Archives - Weekly Update

As I write, I am flying to Orlando for the Romance Writers of America Conference. This is one of those child-friendly flights that makes me happy I heard those magical words --- “you have been upgraded to first class” --- before I left. Now before everyone gets all crazy on me, I love kids, but when I am working on a flight on a business trip, it’s a lot easier not to have Mickey-eyed little faces peering at me or making their way up and down the aisle.

Well, I finally found cool weather in, of all places, San Diego! As I write this on Friday morning (trying to get it filed before more Comic-Con craziness takes over the rest of the day), the sky is cloudy with June gloom extending into late July and it’s cool. Wild to be wearing long-sleeved shirts! There was sun for a few hours yesterday in a perfectly blue sky, and it was glorious.

Last week I gave you some of my report from ThrillerFest, one of my favorite industry events of the year. Steve Berry at the Thriller Awards ceremony on Saturday night called it “Summer Camp for Thriller Writers,” and he was not wrong. The lineup of authors was just stellar, and the information that was exchanged was just terrific. More about what they had to say in a bit. That evening Steve also shared news that he and four other leading thriller authors --- David Morrell, Douglas Preston, James Rollins and Andy Harp --- will visit U.S. troops in the Persian Gulf as part of a USO trip they’re calling Operation Thriller. They plan to meet troops, talk fiction, inspire and spread cheer, and most importantly, show their gratitude. They will start the trip at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. before embarking on the week-long tour. And, of course, they’re bringing lots of advance copies of their forthcoming books. We will be sure to get you news about this event as it unfolds.

I'm writing tonight from the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York where I am staying while I enjoy ThrillerFest, the International Thriller Writers Convention. As I have never been an early morning kinda gal --- and since my son, Greg, who is photographing the event, is not from “the early bird catches the worm” school of life either --- we thought being in the same place as where we need to be at 9AM made a lot of sense. We checked in and both commented on how this room was nicer than the one that we had last year --- and then we ran to the conference and raced back here to work for a few hours, not paying much attention to the surroundings.

The last few nights have been gorgeous, and they sure beat the absolutely wicked heat and humidity that I experienced in Washington, DC last weekend. With the long days that come at the end of June and beginning of July, I have been enjoying sitting outside once I get home from work. We have an outdoor music system, and I love plunking myself in a chair watching the light reflect on the pool; it’s very civilized and downright zen after the craziness of the rest of my days.