What a fantastic time I had in NYC at Thrillerfest! If you are a novelist, of any genre, I suggest you attend next year. The quality of speakers and the chance to pitch your novel to more than 50 literary agents makes it well worth the investment.
I plan to attend all four days next year (couldn't attend Sat this time), and volunteer even though I don't write thrillers! I pitched my middle grade historical fiction to eight very interested agents, so I better get to work on my final draft, especially after learning tips from the masters of the craft.
PHOTOS ABOVE:
Top: Lee Child signs his book for me. He gave a presentation during Craftfest and also was interviewed.
2nd: One of the panels during Thrillerfest; The lady speaking is Amy Shojai, a writer of non-fiction dog books and a novel coming out later this year.
3rd: Kathleen Antrim (along with author Jon Land) gave excellent advice about pitching to agents; they even gave one on one chats with us - for more than two hours afterwards! So gracious, and inspiring.
4th: Austin Camacho I met many years ago, so it was great to catch up on news.
5th: Steve Berry is a wonderful speaker and writer.
Top: Robert Dugoni and I have something in common - we both are the middle child of eleven! And we both can recite the sibs name very quickly! He was my favorite speaker because his content will help me with my final draft of my novel, "The Wildcat Orphan." The Dugoni family has Appaloosas and his daughter would like to have me include her horse in my next Beloved Horses!
2nd: R.L. Stine signed his book for my great-granddaughter, an aspiring writer in high school!
3rd: I bought several books by Shane Gericke. He's a great guy (missed his presentation as I left early) and helped me understand about the event before and during it.
Last: John Sanford is one of my favorite authors, even before I attended Thrillerfest!
The yearly event, held in NYC, is a conference hosted by International Thriller Writers and sponsors include Writer's Digest magazine. I won a contest held by WD, and so glad I attended!
