Lights! Camera! Action! The C3 CON was on FIRE!

During the weekend of October 5 – 7, 2018, I attended and had a wonderful time at the Creatures, Crimes and Creativity (C3) Con at the Sheraton Columbia Town Center in Columbia, MD. I have to say that this conference has grown since its inception in 2013. Throughout the years I have made some great author friends and it was a joy to meet them again and add some new author friends to the circle (Jaime Freveletti, Glenn Parris, Ellen Butler, FJ Talley, Natalina Reis, David Swinson, Shawn Cosby, Helen Chapman, Jacki Kelly, Suzanne Gilbert, and the list goes on).

So, let’s get into the action of the conference. For starters, the addition of Noir at the Bar hosted by Ed Aymar on Friday night after dinner was simply awesome. The lineup of readers captivated our attention and made us yearn for me. John Gilstrap brought his “A” game and knocked his reading out the park.

Saturday was nonstop. Right after breakfast, I hit the ground running as the moderator for the panel titled “A Nooner – The Sex Panel.” The panelists were Ellen Butler and Natalina Reis. We had a great time on this panel discussing when to insert the romantic scenes in our books, the difficulty of writing such scenes, etc.

Next up, after lunch I was a panelist alongside Jamie Freveletti and Annie Alexander on the panel titled “Bail, Jury or Affidavit? Getting The Legal Facts Correct” which was moderated by Norwood Holland. The audience had tons of questions and we were all too happy to answer them. I wrapped up the afternoon as a panelist alongside Helen Chapman and Suzanne Gilbert on the panel titled “How to Put the Social in Social Media” which was moderated by Denise Camacho. This was fun.

Book signings. I had great tablemates – Ellen Butler who plied us with wine and David Swinson who shared some good stories. I even got to sign my short story, When The Walls Come Tumbling Down, that appeared in the C3 anthology for a few fans.

Time for dinner. The southern cuisine menu (fried chicken, fish, mac n cheese, rolls and desserts) was very delicious. The dinner keynote speech was given by Jamie Freveletti, author of Blood Run (can’t wait to read this). Jamie talked about her writing journey, her upcoming creative projects, and Calexia Press, her publishing company. But most of all I loved her philosophy of being “joyous.”

Chill time. This was where we all huddled at the bar, talked about our novels, muses, WIPs while enjoying a few cocktails. This day was fueled with lots of energy that put our writing souls on FIRE!

Sunday. Well, I wasn’t there but I’m sure it was equally great.

That’s about it folks! And like I said…the C3 Con was on FIRE! Here are some photos (Lights, Camera, Action) to enjoy! Don’t forget to register for the 2019 C3 Con here: http://creaturescrimesandcreativity.com/?page_id=2249 Hope to see you there!

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