Thursday, November 18, 2010

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad

By Paula Matter


As some of you know, I along with fellow Stiffs Pat Remick and Ramona Long attended the Crime Bake conference in Dedham, MA. Awesome conference and I hope to see a couple more Stiffs attend next year. Hint, hint.

Two highlights for me came on Sunday when I won prizes. A new event this year was the Scavenger Hunt which I believe was sponsored by the New England SinC chapter. Attendees were given a sheet of paper and had to go around collecting signatures from people who matched the description. Such as: First Time At Crime Bake which Ramona signed; NE SinC Board Member which Pat signed. Twenty-five blocks and I had a ball meeting new people and talking with others I already knew. Hank Philippi Ryan signed Anthony Winner, and the bookseller signed Grandfather. A great way to interact with other attendees.

To top it off, I won a book by Margaret Maron!

The other prize I won Sunday morning was as one of four winners of the Flashwords contest.

Contest Description: Use at least ten of the listed “Title Words” from novels by Charlaine Harris in a flash fiction story of no more than 150 words. Include a crime or suggestion of a crime. Keep it clean. Write in English.

Title Words: Bedroom, Bone, Club, Corpse, Counselor, Dark, Dead, Family, Fool, Grave, Heels, Ice, Landlord, Living, Pick, Scene, Secret, Surprise, Trollop, Worse

Dead to Me and Worse, I Paid for Law School
I didn’t have to pick the lock, thanks to the foolish landlord. Grateful he didn’t know about Vinnie recently dumping me for that trollop at the VFW club, I moved quickly through my ex-fiancĂ©’s living room and into the bedroom. I grabbed Vinnie’s revolver, then hurried to the VFW.
Now, crouched over her corpse, the gun resting against my hip bone, I pictured the scene outside my cramped, dark hiding place. Vinnie’s family--the rotten heels--had decided to go through with the unnecessary-but-paid-for bachelor party. An excuse to celebrate Vinnie winning his first case.
I had five bullets left. One for each of them.
I waited for the secret signal--what would’ve been Trollop’s cue to jump out of the cake.
“Grave situation, Counselor, we’re out of ice!”
I put a smile on my face, my finger on the trigger, pushed the hinged lid up and yelled, “Surprise!”

Mo Walsh, the woman in charge of the Flashwords contest, read the story beautifully, perfectly. Winning this prize two years in a row tells me I need to stick with short stories! My prize was a bottle of Vampire wine, a nice Merlot. Other choices were mugs or T-shirts.
 And with Crime Bake over, so is the 2010 conference season for me. I'm thinking of attending Malice Domestic and Pennwriters next year. And Crime Bake, of course.

How about you? What will you be attending? Do you have a favorite annual conference or writerly event you can't miss? What do you look for when attending these events? What's your most memorable moment?

18 comments:

PatREmick said...

One of my most memorable moments from a weekend of Crime Bake memorable moments was when I had Dennis Lehane sign a book for Anne Taintor -- creator of my favorite snarky gift line of napkins, cards, etc (www.annetaintor.com) and I asked if he knew her work. Not only does he, he is a huge fan and wrote his personal email address in her book. So two very creative people will personally connect when they might never have, and it is because of me. However, I am struggling over whether to also copy down that email address....

Another favorite moment was conducting with my co-chair the luncheon interview of the incredible Charlaine Harris, such a smart, funny and generous writer.

And of course, I can't forget the fun of seeing my fellow stiffs at CB!!

Joyce Tremel said...

Nice story, Paula! Good thing it wasn't a romance conference. I think they'd have trouble keeping it clean with trollop and bone as two of the words!

I'd really like to attend next year. I was thinking about Bouchercon, but now I'm not sure. Can't afford both. Sigh. I hate making decisions!

I'll definitely be going to Pennwriters, and I hope to see more of you Stiffs there in May. And maybe a reprise of VQS.

Joyce Tremel said...

Pat, I'd copy down that email address. You can brag about the fact you HAVE it. Doesn't mean you have to use it.

Ramona said...

The Scavenger Hunt game was a great ice breaker. I met a lot of people, esp. since I was one of the few who fit the "edits anthologies" square.

Paula, if you have written two award winning short-shorts, we need to talk, darling.

I echo the hint, hint. Because of time, I didn't attend a Master Class, but I think that's the learning part of the conference. The panels were certainly inspiring, but for nuts and bolts and how-to's, do a master class.

Annette said...

Love the story, Paula! And thanks for sharing the highlights with us.

Crime Bake sounds fabulous. Hey, Roomie (AKA Joyce), let's give this some serious thought.

I'll be at Pennwriters for sure.

Gina said...

Great story, Paula. Who'd expect a killer in a cake?

Wilfred Bereswill said...

Cool story Paula. There is definitely an art to writing short stories.

I fully plan to attend Bouchercon next year. It is in my town, good ole St. Louie.

I'd like to go to Love Is Murder in Chicago.

Annette said...

I see that Bouchercon 2012 is going to be in Cleveland OH! I'll DEFINITELY be there for that one! Maybe Crime Bake in 2011, B-con in 2012. Hmmm...

Joyce Tremel said...

Cleveland??? That's only two hours from here.

Sounds like a plan, Annette. Crime Bake 2011 and B'con 2012. Heh.

Annette said...

That was my reaction, too, Joyce!

Vincent H. O'Neil said...

Excellent story -- well done! And this year's Crimebake might have been the best ever (I haven't been to all of them, so I can't say for sure)

Working Stiffs said...

Pat, that's an awesome story about Dennis Lehane. And you did an incredible job with this con. Thank you for all your hard work!

Working Stiffs said...

Joyce, too funny! I never knew you were as bad as I am...

Yeah, I'll be skipping Bouchercon next year. I'm waiting for it to come back east.

Working Stiffs said...

Ramona, you're absolutely right about the Master classes. I did two last year and they were good. Due to time & money constraints, I didn't get to do any this year.

Ooh, I like the sound of that: award winning. So, let's talk...

Working Stiffs said...

Thanks, Annette and Gina! Short stories are so much easier and fun for me. It helped to have a limited number of words, not to mention 10 of th words were given.

YES, Annette and your roomie!

Working Stiffs said...

Thanks, Will! You're so lucky B'con's coming to your hometown. Enjoy it!

Working Stiffs said...

Cleveland? I am so there. Okay, this sounds like a great plan. Crime Bake in 2011 and B'con in 2012.

Working Stiffs said...

Vinnie, thanks! I have to tell you when I wrote that story and came up with the name of the ex, I thought of you! I agree with you even though this was only my second Crime Bake.

Fellow Stiffs, for those who don't know Vinnie, he's a sweetheart. Nothing like my Vinnie in the story.