A weekend of books, books, and more books!

This week I was able to attend my first Killer Nashville, a well-known conference for mystery writers that is held each year in Franklin, Tennessee. I got to meet so many wonderful writers and attend three days of educational sessions, including two sessions with the delightful Janet Evanovich, who graciously signed my copy of her book on writing, "How I Write." I'm about to read her new novel, "Curious Minds," which I've been hearing good things about!

Here Janet is with Clay Stafford, the founder of Killer Nashville, leading her breakout session called "How I Write: Secrets of a Successful Author." Aside from all the helpful professional stuff, I *loved* hearing that she gains 15 pounds at the end of every book she writes and then has to go to the gym for a while. (She looked great, though, even though she told us she was wearing Spanx.)

One quite unexpected "tea" moment came when we heard from author Robert Randisi, at left, who is hands-down the most prolific author I've ever heard of, having written more than 700 books! He described his typical day for us and told of writing from about 1 p.m. to 5 or 6 p.m., then taking a nap, then writing till midnight when he prepares "tea and cake" for his girlfriend when she arrives home, and then he writes until about 5 a.m., when he forces himself to go to bed. (I will not be following that writing schedule, in case anyone wonders.)

Anne Perry, the famous British writer of historical fiction, was on a panel I attended about using our fiction to promote social change. At right is novelist Paul H.B. Shin, and they gave me lots to think about!

Since I'm polishing up the draft of my first cozy mystery, I was particularly interested in the cozy authors I came across, including  Cheryl Hollon, center, who writes the "glass shop" cozy mystery series I've been hearing about, and another session (where my photos didn't turn out) featured Gail Oust, who writes the Spice Shop cozy mystery series I've also been hearing good things about.

And since her book was already on my Kindle, I was delighted to arrive at the conference and discover that one of the panelists was Wendy Sand Eckel, whose "Death at the Day Lily Café" has a teapot on the cover! I liked her panel and what she had to say about her book so much, I immediately started reading it on the way home (Alex was driving), and tomorrow I'll have a review. I must say that after so many days talking about books, books, and more books, I feel as though I am living the famous Louisa May Alcott quote: "She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain"!