Left Coast Crime: A Wrap Up by Jenn McKinlay

 Jenn McKinlay: Not gonna lie, in a post Covid world, I've had a hard time getting back into the flow. Conferences seem like breeding grounds for the plague (watching The Last of Us did not help) and the travel expenses and time away didn't seem worth it. But then Left Coast Crime decided to hold their conference in my home state of Arizona. Well, how could I not go to a conference I'd enjoyed for years when it was just two hours away? Obviously, I had to go.

On deadline, I arrived late (still didn't meet that pesky deadline but whatever). Hub came with me - his first conference as we're empty nesters now - and within hours I was back in conference mode. As we walked through the fabulous El Conquistador hotel and I saw readers and writers I hadn't seen in a couple of years, I would swerve into  people's conversations, invade their lunches, and jump over short walls to catch them as they walked by for fear I would miss them if I didn't. As Hub observed, "Conference you is rather terrifying." My defense, "I have very little time and a lot of people to hug."

One of those people is Dru Ann Love of Dru's Book Musing, a fabulous book blog, who happened to be the Fan Guest of Honor this year. I've known Dru since I don't even know when but she does more for writers than most publishers do and she is a treasure. Seriously, we must protect her at all cost! 

Well, when Dru gave her acceptance speech, she took me out at the knees. She talked about her very first Left Coast Crime in Phoenix in 2016 where she found herself sitting in the lobby, alone, wondering about her place in things. She then said (and I'm paraphrasing because I have the memory of a turnip), "And then who came shooting across the lobby and plopped down next to me? Jenn McKinlay. We talked for sixty minutes." She spotted me across the room in the banquet crowd and asked, "Do you remember what we talked about?" I didn't so I shook my head. And she said, "The Hooligans." 

LOL, well, of course we did! Dru Ann then went on to say that that interaction was what conferences and Left Coast Crime were all about -- finding your people, being accepted, and forging lifelong friendships. She was 100 percent correct...and she made me cry. 

Dru Ann accepting her award.

The Hub and me and our table mates, applauding Dru.
(Photos by Christina Estes) 

There were so many wonderful moments like this throughout the conference. Hub, who is a bigger reader than I am -- frankly, he is the most well read person I've ever known -- had read most of the authors in attendance and was delighted to meet Naomi Hirahara (he was stunned when I told him, "She's my friend") and Ed Lin who I was lucky enough to be on a panel with alongside Leslie Karst, Leslie Budewitz, and Emmeline Duncan. 

And of course, I got to see our Rhys, which was wonderful, as always.

Rhys and Jenn

I also attended Rhys's panel - How to Keep a Series Fresh - and her response to how to end it when the series was definitively over was, "Well, when Clare and I are tired of Molly, we're only a few years away from the Titanic." Which, of course, sent the packed crowd into peals of laughter. 

There were so many more memories made and special moments shared but I don't want to hold you hostage, so I'll close with the list of nominees and winners of this year's Lefty. 

My takeaway was this: livestreams and zooms and all of that are lovely but nothing beats being with your people in person to share the tears and the laughter and the hugs. 

Now how about you, Reds and Readers, what in person events have you been attending and how are you feeling about it?