The California Crime Writers Conference (www.ccwconference.org) began on Jun. 23 in Pasadena, CA and was a new experience for me. The event, which is co-sponsored by the So-Cal Chapter of Mystery Writers of America (www.socalmwa.com) and the Los Angeles Chapter of Sisters in Crime (sistersincrimela.com) was held at the Pasadena Hilton. It’s a bi-annual event, so it only comes around every two years. Since this is my first with a book that was actually out, I didn’t want to miss it. I wasn’t disappointed in the least. The keynote speaker for the first day was veteran mystery writer Sue Grafton (suegrafton.com), author of the well-known Kinsey Millhone Alphabet mystery series.
In her keynote speech, Grafton urged writers to be persistent and resourceful when they write. She’s a strong believer that every writer has two sides, one that she calls “Shadow,” the other, “Ego.” Ego is the organized side of the writer’s mind and deals with keeping things in order, accomplishing list tasks, etc. Shadow, on the other hand, is the creative side. Said Grafton, “when you meet someone and don’t like them, that’s Shadow.”
Grafton’s talk was followed by a discussion between her and bestselling mystery author Hank Phillippi Ryan (www.hankphillippiryan.com). Ryan, a news reporter for a Boston TV station, conducted the discussion as though it were a TV interview. It was obvious from the way Ryan conducted the interview that she performs that task professionally.
During the interview, Ryan asked Grafton to further describe the difference between Shadow and Ego. Grafton said, “Shadow wants to play with story lines, Ego wants to improve them.” Grafton also said that she wrote full-length fiction early in her career, but was sidetracked by a marriage and a job. She returned to writing to help alleviate the pain when her marriage ended.
