Catherine Dilts
At some point, even a determinedly introverted turtle has to
poke her head out of her shell. This is the year for me. I’m attending Left Coast Crime in Denver. I
realized this morning with some alarm that the conference begins this Thursday!
Yikes!
(Photo of turtle with head retracted inside shell.)
I’m even participating in events. Early Thursday morning, I’m
attending Author Speed Dating, at which I’ll have to talk to over a hundred
readers. Authors talk for two minutes, then move to the next table. It sounds
crazy. I’m hoping the frenetic pace will keep my mind off the idea that I’m way
outside my shell.
Saturday, 11:30 am to 12:15 pm, I’m on the panel Mysteries
with Animals. Sharing the stage with these accomplished authors will be fun.
Talking about animals in mysteries should be stress-free. There are animals in
almost all my stories. Oddly enough, I haven’t written any turtles into my
tales. I also love reading stories featuring animals, such as all the great cat
cozy mysteries.
Saturday night, I’m hosting a table at the awards banquet. I
will poke my head out of my shell to converse with readers who are sitting at
my table because they’re interested in my fiction.
I won’t be de-shelling alone. My daughter is attending her first LCC.
She’ll be attending panels of interest to her writing, which is geared toward
younger readers. And I’ll be teamed at Author Speed Dating with Jeff
Schmoyer, and sharing the banquet table with Jeff and his wife, author and
editor Deborah
Brewer. Friends and family might be an adequate substitute for plates of
turtle shell?
This should be an intense, fun, inspiring long weekend. I’ll
turtle on through the introvert stress, knowing I can crawl back inside my
shell until the next professional or social event. Turtle Power!
