HAVE YOU HEARD THE NEWS?

We are proud to announce that we have +heather graham at the #MDC3Con this year.

We are also proud to announce that we have +Karla Brady and +Andy Straka at the conference this year as well.

Now, did you know that authors need to update their profiles every year. Just like our students who get their pictures taken every year; so do authors.

This year we will once again have E.Harcus Photography doing head shots for authors who would like one. This is not a FREE event but for a minimum cost, paid directly to the photographer; you can have your head shots done.

Now isn't that a really good reason to come to Hunt Valley Conference Center this year and take part in the Creatures Crimes and Creativity Con?

Go here and register today. MDC3Con

If you want to be a +volunteer at this year's conference, go here: Volunteer at MDC3Con

We hope to see you there!

COME HAVE DINNER WITH SOME GREAT AUTHORS

We are preparing a great time for you at this years, MD C3 Con

Have you ever wondered what Heather Graham does on her days off? Well you can find out at the Creatures, Crimes and Creativity Con, or as we like to call it, the MD C3 Con.

You can sit and have dinner with her before she gives the keynote at Saturdays dinner.

Have you picked up her latest novel, The Dead Play On yet? If you have, why not bring it with you to the conference and you can ask her to sign it for you.

We are also happy that just before our conference, she will release another novel; The Silence and you can also have that one signed as well.

As you an see, we are bringing you some of the best authors around. So why not join us for the MD C3 Con in September. Its a bargain at $245 until March 31. 

You will get three days of conference, 5 full meals, two great keynote speakers, two local guests (yep from the DC Area) and you also get to sit in on master classes taught by +Heather Graham and +F.Paul Wilson

Beginning on April 1; the price increases by $30 to $275 but you still get all of the great stuff listed above. Oh, did we mention you get a goodie bag filled with books, coupons and you may even win a Kindle Fire.

So sign up today; we hope to see you there!

READY FOR NEXT YEAR

Top Row: Cindy, Austin, Sandra, Larry
Bottom  Row: Denise, Juli, Ann
not pictured Dee Lawrence

This year was such a blast that we can't wait to do it again, next year!

The committee ended up a great weekend by celebrating with a few days of rest before getting ready for next year.

We want to thank +Dee Lawrence +Larry Matthews +Ann Arbaugh +Juli Monroe +B Swangin Webster +Austin Camacho +Denise Camacho +Cynthia Lauth for all of the hard work they put into the conference.

Without all of you the conference would not have run smooth. The picture says it all and we enjoyed every minute of sharing stories with the authors, sharing tips with the presenters and sharing laughs over meals.

If you want to be at the convention next year, all you have to do is go to this link http://creaturescrimesandcreativity.com

We already have some great special guests lined up.

+Heather Graham and +F Paul Wilson will also be there!

Right now you can register for the discounted price of $245. Come on, we'd love to have you there.

TOP TEN REASONS TO ATTEND THE C3 CON

Reason #1 to register the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity conference today: Enjoy 36 panels and presentations of interest to readers, fans and writers. #mdc3con

 Reason #2 Everyone at the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity Con  - #MdC3con – gets the exclusive C3 Anthology-20 stories by attending authors like Brad Parks & Rebecca York. This annual collectors’ item is NOT sold in stores or on line. 

Reason #3 to register now for the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity Conference #mdc3con: 1 lucky attendee will win a new Kindle Fire in our Twitter contest.

 Reason #4 to register now for the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity Conference  -#mdc3con: 1 lucky attendee will win a $50 Amazon gift certificate in our scavenger hunt.

 Reason #5 to register now for the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity Conference - #mdc3con: International best-selling thriller author John Gilstrap will deliver a keynote address at Saturday’s dinner.  Come meet the author of the Jonathan Grave series!  

Reason #6 to register now for the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity Conference - #mdc3con: International bestselling romantic suspense/sci-fi/fantasy author Rebecca York will deliver a keynote address at Friday’s dinner.                      

 Reason #7 to register now for the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity Conference - #mdc3con: It will be a great chance to spend the weekend with fans and authors of mystery, suspense, thriller, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and paranormal fiction.      

 Reason #8 to register now for the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity Conference  - #mdc3con: The registration fee includes five meals: Friday’s dinner, 3 meals Saturday and Sunday breakfast. Readers and writers dine side-by-side! (ask those questions you’ve always wanted to ask!)  

 Reason #9 to register now for the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity Conference  - #mdc3con: Attendees are invited to contribute to the C3 blog. 

Reason #10 to register now for the Creatures, Crimes & Creativity Conference  - #mdc3con: . Collector's item. This annual anthology goes to every attendee but will never be for sale.  

Click here: ---<C3 Con and register for this amazing conference! You won't be sorry!

REASONS YOU SHOULD WANT TO ATTEND THE C3 CONVENTION

This blog is submitted by: Sandra Bowman (marketing director of Intrigue Publishing)

In the coming weeks you will see a list of 20 reasons on why you should attend the Creatures, Crimes and Creativity Convention.

Well for the fans of mystery, Sci-Fi, paranormal, horror, thrillers, fantasy and suspense; you want to attend because you will get to hang out with some very cool people.

Sadly there will be no costumes but there will be plenty of laughs to go around and the atmosphere will be friendly, inviting and most of all informative.

If you want to be an author, you need to be at this convention. It is geared so that you will share all of your meals with NY Times best selling authors. You will share your breaks listening to the process that some writers go through when they have deadlines. You will get the skinny on what is going on in social media today and you will also get first hand knowledge on how a publishing company works.

So if you check out @intrigupub on +Twitter you will find all 20 reasons on why you should attend the convention. Not to mention you will also see +BradParks  +CJEllison +RebeccaYork and +JohnGilstrap

But the main reason you should attend is reason number 21!

You get to see the +Fabulous shoes +BSwanginWebster will be wearing! That alone is worth it!

We hope to see you there.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT CONFERENCES

This blog was submitted by one of the attendees: Bill Fietzer


What I like best about writers' conferences and this one in particular are the interesting people one meets. Not only the headliners like Jeffrey Deaver and Allison Leotta (See my blog page on the conference at: http://williamfietzer.com/2013/10/27/a-lesson-repeated-at-the-creatures-crimes-and-creativity-conference/ but the attendees I rubbed elbows or broke bread with at the breakfasts, luncheons, and after-hours soirees all had interesting stories to tell.

Allied with this is the serendipity factor. Though Baltimore is something of an outer-ring satellite of Washington, D.C., I never expected to meet the mother of a son who works for the U.S. Foreign Service. Turns out that Lane Stone and I both have sons in the diplomatic corps working in the Far East, hers in Beijing and mine in Osaka. Such a small, intimate, intriguing world globalization has created for us!

The other thing I enjoyed about the conference was the opportunity to explore the Baltimore area via the light rail line. At other conventions such as in Atlanta and San Antonio, taking the light rail or bus lines permits me the opportunity to get a feel of the city, if only through a window as a passing traveler. Never having been to Baltimore before, the hour and a half trip provided ample opportunity to witness the magnitude of Baltimore Harbor, the location of the Baltimore Orioles stadium, the rebuilding historic downtown, and the extensive sub-urbanization of many industries and manufacturing plants that reach almost to the Pennsylvania state line.

The trip also revealed that a two-story high berm or bridge need not be the environmental eyesore that opponents of one of the proposed local spurs to the light rail line in Minneapolis claim it could be. All politics, they say (whoever "they" are), are local, and the anecdotal evidence gleaned from my ride to and from the airport showed that an elevated rail track is not the odious monster some locals claim is sufficient reason for stalling a multi-million dollar transportation project.

The link to my Facebook photo album of C3 highlights is: https://www.facebook.com/william.fietzer/media_set?set=a.4645617317360.1073741829.1800969976&type=3
I'm looking forward to an even more provocative, inspirational time at next year's event.

WORKING HARD ON NEXT YEAR

The Board members of the C3 conference have already started working on next year.

They added a new member and they have their duties. Larry Matthews has been a friend for a while and after attending the C3 conference, he asked if he could be a part of this small group of zany, crazy people. I personally think it was because +Austin Camacho was the lone man on the group and after the passionate speech that Austin gave at the opening ceremony, Larry felt sorry for him. We like to think it was because the women on the board are so irresistible or maybe he just wanted to be the first to see what shoes one board member would have for next year.

C3 Conference Board Members (left-right)
Sandra, Juli, Denise, Cyndi, Deliah
Austin, Ann

Either way, we are glad to have him on the team and the work has begun. Marketing never stops and Sandra has been working hard; well we don't think she ever stopped and except for interchanging a just signed author with an author that she has been trying to forget. Austin has been contacting potential guests and finding out that not everyone reads email every day. Denise has been trying to keep the website updated but with the many changes that occur; it's almost a full time job in itself. Cyndi is out of state so she doesn't have to worry about the long meetings but she has the task of keeping all emails/registrations and payments (which have already started rolling in)Ann, Juli and Deliah have all waited so patiently for their new duties that they may run and hide when they find out what it is that they will be doing. (Deliah...don't worry, your job duties are exactly the same) That leaves Larry; poor, unsuspecting, Larry. Well he will find out soon enough why we meet at an eatery that serves plenty of coffee!

The laughs that will be shared, the coffee that will be drank and the ideas, suggestions that will be shared will be the best memories that we all will make
.

Welcome aboard and welcome back. The work has just begun!

AND NOW THE WORK BEGINS

The C3 Conference ended last Sunday, a little before noon. The panelists were heading home, the hotel was quiet and the board members were exhausted.

The drive home was spent in reflection.

Had everyone enjoyed themselves? Was it what I wanted it to be? Did I do a good job moderating my panels? Did everyone think I was funny, stupid or just an annoyance? Did my shoes photograph well?

I know people enjoyed themselves and I know that although there weren't that many fans there, I think the authors had a great time.

Look, we (the board members) tried our hardest to get the fans involved but we didn't have costumes, movie stars or TV stars and we didn't have a game room that stayed open all night. We didn't have the 8-3-1 rule (for those that don't know it is...sleep for at least 8 hours, eat at least 3 times and take at least 1 shower) Apparently at some 'fan' based conferences they have to state that rule up front. Well we didn't have that rule although a lot of us ended up in the bar, we still managed to get enough rest that we didn't look like we were zombies. (hint: +visine is your friend at a conference)

What we did have was panels that were informative, authors that were accessible and volunteers that were helpful. We thought we wouldn't get a lot of feedback but you know what; we did and all of the feedback has been positive.

Were there problems, sure, just like any conference but those problems were so small we could swat them away. (for those of you at the conference, you know what I am talking about) Hey, that was a good problem to have. Not every first time conference can say that they had almost 80 people there, the food was great and the entertainment was fantastic!

We Can!

All that to say, hopefully next year fans will want to come even if we don't have those silly rules and no game room. If not, the writers and their friends, who have now become fans, will have a blast. Just like they did this year.

If you were there and took pictures of our marketing director and her shoes, please send them to our shoe diva so she can post them here and on her blog; aptly called "Shoes On Tour 2013"

Next year's conference is scheduled for October 10-12 and will have more great authors, more great panelists and the cutest shoes our marketing director can find. You don't want to miss it!

Submitted by: Sandra Bowman

WHY I ATTENDED THE C3 CONFERENCE

Today this blog will feature two submissions. The first by Anne Alexander and the second by Juli Monroe.

Submitted by: Anne Alexander

I thoroughly enjoyed the C3 Conference because everyone was friendly, and down to earth.



Austin Camacho interviewing author John Gilstrap at the Saturday breakfast

The panels were informative, and the food was delicious.  I liked the way the book store was set up. It was easy to find the books by the author's names.

I loved the way the big name authors were treated the same as the first time authors in every respect, from the panel selections, to the book signings, to the seating arrangements at dinner. 

I think this is one of the best conferences I have ever attended. I look forward to being there again next year. I brought two guests with me to the conference and they had so much fun they want to come again next year.

Annie Rose Alexander

Author of Evil In High Places

Submitted by: Juli Monroe



Jeffery Deaver keynote

You may have noticed that I haven’t been around much for the last few days. I was getting ready for and then attending the Creatures, Crime and Creativity Conference that was held last weekend in Baltimore.

While I’ve attended numerous conferences, this was my first writer’s conference, and I admit I’m...

To read the rest of this article, please visit--> Tele Read






 

THE C3 CONFERENCE FIT THE BILL

Submitted by: Robin Murphy

There was a reason for my excited anticipation for the C3 conference.  I had searched for the last couple of years to find the “right” conference to attend.  The issues I ran into were either distance (West coast), cost, or quite frankly, not permitted to attend due to the fact my publisher wasn’t found on their “approved” list.

Then, while I was out perusing the members section of the Sisters in Crime website, I found the listing for 2013 conferences.  Lo and behold, I discovered Creatures, Crime, and Creativity.  As I read the description, and then further reviewed their website, I finally found a writer’s conference that fit the bill.

From the start, the communications and transactions with the powers that be (i.e. Austin Camacho, Denise Camacho, Sandra Bowman, Delia Lawrence, and Lauren Carr) were clear, concise, cordial, and patient.  I’ve been in the administrative world for over 30 years and have organized my share of events, so I know the work that goes into making a conference a success, and in my estimation, that’s exactly what the C3 conference was…a success.

From the moment I arrived, I was warmly welcomed and felt as if I knew the organizers.  I was given easy to understand instructions, received my nifty “gift bag” filled with a ton of goodies, and then was led to the opening ceremony promptly at noon.

Speaking of goodies, there was a unique approach at this conference.  They allowed the first response authors to contribute a story of their own to the C3 Anthology, which was published by Acorn Book Services and only distributed to conference attendees.  What a great way to combine talent in one book!

The first panel I sat on regarding publishing a series with Austin Camacho and Bill Rapp felt like I was sitting in a coffee shop discussing and sharing ideas and tips.  I wasn’t the least bit nervous, and without a doubt, Austin clearly knew his panel and the subject matter, because the conversation flowed seamlessly.

The rest of the weekend continued in the same manner with great panel discussions, wonderful keynote speakers, and amazing fans and authors.  Oh, and let’s not forget the great food that was included in the conference registration fee.  They even allowed my son to attend the dinner Friday evening for just a small added cost for his meal.  Everyone was so easy going.

The one thing that stood out above everything else was that I felt as if I was on the exact same level as John Gilstrap and Jeff Deaver, who were completely approachable and quite funny!  There was no pretense on their part and they were so willing to share their “do’s and don’ts”.

I met some great people and did some amazing networking throughout the weekend.  I believe these newfound relationships will remain bonded and I look forward to seeing them all at the 2014 C3 conference.  I can’t deny I’m dying to see what “shoes” Sandra will be showcasing next year!

LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN!

The countdown has officially began.

Well, it didn't just start, it started 13 months ago when the brain child of this conference twisted the arm of a webmaster and got the website up and running. The countdown clock was the brainchild of our webmaster, James.

Every week I would look at that clock and say, "wow, that's seems like a long way off" and then I looked at the clock today and said, "oh my gosh! it's here already".

I have been fortunate enough to work with some great people on this conference and have learned a lot about them and about myself in the process.

I learned that I love to have fun in everything that I do. Our monthly meetings started off with organization and an agenda and quickly erupted into a free for all of conversations, jokes, laughs and plenty of coffee. In the end we all have worked like a well oiled machine. We have come together for a common goal and that is to bring you the best damn conference possible.

If you are coming to the conference, I can't wait to meet you and if you aren't...shame shame, you are going to miss the best damn party, EVER!

See you in four days, 20 hours and 15, 14, 13, 12....well you get the picture....

I'm as giddy as a two year old waiting for Santa!

Submitted: B. Swangin Webster

Meet the volunteers

Today we want to introduce you to the group of ladies that are helping us put on the C3 Conference.

These ladies jumped; well maybe jumped isn't the right word but they walked; very slowly, towards being volunteers to help put this confernce together.

With all of their knowledge and expertise, they have brought great ideas to the meetings and have also taken on responsiblities that most people would have run away from.

Deliah Lawrence is not only an author but she is our Master Scheduler and Author Liason. She will work with the authors and the on-site book store to make sure that the titles that the attending authors want to sign will be there when they arrive. She is also working on putting together the schedule of sessions/panels that the authors will sit on. This is a huge undertaking and we want to salute her for taking on this huge role.

Cynthia Lauth is our registration coordianator. She tirelessly works the registration part of our website. She contacts the authors when they have forgotten to make their meal choice or have forgotten to press the submit button to enter their choice of payment.

Juli Monroe is our Intrigue Pub twitter guru. She is on Twitter everyday putting the word out and making sure that @IntriguePub is being seen by the people that need information about our conference.

Ann Arbaugh is our volunteer coordinator. She will be working with our volunteers and recruiting volunteers. She will be one of the people you will see running around during the conference making sure that our guests are being taken care of properly.

We have all gotten so excited about this conference that we meet regularly to talk about the new things that are happening or that we want to happen.

This group of dedicated workers will be there to meet and greet you on Friday and they will be easy to spot. They will all have one their C3 shirts.

See you in September!

Memoriable First

I’m Ann Arbaugh and I’m happy to join Intrigue Publishing and the C3 Board as the Conference Volunteer Coordinator.  

My first professional experience with Conferences was back in 2006.
Austin’s wife, Denise, was the Maryland Writers Association Conference Coordinator.  She put out a call for volunteers and I stepped in. I thought I’d be helping with a small task, but Denise really needed someone to organize all the volunteers. No problem, I said.  

Sometimes it’s better not to know how big a job really is becaue you don’t have time to talk yourself out of it.  

There were many communications about which volunteer to assign to what position, how many people were needed, and many other details that needed attention. Yes, there were even a few emails from Denise.  She was afraid I’d back out.

Not a chance. 

The weeks passed quickly. 

Conference day was filled with meeting new people, running up stairs, and making sure everyone was in place. The facility didn’t have catering, so we took care of the food on our own.  I had to make regular runs between coolers and our rooms, bottled water filling my arms, making sure that our moderators didn’t run dry. 

I sat in on several sessions for minutes while catching my breath. 

At the end of the day, we relaxed at a cocktail hour. Everyone who worked the conference was tired. I felt like I’d been in a whirlwind all day. My brain was fried and I wondered how I did as a first-time volunteer coordinator.  

Then Denise came up and repeated what one attendee told her – “This was your best conference ever.” 

That’s all I needed to hear. 

Since that time, I’ve attended many local conferences and retreats in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Each one was put together by a great team of volunteers. 

Flash forward to August 2012 and a short email from Denise asking if I’d like to help Intrigue Publishing with the C3 Conference. Being cautious, I asked for more info. I checked the website and was very impressed. 

Three days...Lots of sessions... Hunt Valley Inn... And Jeffrey Deaver? Seriously? My reply email said “sign me up”. 

Every C3 meeting makes me more excited about the Conference. Ideas are coming together. My job, so far, is to add ideas and thoughts regarding our volunteers. My real work begins in a few months. 

For now, I’m going to sit back and pick up another Deaver novel.

My assignment is to read several books by each of our guests by the time September arrives. 

Why don’t you pull up a chair and join me.

Which authors will you be reading?