The scene was quiet at first, but the volume increased as more people entered the atrium and greeted each other. The “family reunion” had begun.

It was the 10th anniversary of the Creatures, Crimes and Creativity (C3) Con and I was there as the winner of the Buchbinder Scholarship, which not only covered the cost of registration but included meals and a room in the con hotel. I won the scholarship by answering the question of why I thought attending the con would benefit me. I thought it was because I would be able to improve my writing. Almost immediately, I found out how right I was.

Unlike the cosplay conventions I usually attend, C3 was small and intimate, perfect for meeting established authors, unpublished authors with works in progress and people who love to read works of horror, crime, sci-fi/fantasy and mystery. There was a palatable camaraderie amongst the gathering and they freely shared their professional insights and were very quick to make me feel like part of their family.

Like those other conventions, there were guest speakers and panels; with the usual dilemma of trying to decide which of two panels going on at the same time I most wanted to attend. The solution, as always, is to make new friends so that each can attend a different panel and you can meet afterward to share notes.

One of Keynote speakers was 7-time Bram Stoker Award Winner, Nancy Holder, who emphasized how writers need other writers saying, “We do the work and prime the pumps. We live the writer’s life.”

My sponsor, Sharon Buchbinder, was a member of the panel TAG! You’re It! - How to Write a Great Tagline. Other panels included The Editor/Writer Relationship, Writing Science Fiction is Hard! Living With a Professional Liar (a panel for spouses and supporters of writers) and Writing Provocative Fiction, to name only a few.

Also, there were book sales and signings by the authors, and author readings at the NOIR AT THE BAR; those were open to the general public.

By the end of the con, I not only had dozens of new books to read, some donated by the authors, but I felt totally at ease with my new-found family.

Husband and wife team, Austin and Denise Camacho, along with Cynthia Lauth are the co-founders of C3. They have already set up the website for the 2024 con which will be held in September. I highly recommend that you try for one of the scholarships. (wink)

Find out more at:

creaturescrimesandcreativity.com