I’ve just returned from Left Coast Crime, a cool little crime fiction conference held annually on the West Coast—this year’s destination was Seattle.
Well, not really Seattle… it was in Bellevue, which is a borough of Seattle? A whole different town? An alternate dimension built out of old Microsoft corporate housing? I don’t know for sure. All I know is when I texted my pal, a longtime Seattle resident, and told him where I was, he wrote back: Gross.
I thought it was nice. I saw a lot of friends. I talked a bunch about Assassins Anonymous, and signed some of the advance reader copies my publisher sent. I was on a panel about crossing genres (you write one time-travel murder mystery and this is the panel you will be placed on for the rest of your career).
More importantly, I went out for an incredible dinner at Canlis with my good friend, the Queen of Noir, Christa Faust.
People kept asking what type of food it was, and, I don’t know how to describe it. I ate a mushroom puff and a piece of scallop toast and some wagyu and a few things I couldn’t even describe. It was absurdly expensive, and also one of the best meals I’ve ever had in my entire life. The cocktails, too! Reservations are tough to get, but apparently you can roll right up to the bar and order food at any time.
Highly recommended if you’ve got some money to burn.
I also visited Molly Moon’s, because if I’m going to another city, I am going to sample the best of their local ice cream offerings. And because I am an adult, I had ice cream for dinner one of the nights I was there.
Worth it.
The thing that sets Molly Moon’s apart is their vanilla bean caramel. It’s good in a way that hurts my feelings. I got the yeti flavor, which is a sweet cream swirled with the caramel, along with granola and chocolate chips. I also got the cookies and cream, with some additional caramel on it, because, again, I am an adult, I can do what I want.
The cookies and cream was very good, but the yeti just about knocked my socks off. This is a chain local to Seattle (and, I guess, Bellevue?), so if you’re around that general vicinity and, like me, you have the palette of a toddler, you should check it out.
I deeply regret not bringing back a bottle of the caramel, which they sell, but I also didn’t want to check my bag. OH WAIT THEY HAVE AN ONLINE SHOP.
I also got off campus to grab some lunch with Joshua Mohr, who is not really a crime guy, so he didn’t go to the conference, but he is the source of some of my favorite conversations on the craft and business of writing. Some of them I copy down and publish, like this one here.
I deeply appreciate his philosophy of cheery nihilism, and his book Model Citizen, a memoir about his road to sobriety, is amazing, so, check it out.
Now I’m home, dealing with the remnants of jet lag, but pretty pleased I went.
I refer to conferences as adult sleep-away camp. Great for seeing friends, networking, and recharging your creative batteries. They can also be exhausting, and difficult to swing unless you’re in a place of privilege where you can afford airfare, hotel, and meals. Plus, the lingering threat of COVID.
So I’ll say, as always, conferences are awesome, and maybe not worth it if money is tight or you have health concerns. But the in-person stuff can be good, so definitely keep an eye out for local events—book festivals, library events, book releases, anything.
What we do—writing—we do in solitude. And I wonder if there’s something at the core of all writers that attracts us to this particular discipline. We’re artists, sure, but we could have been actors. We chose a dark room and plausible deniability.
Getting around people you care about, people you can talk shop with and commiserate with—it’s a good thing.
The only other exciting news to share is that I got a new tattoo! I have a few book-related tattoos (get me drunk enough and I’ll show ‘em to you!).
Years ago I wrote a short story for From A Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back. I wrote an actual star war, set in the one of the most storied IPs in history. I made up stuff that is now part of the official Star Wars canon. It had to be approved by Lucasfilm!
That seemed worth the milestone.
So, as always, thanks to Magie Serpica for making my book-tattoo dreams come true. If you’re in the NY/NJ area, check her out. She’s dope. Tell her I sent you.