Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Bouchercon!

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I went to Bouchercon last week, Wednesday through Sunday, after looking forward to it for months on end. It was an amazing time. I finally got to meet my agent, Janet Reid, more than two years after signing with her. I also met several of her clients, who up until then I'd only seen or talked to online: Gary Corby, Dan Krokos, Dana Cameron, Andrew Grant, and Eric Stone. Oh, yeah, and I got to thank Lee Child in person for the blurb that's going on the cover of The Breach.

Also got to meet a lot of people from HarperCollins, which was extremely cool. Great to be able to thank them in person for everything they're doing with the book. I know I can't begin to understand the amount of work they're all doing on this, but I'm very, very grateful.

Thanks also to Kathryn Kennison and everybody at the Indiana Humanities Council. The panel on Wednesday evening was a great time, and thankfully much less intimidating an environment than I'd imagined. (Speaking in front of groups is something I'm still working on; the two times in my life I've had to make wedding toasts, I haven't gotten much sleep the night before.)

The five days at Bouchercon flew. It occurred to me only later that I'd pretty much blocked out the entire world beyond the interior of the Indianapolis Hyatt. I got back to my place on Sunday afternoon, went online, and learned that the world had been transfixed for several days by the exploits of Balloon Boy. Wow. How did I manage to survive five whole days without exposure to the 24-hour news cycle? I must be like one of those monks who can slow down their metabolism by sheer willpower, and live for weeks without food or water.

6 comments:

suzie townsend said...

Sounds like you had an awesome time!

While you and Janet were there, our office was transfixed with the exploits of Balloon Boy. I'm pretty sure you had more fun :)

 Patrick Lee said...

It was a really cool time. So great to finally put faces to a few names! :)

Susan M. Boyer said...

This was my first Bouchercon, and it was sublime. I was one of the 1,600+ other folks there. I'm amazed we didn't run into each other. :) Looking forward to reading The Breach!

Mindy Jo said...

I was lucky enough to get a copy of your book at Bouchercon. I read it yesterday, and had to stay up until 2 am to finish! I have to say it was very riveting. I will be recommending this book!

Gary Corby said...

Hey Patrick, it was great to meet you at Bouchercon. I'm ashamed to say I didn't notice your blog entry until today. (hangs head in shame)

Now the only problem is I won't be meeting you again until next year...but in the meantime The Breach is going to be a huge success. Hope you'll remember me when you're famous.

 Patrick Lee said...

Haha, I really need to check for comments more often! I just noticed all of these (beyond the first 2, one of which was mine).

Definitely looking forward to next year's Bouchercon, Gary. Thanks for the optimism on The Breach! By the time Bcon rolls around again, your book (any definite title yet?) should be out and selling like crazy!

Susan-- haha, yeah, I'm sure we were walking past each other at times. That was a pretty huge crowd, even for the Hyatt.

Mindy-- Thanks!! Glad you liked it! I'm still getting acquainted with the idea that people are actually reading the book now, somewhere out there. :)