What Bouchercon kick started
I have a lot of Bouchercon memories. A lot of them swirl into a hazy mix of excitement and joy. An over whelming feeling of trying to be everywhere and do everything. And after doing it for years it doesn't go away.
A defining moment for me was obviously meeting Ruth at Bouchercon. It changed my life in a lot of ways and led to other moments.
We started the idea for Crimespree at breakfast in Las Vegas and decided to go for it by the pool later that weekend. I remember celebrating my sister's birthday in Austin, screaming and jumping when Barbara Seranella won an Anthony in Madison, watching newcomer Steven Booth sign books in DC, meeting a very outgoing New Yorker named Reed in Austin and thinking "wow, he's enthusiastic!"(who would later become one of my favorite people), watching Ian Rankin tell Loren Estleman that he's a huge fan, Sara Paretsky wearing a London Bobbie's hat in Toronto...
The list goes on and on. I could literally do this for hours.
Most of my memories are of meeting people for the first time who would go onto become close friends, people from all over the world and all walks of life. Being surrounded for four to five days by more than 1500 people who share a passion for some thing with you is an incredible experience. It's like a drug that always leaves me winded and wanting more.
But my favorite memory after meeting Ruth would have to be Chicago. Barbara Seranella came to the conference, still recovering from treatments. I cried when I saw her I was so happy. The next day she was passing out onions to people and she threw one to me from the escalator. They were wrapped with a note that said
"You can eat the onion, I'm keeping the liver".
I still have the note.
And when ever I think that the magazine may be a little too much for me, when I get tired of doing the day to day things that I don't always want to do, when ever I debate taking the easy way I think of that note and Barbara who said to me in Chicago "Nothing stops me from coming to Bouchercon".
Jon Jordan
A defining moment for me was obviously meeting Ruth at Bouchercon. It changed my life in a lot of ways and led to other moments.
We started the idea for Crimespree at breakfast in Las Vegas and decided to go for it by the pool later that weekend. I remember celebrating my sister's birthday in Austin, screaming and jumping when Barbara Seranella won an Anthony in Madison, watching newcomer Steven Booth sign books in DC, meeting a very outgoing New Yorker named Reed in Austin and thinking "wow, he's enthusiastic!"(who would later become one of my favorite people), watching Ian Rankin tell Loren Estleman that he's a huge fan, Sara Paretsky wearing a London Bobbie's hat in Toronto...
The list goes on and on. I could literally do this for hours.
Most of my memories are of meeting people for the first time who would go onto become close friends, people from all over the world and all walks of life. Being surrounded for four to five days by more than 1500 people who share a passion for some thing with you is an incredible experience. It's like a drug that always leaves me winded and wanting more.
But my favorite memory after meeting Ruth would have to be Chicago. Barbara Seranella came to the conference, still recovering from treatments. I cried when I saw her I was so happy. The next day she was passing out onions to people and she threw one to me from the escalator. They were wrapped with a note that said "You can eat the onion, I'm keeping the liver".
I still have the note.
And when ever I think that the magazine may be a little too much for me, when I get tired of doing the day to day things that I don't always want to do, when ever I debate taking the easy way I think of that note and Barbara who said to me in Chicago "Nothing stops me from coming to Bouchercon".
Jon Jordan
posted by Jon The Crime Spree Guy at 9:38 PM
1 Comments:
Excellent post, Jon.
I'm looking forward to B-Con more than ever this year. It's been too long since I've seen everyone.
Jim
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