Hoping that pun does Dave White proud.

Everyone and their mother is doing a Bouchercon 2017 rundown and I figured I toss my hat in the ring if only to give a shout out to all the outstanding people who both made Bouchercon possible and worth going to.

If you know me, you know I spent most of my time at the bar. It was wonderful to catch up with Chris Irvin, Nik Korpon, Joe Clifford, Renee Pickup, Nick Kolakowski, Danny Gardner, Sarah Weinman, Johnny Shaw, Jay Stringer, Holly West, Josh Stallings, Art Taylor, Travis Richardson, Hilary Davidson, Eryk Pruitt, Chris Holm, Kat Holm (those two rock so hard), Mike McCrary, Jen Conley, Jon and Ruth Jordan, David Nemeth, Jennifer Hillier, Ed Aymar, SW Lauden, Rob Hart, and a ton of others I am losing in the post-Boucher haze.

If I forgot you, hate me and DM me your venom – I probably deserve it.

It was absolutely wonderful to meet so many new and friendly folks like Beau Johnson, Brett Savory, Sandri Kasturi, Craig Davidson, Michael Rowe, and Baron Birtcher (who was a fantastic moderator for the Best Novella panel), Janet Hutchings, James Lincoln Warren (my other moderator for my Short Story panel) and so many others.

My thanks to programmers Sarah Byrne, Janet Costello, Jeannette Harrison, and Carol Newhouse for allowing me some space to be me and have an outstanding time talking shop on two panels this year.

It’s also heartening to see Jay Stringer elected to the Bouchercon board. There are still issues that need addressing and I’m hoping a younger perspective will help the convention attract more young writers and readers from all walks of life. Change is good – it’s something I feel isn’t a popular ideology when it comes to Bouchercon, so any sign of it seems like a positive step. That said, Jay’s an inspiration and I think I may need to do more than talk smack.

Moving on…

A big congrats to all the Derringer, Macavity, and Anthony winners.

Lastly, I’d like to congratulate my fellow Best Novella nominees (Sarah M. Chen, S. W. Lauden, and John Shepphird). Congratulations to winner B.K Stevens who unfortunately passed away this summer. My heartfelt condolences to her family and friends.

So St. Petersburg next year? Probably. It’s been a “stalled” year for my writing despite some great releases. Back to being agentless, floating work I’d like to see out in the world, and balancing quite a bit of real world activity with this writing stuff. Still, I ain’t stopping. Events like these leave me with a strong sense of hope and inspiration but they also leave me knowing I have to work hard to continue moving forward with my writing. This December is the 4^th anniversary of my first publication. In writer years, that’s literally a blink.

There’s a hell of a lot left to do folks. Ya’ll ain’t seen the last of me – I promise that.

Be easy,

Angel