HALLIE EPHRON: Once again I get to kick off with our WHAT WE’RE WRITING week. And this week, for the first time in, what, two years? I’m pulling together materials for writing workshops I’ll be giving IN PERSON over the next few months.
Zoom/teaching has been swell. But enough is enough. I’m ready for people! For a *conversation* about writing! I’m ready for people to ask questions, poke fun, and disagree. Moreover I don’t care if I get covid (again)… I’m going on a plane and eating in an airport and staying in a hotel, dammit.
First up is a conference in starting later this week – Surrey International Writers Conference. It’s near beautiful Vancouver where it is nearly guaranteed to be raining. I’m giving writing workshops, moderating panels, and my favorite: “blue pencil sessions” which are one on ones with writers where I get to listen and provide what advice and encouragement I can for their works in progress. It’s always a thrill when someone I counseled year earlier shows up to say they scored a book contract.
I also get to stay up late and be part of a SHOCK THEATRE! One year, Robert Dugoni played a memorable and terrifying werewolf...
This year it’s a mashup of DRACULA and HOUSE OF WAX put together by the inimitable Michael Slade and featuring me and an incredible cast, including Diana Gabaldon, Bob Dugoni, Donald Maas, Susanna Kearsley, Anne Perry, Mary Robinette Kowal… and more. We get to stay up late and pumpkins will be smashed. See: died and gone to heaven.
Then the New England CrimeBake – our very own bash where I’ll get to hang out with Hank and Lucy and host Lynn Denley-Bussard who was a student in one of the first classes I ever gave for the Cape Cod Writing Center. William Martin, one of my favorite human beings in the world, will be this year’s GoH.
Then on November 14 it’s back to Zoom-speaking for a great group, the California Writers Club (South Bay Writers). I was thrilled to be invited. I’ll give a crash course in writing a mystery novel. We’ll disassemble the sausages.
Rounding things out in early December I’m hoping to be in St. Augustine, one of my favorite-est of places if only just for walking around. The amazing Michael Neff is hosting one of his Algonkian author-mentor workshops and I get to play mentor for a group of always talented, interesting, and highly motivated attendees.
And it’s not public yet, but in February I’ll be teaching a week-long class in Key West. And for members only, in April a virtual, two-week class for the Sisters in Crime On-line Chapter Guppies.
In the meanwhile… I really do plan to get back to writing-writing. Really I do.
Are you back to meeting with the world in person, too?
I hope you have lots of fun with your classes . . . it sounds as if you’ll be busy, busy, busy --- and you sound quite happy about it. Zoom-speak really is so much less satisfying that being together with others; I’m definitely ready to be back to meeting the world in person . . . .
ReplyDeleteZoom was a lifesaver, and it's wonderfully intuitive even for a multimedia lucite like me. But yes, i AM so happy to to be back in the unvirtual world.
DeleteYes, and look forward to seeing you at New England Crime Bake. Congrats on your classes.
ReplyDeleteYou'll be there!! Icing on the cake...
DeleteRaising my hand as another Crime Bake attendee! And they even put me on a panel with Bill Martin moderated by Hank, a huge honor. Can't wait to see you there, Hallie.
ReplyDeleteReemerging and traveling, yes. Bouchercon last month. Last week Cape Cod and an in-person library talk (well-attended!). Next week northern California for research and family. Crime Bake. I'm still super cautious, but it IS good to hang with real live people.
Super cautious here, too - yesterday I went to hear the Boston Symphony playing a wondrous Bach program... and kept my mask on. I'd say only about 20% of the audience was masked.
DeleteLots of lucky people will be thrilled to have one of the best writing teachers around!
ReplyDeleteTHanks, Lucy - you're no slouch in that department! Remembering Seascape, our writing retreat/workshop that we gave for many years...
DeleteAt Seascape you both gave my first novel such a boost. Still grateful.
DeleteHallie, that is wonderful. We have been eating in restaurants once in a while and I went to the theater last year and will again this season. Last year we flew to Orlando and met Rachel's family there for a vacation. We have attended services for the high holidays and have been to a few other public events. But, we are still cautious and wear our masks a lot. I don't think that I am ready for Crimebake and am rethinking flying to Atlanta for a family wedding. I don't want to be sick. Covid is still scary.
ReplyDeleteI will be in Puerto Rico in February for my son's wedding. Lots of family on both sides, but events mostly outdoors. I am NOT going to miss it!
DeleteEdith, have been thinking of your son and fiancé and their wedding with Fiona’s strike at the island. May they be well. Enjoy being with them and families in February, Elisabeth
DeleteThank you, Elisabeth. The community where he lives is built for disaster-resilience, and they've been helping the less fortunate in the town. His fiancé's family lives in Ponce, which was hard hit, but they personally are all fine, as are their homes.
DeleteEdith, of course you wouldn't miss your son's wedding!! I'm weighing the desire to be with my cousins against the risk and it is a tough decision.
DeleteYES, travelling in 2022 has been great. I went to Santa Fe on vacation and ABQ LCC in April and Minneapolis Bouchercon in September to see my friends in the crime writing community.
ReplyDeleteHave fun at NE Crime Bake. The last time I attended was in 2005. And BC has been going through a record-setting drought this fall so you will probably get unseasonably rain-free weather in Surrey.
I so associate BC with rain... and Seattle and Portland... lush, green everywhere. For once I really am hoping it rains.
DeleteToo early for rain even in Portland. Usually starts in November. Long range forecast shows no rain.
DeleteYour plans sound super fun, Hallie! All those lucky participants!
ReplyDeleteI am back to in-person church, which is a big plus in my life. I took one road trip to the Redwoods in 2021 (so fun) but haven't flown since 2019. My son's doing his PhD in Chicago, so my sis and I hope to visit him there in the spring. Said sister has decided not to fly anywhere (climate change activist) so we will take the train, which is an amazing journey--starting with the Columbia River Gorge and proceeding through the Rockies and passing very close to Glacier Park.
Gillian, that train trip sounds wonderful!
DeleteThat trip sounds fanTAStic!
DeleteWOW!
DeleteWow, my kind of trip. Train travel is so much better than air travel, and I say with with a pilot husband. You'll see so much.
DeleteWhat a great time you’re going to have! Watching you teach on zoom has been so good, and I can imagine how it will be even better in person. You have such a gift.
ReplyDeleteI’m about to leave on a jet plane, off to Texas to spend a few days with my children at my daughter’s lake cottage. Hoping for peace, fun with the grandchildren and no COVID please. So far I’ve avoided it by turning into a hermit. Hermitess? Anyway, I’m ready to brave the outside world again
Safe travels, Ann!
DeleteHave a wonderful time with the kids and grandkids, Ann!
DeleteOh, Ann, that sounds like fun. And HERMITESS! Why not!
DeleteYour students are lucky, Hallie. Enjoy every minute, and keep that mask handy. I keep reading about new waves of Covid coming along with the winter season...
ReplyDeleteI am re-entering face-to-face contact slowly and with some trepidation. On Friday, my teaching partner and I started a new session, live in the classroom and I was nervous! But everyone was masked (which seems quite normal to me now) and the session went well. It was *great* to be in front of people again, and, yes, the energy and level of connection was that smidge more than what happens via Zoom (though that is pretty amazing, too, on a good day).
I worry about teaching with a mask ON... having been sensitized to the likelihood that someone with hearing problems might be in the room. Not that the mask diminishes the voice volume, but it hides the mouth from lip readers...
DeleteGood point, Hallie. Something to be very aware of.
DeleteHallie , you can get masks with a clear area over so your lips are visable. First ask if there is anyone with hearing issues. If not, wear a regular mask. I think fogging can be a problem with the clear ones.
DeleteHallie, your enthusiasm for teaching is well-known here on JRW--may your travels all go smoothly and may you elude any viruses/germs out there! I know your students are going to be thrilled with their time with you!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Flora. I do *love* teaching. You talk and people listen! How perfect is that??
DeleteOoh, Hallie, sounds like such fun, especially after all these months of sheltering in place. Real people!
ReplyDeleteI have no plans yet, but am just thinking of putting it out there that I am available to speak on copyrights, book contracts, and using your neighbor's name and image as your prime suspect (short answer: don't). I'm getting sort of itchy to get out of here.
Good to know, Ellen!
DeleteWhat an exciting schedule you have! Enjoy!
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I traveled this year. Twice to Canada - to the Passamaquoddy Bay area where we own a camp that needed repairs and maintenance. Had dinners with friends while there, boat trips with friends.
Last week we went to the Finger Lakes. Stayed in Seneca Falls and went to the Women's Rights Museum and walked along the canal. (Anyone remember Miriam Grace Monfredo's Seneca Falls Mysteries?) Then down Seneca Lake so my husband could fill some kegs with grape juice and buy wine-making supplies.
Next week we plan to go to Montreal Botanic Gardens for the Festival of Lights (Chinese lantern-inspired creatures and mythical beasts all lit up and rising from the pond in the Chinese garden). Two friends will go with us.
After that we may go to Upper Canada Village for Pumpkinferno.
While home, I don't eat out and still wear a mask in the grocery store - all so I don't pick up Covid and have to miss one of these trips. But while out and about on my travels I am mostly maskless. Just got the bivalent booster though.
I go the bivalent booster. AND my flu shot.
DeletePUMPKINFERNO??? Looked it up... 700 hand-carved pumpkins?? Jerry used to do one spectacular pumpkin every year ... They must have an army of carvers.
Wow, impressive! And yes, your students are so lucky.
ReplyDeleteThe mask thing is odd, I realized the other day that I had been talking to someone in the grocery store, and when we were finished with the conversation, I said to Jonathan wait, was she wearing a mask? And Jonathan said are you kidding me, yes. It was just so unremarkable that I didn’t even remember… It’s just so normal now.
Still, we went to get bagels yesterday and not one person in the place had on a mask. Not one.
Looking forward to Crime Bake— Bill Martin is such an icon, and I cannot wait to see him honored.
And then I’m guest of honor at Malice. It made me laugh just to write that sentence. xx
Me too, on Bill Martin - a great writer and a lovely human being. I'd say about half the shoppers at my local Stop N Shop are masked. I wear mine shopping. But not walking in and out or driving...
DeleteAs someone who did indeed benefit from your classes and got a contract, thank you! Your upcoming students are very fortunate. And yes, we do plan to travel to Florida, where we were fortunate not to have lost our place, we'll mask as much as possible on the way down and we have our bivalent too. Joyce Woollcott :-)
ReplyDeleteSo glad your Florida place is intact. Terrifying the destruction. I love Fort Myers and adore Sanibel. I hope everything comes back quicker than they're saying...
DeleteWhat a wonderful event in Vancouver, Hallie! So wish I could join you in Vancouver, just to see that Dracula/House of Wax mashup with all those other, equally great writers.
ReplyDeleteWe have traveled in the last year and a half: Portland OR, Michigan twice, Kenya, and then I went to Minneapolis followed by a trip to Florida for Steve (to a place that now no longer exists). And I'm planning another trip to Traverse City next month, and again to Africa in December.
Please don't drop your guard about Covid, though. Keep hand washing, sanitizing, masking, and get the bivalent booster, because the Omicron variant is nasty, nasty. I wish I didn't know this firsthand. Still coughing, more than a month later.
Even my MOST cautious friends have all come down with covid... and (drum roll) lived to tell about it. I think it's inevitable unless you pack yourself into a pneumatic tube.
DeleteThis friend hasn’t had COVID. But I’m on my second round of bronchitis this year. Even being a hermitress doesn’t help with that
DeleteNo Covid for me. I’ve seen clients in person throughout the entire pandemic. Never stopped going to outdoor restaurants. I have traveled to many places that are relatively safe, sensible precautions still prevail. I will not travel to anywhere in the red Midwest, attitudes there are still ignorant and unsafe.
DeleteHallie, this all sounds wonderful! I'll have to keep an eye peeled for the Guppy class announcement.
ReplyDeleteI went to a mini-conference in Erie, PA this past weekend and taught a class on historical fiction that was well received (at least based on the comments I heard afterward). This weekend, my local SinC chapter is doing a retreat for the first time in years. I can't wait!
Maybe that's what I need to restart my fiction writing: a retreat. Though I"m already alone most of the time and have no other excuses.
DeleteHallie, you could have come to the Cape with me last week and we could have ignored each other all day to write!
DeleteEdith, I love what you just said! I am laughing. Diana
DeleteThat is funny!
DeleteI’ll be seeing you at Crime Bake. Cannot wait!!!!
ReplyDeleteI’m still somewhat cautious, I wear a mask at church, when grocery shopping, doing my banking, etc. I occasionally eat out, but only at places I know well. I have not been to the theater or the movies. I haven’t been on a train or plane. Next month I do plan to take the train to NJ to celebrate Thanksgiving with my sister’s family. I’m a little anxious about sitting elbow to elbow with strangers. Naturally, I’ll be wearing a mask.
ReplyDeleteHallie, it seems like almost all my favorite authors have taken a class with you! You must an amazing teacher!
DebRo
I've been fortunate enough to get invited! One of my biggest ever pieces of career luck was getting asked to write a book about writing mystery novels. An editor for Writers Digest sat in on one of the first classes I gave and asked me after if I'd like to write a how-to book. SO MUCH EASIER than actually writing a mystery novel, believe you me.
DeleteWho knows how many people became published authors because of that book?!
DeleteDebRo
HALLIE: Looks like you have a fun and busy schedule ahead of you. Fingers crossed that there will be NO Covid. Family members went to a family reunion last year and one family member had covid. Everyone got tested and believe it or not, NO ONE else caught covid despite one person having it!
ReplyDeleteJust got my flu vaccine and covid booster in September. Flew for the first time in September. Last time I flew was on the 12th of March 2020. Kept my mask on the entire time on the plane. Refused drink on plane.
Met with a friend from University for tea. Occasionally we see family members who are also vaccinated. And later in October we will see other family members, whom we have not seen since before the pandemic started!
Still wear my mask everywhere. Like Deb Romano, I am still cautious. I would love to go to a mystery conference again. There are several that I want to go to. Perhaps next year or in two years when I have the budget that allows me to travel.
Diana
Diana, hope our paths cross when you get back to conferencing...
DeleteOn my one plane ride, I tucked a straw under my mask to drink my diet coke!
DeleteHallie, that was exactly how I felt, going off to Malice this spring. I don't care if I get Covid, dammit! With the caveat that I have no additional vulnerabilities, nor live with anyone who does. I taught two classes at the Novelists Inc conference, and I swear I got a contact high from all the people who were there, eager to learn, happy to ask questions - in person!
ReplyDeleteSmart move having a class in Key West in February... you need to teach me how to nap a gig that gets me out of New England in the dead of winter, too! :-D
A contact high: that's a perfect description...
DeleteHave fun with the classes!
ReplyDeleteWhat an exciting schedule, Hallie! Oh, I wish I was closer.
ReplyDeleteNo in person stuff for me yet. Hubs has been precluded from boosters by an allergy they are trying to isolate so until that gets worked out , I've been careful to mask and isolate. I'm thinking after I get my next multi-viral booster, I may dip my toe in the human to human water! It will depend on the numbers.
Wow! It all sounds fabulous. We've had a couple of road trips with purpose (visiting relatives) but no vacation trips in quite a while. My husband and dog will be driving later this month to visit me so I hope we can get out and see some of the beauty and history of this area while he's here.
ReplyDeleteFantastic, Hallie! I have one of my first in person signings at the Poisoned Pen tonight. So weird and wonderful!
ReplyDeleteOn my bucket list is taking a class from Hallie Ephron. Not this cycle but soon. Right after I join Sisters in Crime which is also on the bucket list. Right after ordination. once again tmi, but ya know? so what.
ReplyDeleteSaturday I attended my first convention, the Kensington Cozy Mini Con in Shiremanstown, PA. It was so great to actually talk to some of my favorite authors. I also had birthday lunches with friends. I wear masks in grocery or other stores but not in church. I usually remember to wear the mask into a restaurant but once I take it off to eat, forget to put it back on. I plan to get the new Covid booster soon, maybe next week. Stay safe and well.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your schedule! Yes, I emerged for a family wedding and Bouchercon and am about to take a trip to Maine. As for writing-writing, I'm procrastinating-procrastinating.
ReplyDeleteHallie, great to read about you venturing back into the world. Enjoy it all. I did go to a family wedding this summer, Bochercon and so glad - I came home with some some comatose brain cells waking up again. SO wanted to get to CrimeBake this year - never been- and it sounded so perfect. Couldn't work it out but have hopes about next year,
ReplyDeleteThese all sound like great classes and so much fun!
ReplyDelete