with the Grifters

Holly West, Frank Zafiro, and I held an event on Friday evening at the bar, Sisters. It was on Central Avenue, also known as Route 66. Yep, that Route 66!

Frank developed a serial called A Grifter’s Song that featured contributions from both Holly and me (“The Money Block” and “Lost in Middle America,” respectively). Down & Out Books published the series and sponsored the event.

We had a great turnout, shared lots of laughs, and some crispy tatter tots!

The Lefty Awards Dinner

The Lefty Awards dinner occurred on Saturday night. Frank Zafiro and I sponsored a table, and several readers sat with us. Jean and Patricia were there and a couple of the Book Dragons. We had a great time!

Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos. Bah!

Road Trip! (Part II)

A spring snowstorm that rolled into the Pacific Northwest delayed the road trip home. Vanessa isn’t a four-wheel-drive vehicle, nor does she have snow tires. She’s built for more civilized travel.

Anyway, I made it to Moab on the first night and decided to hunker down for a couple of days. Forecasted 50-60 mph winds and a foot of snow in the mountains tend to make a guy rethink his travel plans. 

I’m lucky that I can work from just about anywhere. As long as I have a cell signal, I’m golden. I turned my phone into a hotspot and went to work.

It added several days to my trip. I love Moab, but I was ready to be home.

What Did I Learn?

In looking back over the week, I want to make a few notes so that I won’t forget. And if you’re a reader or an author, you can use these notes to help yourself prepare.

1.     Bring Books.

Authors can bring books to sell in a designated marketplace. After every panel, the participating authors move to the market to sign books and chat with readers. After my Cozy panel appearance, the Book Dragons showed up with a single question, “Where are your books?” Jill’s mother admonished me when I said I didn’t bring any, “You’re a bad boy. You need to bring books!” It sounded as if several of the Dragons would have bought the series.

A few minutes later, a couple walked up, “Where are your books?” That scenario repeated several times until my mistake was like an anvil dropping on my head. Next conference—I am bringing books!

2.     Bring Swag.

Authors can bring all sorts of goodies to hand out. Pens, pencils, keychains, bookmarks, you name it. One of my favorites was a bookmark shaped like a dog bone for Ron Osler’s novel, Devil’s Chew Toy. Readers aren’t expecting these things, but I saw their eyes light up on Saturday night. Frank brought along several short stories/novellas that he had printed into book form. Other tables gave away the swag mentioned above. I spoke with one reader who’d been to many conferences. She said she doesn’t expect swag, but she does appreciate it, and it helps her remember an author.

3.     Stay At the Hotel.

I almost wrote ‘don’t drive to the show,’ but that wasn’t the issue. The problem was staying off-site. Many nights, I felt the need to call an Uber and head back to the RV before I wanted to. I would have instead hung out with authors and readers until the wee hours. However, the ride was twenty minutes away, and I didn’t know how long I might have to wait for an Uber. Many great conversations happened away from the show—at breakfast, coffee, or in the bar. Staying in the RV negated a great many of those opportunities.

4.     Take More Photos. I took some photos, but not as many as I wanted. I’m kicking myself for not snapping more pictures while doing certain things. I missed photographing panels, and I didn’t take a photograph at the awards dinner. And I didn’t take any photos of the Book Dragons or the other readers who came up to chat with me. I believe this is more of a personality quirk and something I need to work on.

5.     Post More on Social Media. Before leaving, I had great expectations of posting updates via Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. As soon as I started driving, I became task-oriented—get to Point A. When I arrived in Albuquerque, I remained task-oriented and focused on the conference—get to panel A. Before I knew it, the conference was over, and I missed most of my opportunities to post interesting things. Bah! 

So, that’s it for my recap of the Left Coast Crime convention. What did you think? Is there something else you would like to know? Please send me an email or leave a comment below. I’ll make sure to answer it. I can even update the article if I forgot something important.