Readers, here’s a note from Gayle Lynds on the NEW Maine Crime Wave conference. Auntie M hopes to attend next year, but this inaugural year looks outstanding:

Writers conferences are like tea and cookies for me, or maybe like an AK-47 and a cyanide pill embedded in a molar. They’re exciting and often memorable in unexpected ways. They can range widely in our mystery-suspense-thriller field. I love the big ones; I love the small ones. Some of my very best friends in the world I met when we sat next to or bumped into each other, or I heard speak. Plus, although I’ve been publishing for some thirty years, I still learn at every one.

If you, too, love books and write in the crime field. Please join us at this year’s Maine Crime Wave on Saturday, April 22, in Portland. It’s going to be outstanding. Here are some details:

Ever wonder about the process of developing from debut author to New York Times bestseller? Hear the inside scoop from TESS GERRITSEN—winner of our inaugural CrimeMaster Award—and her renowned New York literary agent MEG RULEY of the Jane Rotrosen Agency.

What’s the truth about crime at the state level? Join us for insider tales from MAINE ATTORNEY GENERAL JANET MILLS, who will give the day’s luncheon keynote talk.

PLUS The conference includes panel discussions, theme-specific craft sessions, manuscript workshops, one-on-one agent critiques, and more:

★ Experts discuss how to write winning query letters
★ Debut authors reveal how they got published
★ Attorneys and law enforcement officers unveil inside info about crime & punishment
★ Top authors describe how they develop ideas into selling manuscripts
★ Break-out craft sessions give you the inside scoop on Plot, Character, & Scenes
★ A special hands-on manuscript workshop for four attendees
★ And join us at 4:00 p.m. for Two Minutes in the Slammer, an opportunity to read your own prose

All the details are here: http://mainewriters.org/maine-crime-wave/

Looking forward to meeting you! Gayle Lynds

[Gayle Lynds is a New York Times bestseller and multiple award winner of international espionage novels. Please visit her at http://www.GayleLynds.com]