Dripping With Envy

Let’s roll back the calendar. February 2006. I finish the first draft of my enchanting (no bias here) cozy mystery and need a breather before I start revisions. I wonder what other writers do when they finish a first draft, so I surf the web. I discover Sleuthfest 2006, a mystery conference designed to educate writers in both the craft and business of writing, being held in Fort Lauderdale two weeks in the future. It was scheduled for a time that I would be staying in Delray Beach. Sent the e-mail. Reserved a spot. Then I obsessed. What was I thinking? How could I go to a conference for real mystery writers, when all (all!!!) I’d done was written a first draft?

Sleuthfest 2006 was a turning point for me.

During a talk at breakfast one morning, Michael Connelly said, “We’re all writers at different places in the process.” He wasn’t alone in his ability to give encouragement. Every author at the conference gave mountains of support and advice to each other and to the newbies. (And no one was newer than I was.) Jeremiah Healy took time in the parking lot to chat one on one and to advise. “Keep up with what’s going on in the industry. Join Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.” Libby Fischer Hellmann invited me to a Sisters in Crime dinner. “See, we’re a great bunch. Now join.” Cathy Pickens (The newest book in her very entertaining Avery Andrews mystery series, Hog Wild, was just released a few weeks ago.) and her terrific husband, Bob, adopted me as a mealtime companion.

Agents and editors actually talked to me. “So, where are you?” “Just finished my first draft.” “Congratulations, lots of people never get that far. Keep going.”

I came home revved! Full of confidence. Full of determination. I write. Every day. I revise. Relentlessly. I have recently begun to submit my work. Would I have gotten this far without Sleuthfest? I’d like to think so, but I’m not really sure.

This weekend several of my fellow women of mystery (oxymoron there?) are at Sleuthfest 2007 in Miami Beach. They are basking in the sun and in the wisdom and friendship of the wonderful community of people who write mysteries. I’m not there. I’m here. Dripping With Envy.