RomanceEverAfter
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People You Should Know A Conversation with Ross Howard, A Cure for Kirby, Meet Monica Davis and Geir Ness. The Beauty of Change Series Historical Romance Column and Book Reviewer: Kaye Hatfield NEW! Sam DeMarco Have you dreamed of starting your own business? Sam DeMarco, owner of Compliance Team, did and he tells us how he made his dream a reality! Photo Gallery Romance & You (Articles) Romantic Memoir
Quotes & Poetry Expand your quotes and poetic horizons by visiting our various Quotes & Poetry categories: Thought of the Week: Time for New Beginnings A series of 8 articles by Melissa Hamilton comprising a collection of principles that will allow you to make your vision for the future a reality. Read about the Amish, India, Philippines, Greece, & Rome.
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Love is Murder
Mystery Conference
I had the privilege of meeting Evelyn Hopkins at a Borders Books & Music booksigning in September 2003. She is the driving force behind the Love is Murder Mystery Conference. We later met to chat about her work and association with the Love is Murder Conference, which is held annually in Chicago, Illinois. (As of this writing, the next conference is to be held February 6 - February 8, 2004). Evelyn has been kind enough to provide us a detailed interview. It is an outstanding interview, and it is packed full of information! I encourage writers to stop by the Love is Murder website at www.loveismurder.org for more information about the conference after you read Evelyn's interview. You'll be excited that you did!
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As the Coordinator of Continuing Education in Liberal Arts at Harper College, I was in charge of many non-credit humanities-type programs including fine arts, foreign languages and creative writing. One of the courses we offered was a mystery reading class. Students were given a list of books to read for discussion every week. It was team-taught by Julie Hennig and Jane Harris-credit faculty who worked in the ESL department at Harper.They wanted to increase the exposure of their classes and I wanted to expand the writing area in general. I personally loved mysteries, so the three of us tried to come up with ways to combine these programs and our individual interests. One day, Julie asked if I had ever put on a conference and wouldn't it be great to do one on mystery writing My answer to the first part was "No" (but I was not going to let something small like that stop me!); and "yes", I thought it was a great idea (little did I know what that meant!) (For a little bit more background: I discovered Nancy Drew in second grade and promptly read all of them. When I was looking around for something more, I found Agatha Christie and read all of hers. After that, I was off, searching the globe for any mystery I could get my hands on. So this conference gave me an opportunity to turn a personal obsession into a public, commercial venture.) Name of the Conference Julie Hennig was also the impetus for the name "Love Is Murder." First, we wanted as little competition as possible so we checked the calendar and at the time, only August and February had no other such conferences any where in the country. August would not have been a good choice since many people go on vacation and prepare kids for school, etc; so that left February. We forged ahead, which took a bit of chutzpah as well since you know what it can be like in Chicago in February! And the name came from the month-Love from Valentine's Day, and of course
you can't have a mystery without Murder. (And a surprising number
of people kill those they love, so there you go.) Once the name was
in place, I worked with a Harper This year, since we are running this as an independent venue for the first time, I wanted something to celebrate that, as well as emphasize the city of the conference's creation, so the Chicago skyline was added to the background. (Logo provided by permission from www.loveismurder.org)
What are the benefits for a writer to attend the "Love is Murder" conference? First, it offers a great opportunity to meet other writers - to network with, to learn from, and just to experience the natural community of like-minded individuals. It is also good for those who want to be writers, as there are lots of how-to panels and chances to meet experts in a variety of fields that can figure prominently in the mystery, suspense and thriller genres -police, FBI staff, coroners, forensic scientists, surveillance professionals, psychologists, toxicologists, etc. There will also be agents, publicists, and editors available to meet the writers and hear their pitches, and to give advice on how to get published and future trends in the industry. Manuscript readings can also be ordered in advance for those that want some input from a published, professional author. Our conference also wanted to acknowledge the importance of the readers and honor their support of the writers (the longer version of our conference title is Love Is Murder Readers and Writers Conference of Mystery, Suspense and Thrillers.) So readers will be entertained by the experts as well, meet their favorite authors and learn more about the characters that keep everyone enthralled.The conference can be especially helpful to published first-time writers in its ability to provide a venue that will allow them to increase their exposure and add to their fan base. Love Is Murder, in particular, wants to promote Midwestern writers since as a group they are one of our greatest resources. (Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi, said it best, "If we, citizens, do not support our artists, then we sacrifice our imagination on the crude altar of reality and we end up believing in nothing and having worthless dreams.")Love is Murder -2 (Continue) |
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Photo Gallery
Conferences
are an important part of your self-development as a writer. In addition to
participating in the educational components of a conference, you have the chance
to meet other writers and professionals in the business. 
graphic designer and we came up with the distinctive,
black silhouette of a man and woman with weapons.