Over the weekend, two-hundred and seventy-five (more or less) crime writers descended on Dedham, MA for the New England Crime Bake.

I’ll keep this post brief.

My favorite moments in no particular order:

• Standing outside dressed as a lobster when a fire alarm went off and the firemen came. I can dress like a lobster for my crime writer friends. But it was a little awkward with the firemen.
• Talking to Curtis Ippolito, Vanessa Lillie, and Delia Pitts about dialog, voice, and developing authentic characters. All. At. One. Table.
• Meeting David Heska Wanbli Weiden. I think he’s pretty great. If you haven’t read his books, you should.
• Seeing old friends and making new ones.
• Listening to John Nardizzi and the exonerated clients from the New England Innocence Project. This is probably one of the most powerful panels I’ve attended. I’m grateful to John for pitching the panel and appreciative of the men who shared their experiences.
• Scott Lyerly leading a rousing lobster race during the banquet.
• Meeting the wonderful guests of honor: Lisa Gardner and Joe Finder. Listening to the Luminary panel on Sunday with Hank, Hallie, William, Kate, Ruth, and Paula.
• Talking to Sarah Stewart Taylor, Dick Cass, BJ Magnani, and Jim Ziskin about how the develop their protagonists.
• Meeting mystery gamers – VERY cool to think about designing experiences around a mystery.
• My Maine crime writing buddies.
• Story-telling is powerful – the Lore experience.

A few things I’m going to commit to:

• Memorizing the first line (or two) of some of my writing. Bill Martin did this and it was pretty powerful.
• Write a little every day. Even if it’s just an hour. Keeping the momentum on longer projects is key.
• Everyone, even the most impressive writers, think from time to time, “This is the worst thing I’ve ever written.”

If you are in and around Portland this week, I hope you can join Rebecca Turkewitz and I in conversation about the Best American Mystery and Suspense.

I hope you can join us!