Saturday, July 12, 2014

It's a Thrilling Saturday!


It's been a busy couple of days with clients in town for ThrillerFest.

Some highlights:

1. Sitting very very quietly at the lunch table when some very accomplished writers started talking about whether the twist in the story comes first, or after the writing has commenced.  And talking about how they organize their writing and plotting.  This is fascinating stuff to me, and I always learn a thing or ten. 

2. Looking up to see Andrew Grant walk by! He'd flown in very unexpectedly and of course, we found each other in the bar!

3. Having Dana Kaye, the most amazing publicist in the world, run down a few tips on effective Facebook and Twitter postings.  I always learn a lot from her and this was no exception.

4. Meeting Lori Rader-Day, author of THE DARK HOUR.  You'll be hearing more about her from me.

5.  Getting blog reader J.D. Horn's new book!

6. Having an entire conversation with Lee Child via semaphore across the bar!

7. Discovering that Fabulous Terry Shames really IS one of the nicest people on the planet.

8. The opportunity to visit with writer Jill Abbott.  I met Jill some years back, and actually blogged about it: 

 Write what you don't know. I recently attended a panel sponsored by the New York Chapter of Mystery Writers of America, and it was interesting to me that five of the six authors had created a protagonist in their own image. That's all well and good, but I'm much more interested in the people I don't see every day. The one author who mentioned her protagonist was a Pakistani terrorist was the author I went out and bought the next day.
That story is in Queens Noir by the way.


9. The bookroom! Always a place that sucks dollars out of my wallet and this year is no exception.

So far I've bought: The Darkest Hour by Lori Rader-Day; Strange Gods by Annamaria Alfieri; Tales of the Witch by Angela Zeman; and, The Line by J.D. Horn.  And I'm not done yet!

10. And my favorite thing of all was losing my phone! I realized I'd left it someplace when I sat down to a meeting in the bar and needed to check the time.  About five minutes later publicist Dana Kaye joined me and said "you left your phone in the book room." Whew! But wait, how do you know?

Well, the bookroom people found it, and called the last number I'd dialed. Fortunately it was not anything lurid. It was someone who knew me: Fabulous Patrick Lee!  Yes, he admitted he knew me, and yes he'd tell me. But of course, he saw Dana first and mentioned it to her. She saw me first.

At the end of the meeting, clients Dana Haynes and Katy King sprinted to the book room to fetch the phone for me, as I had another meeting.

One phone: the connectivity of the Fabulosity on display.

I love my job!

13 comments:

DLM said...

How many of us would die of happiness to be a #5?

That said: number 8, number 8, number 8, number 8, number 8. The idea of just rewriting my own life (or my own self) bewilders me. Research and world-building are, for me, half the POINT of writing. Not that anyone asked! ;)

InkStainedWench said...

Didn't you lose your phone on the train, Janet? Or am I confusing that with a contest prompt.

Anonymous said...

@InkStainedWench - she did, and then Ms. Sharkly One turned it into the opportunity for a contest.

Bonnie Shaljean said...

I love your enthusiasm and generosity towards writers. The first is contagious and the second encouraging (a commodity in short supply sometimes). So often, the professionals in the publishing world just come across as lofty and disdainful of us unknowns. The You-are-not-a-beggar-at-the-banquet quote is enshrined on my fridge door.

It was Reacher who lost his phone on the train, IIRC. I giggled at the image of the Shark conversing by semaphore (a difficult job with fins). Maybe a contest where the two of them, both phoneless, need to communicate urgently for some reason, but are not able to use their voices?

Thanks for such heartening day-brightener!

french sojourn said...

Yeah, good post but my thoughts lingered on the previous flash fiction contest.

Pavlov's dogs have nothing on us...eh?

Looking for a button to press in order to get a treat. Rats, trapped like mice.

Cheers Hank

Anonymous said...

@Bonnie...not that I'm anal.... :)

It was JR who lost her phone, using Jack Reacher was part of the contest setup sent in by one of her clients.

"Friday, January 17, 2014
The Lost Phone writing contest!
I lost my phone on the train to Philadelphia a while back. I had to email all my clients to let them know I had a new cell phone number...."

Bonnie Shaljean said...

I wondered about that two nanoseconds after I hit the submit button! (Not that I'm senile...)

Terri Lynn Coop said...

And here I thought there was another contest in the works.

Yay on Patrick Lee! He is just being heroic all over the place this weekend.

Terri

Laura said...

Heh, in that fiction contest, a few people, myself included, crafted a scenario in which Jack Reacher found the phone, called the last number, and Patrick Lee answered. Life imitating art imitating life..

Dana Kaye said...

I think the fact that you constantly lose your phone is a sign you need to upgrade to a smartphone. Your current flip-phone could just be trying to get back home to its former decade.

It was lovely meeting with you and as always, I love chatting with your clients. They truly are the Fabulosity.

JD Horn said...

I very nearly did die of happiness getting a chance to meet Ms. Reid. I went totally fanboy on her, I'm afraid. :)

Unknown said...

Wish I was there to see Anne Rice

Lori Rader-Day said...

Just saw this. Thanks, Janet! Glad you liked The Black Hour!