“I’ll sign up for pep squad if you do.” Or maybe it all starts with those posse trips to the ladies room when we travel in packs, as though the path ran through an active minefield rather than a series of booths full of people enjoying pizza.
Women don’t do solo missions as often
as they should.
I think I do prefer to shop alone and
of course we all usually make those trips to the library or to pick up
prescriptions on our own. But stand us alone in the doorway of a cocktail party
or baby shower and there’s always that moment of trepidation.
Tomorrow I’m taking a deep breath and marching off for two days, alone and undefended, to a gathering of at least 250 people that I don’t know. I’m off to Crime Bake, organized by the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, a conference for writers (and lovers of) all forms of crime writing. I’m going for the workshops offered, two mine are “Maintaining a Series” and “Creating Strong Secondary Characters.”
It’s been several years since I’ve
gone, but the speaker at the last one was Elizabeth George, who by the luck of
the draw (or my own personal magnetism?) ending up sitting at our table of
eight for lunch. You can easily spot her books in the library because they’re
twice the size of the Oxford English Dictionary, but if you’re strong enough to
lift them they’re worth it. She writes the Inspector Lynley series, which
Masterpiece Theater turned into a TV series of its own.
This year’s speaker is Hallie Ephron,
NY Times best-selling author of 16 books.
And so what if I’m not surrounded by a
phalanx of my BFFs to protect me?
In fact, maybe Hallie will sit at my table for lunch.
Have fun! Don't think of it as "going alone" but rather, "I'm going to meet new friends!"
ReplyDeleteI've given up reading books that large. I'm a slow reader and have too much else to do, so I go for shorter stories, nothing over 500 pages and preferably significantly shorter.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Have fun!
ReplyDelete