My husband and I just attended the Sixth Annual San Diego Writers Festival. It was an amazing event with panel discussions for everyone.
Call it a combination of spring fever and frustration over recent national politics. I was feeling out of sorts until attending this recent writers festival. I loved every panel that my husband and I attended. Reading a great book takes me to another destination, time period and so on.
My husband and I both love murder mysteries, historical fiction and nonfiction. Our first panel was about crime and included several authors unknown to me as well as the charismatic Lee Goldberg. Goldberg is known for his work as as a television screenwriter on Hunter, Spenser: For Hire, Monk and Diagnosis Murder. Not surprising, he has a very quirky personality. He is also extremely regimented in his writing technique – sticking to his initial outline. Others on the panel claim not to know the killer until they are in the middle of writing. This is not the case with Goldberg. I am currently reading his latest novel Ashes Never Lie. It’s an easy and fun read with a clean writing style.
Our second panel was about historical fiction and included former newspaper reporter and editor Stephen P. Kiernan. His latest novel, The Glass Chateau is a World War II novel about the restoration of the stained glass windows in the cathedrals of Europe. On the same panel was first-time author Trisha R. Thomas owned her own wedding dress shop for 14 years prior to writing The Secret Keeper of Main Street. Her previous career inspired Thomas to write a tale about an African American wedding dressmaker in Oklahoma in the 1950s.
I so enjoyed my final panel for the day with Ed Bagley Junior. I have always enjoyed his work as an actor. I was unaware of his serious battles with alcohol and pills back in the 1970s. Based on what he shared regarding his consumption and car accidents while driving under the influence, he is lucky to be alive. Parkinson’s has slowed him down physically but his memory is sharp and his sense of humor is phenomenal.
Because this was a smaller venue, lines were at a minimum and we were able to have conversations with the writers. People were generous with their time and stories of how they broke into the business. I will definitely be attending this event next year.
NO time for boredom today 