I'm off to Bouchercon tomorrow for four days. For most people, this sounds like some sort of convention of French butchers. Actually, it's the annual conference for mystery and thriller writers. I should have gone years ago and never did. Well, finally I'm going.
Confession time: I've never been to a convention. As a journalist, I always traveled to do a story. I dressed the way my subjects dressed, went where they went, ate what they ate. Since my subjects tended, for the most part, not to be movie stars or Supreme Court judges, this usually meant "dress casual." Sometimes, it meant jeans and a T-shirt. I was there to blend in, gain my subject's trust and get their story. I wasn't there to press a business card in their hand and sell them something.
But a convention, I assume, is sort of a see-and-be-seen event. In other words, I have to schmooze. I've never learned the art of schmoozing. I don't even have a schmoozing wardrobe!
What do you wear to a convention? I know what my husband wears when he goes to firefighters' conventions--a navy blue polo shirt and khakis (it's almost a uniform with these guys). I don't think I'm the navy-blue-polo-shirt-and-khakis-type.
The conventions my husband goes to have great giveaways. This year, they gave everyone a squeezy stress-relief doll shaped like a fat fireman. Do you think Bouchercon will have stress relief dolls shaped like publishers? I'd love to give a few of them a squeeze at the moment...
Wish me luck--I think I need it.
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