Sorry, I’m a little late with this month’s newsletter. After three weeks away from home, I’m trying to get caught up. First, it was 17 days away in Nashville for the Killer Nashville and Bouchercon events. Then we were back home for three nights and then on the road again for 5 days in Loveland Colorado for the Goodguys Car Show and Craft Fair. All were fun but exhausting. Nashville was crazy hot, at over 100 degrees for three straight days, and many others in the upper 90’s. Over 1700 miles were driven in our motorhome and Honda CRV. Thankfully, no more long-distance travel other than to events here in Colorado for the remainder of the year. Though Kim has two trips to Salt Lake for work to round out her busy travel year.
Killer Nashville was a great time and a learning experience. I was on one panel and attended several others. The award ceremony was excellent, with many great books winning the Silver Falchion and Claymore Awards. Clay Stafford and his team always put on a great event. I’ve added a couple of pictures below and more on my website.
Bouchercon, which was the following weekend in Nashville, is more of a fan conference with informational panels, with myself being a speaker on one. I got to see some well-known authors, including Andrew Child, Reed Farrel Coleman, Heather Graham, and many others. I even got to talk with Andrew and Reed and got a picture and a signed book from the new author of the Reacher books, Andrew Child who is taking over for his brother Lee Child. The event was held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort, which was huge in size. Lots of walking to all the events which went on for 5 days, on two floors, with only two elevators to transport the 1800-plus attendees. So I got lots of steps taking the stairs. I have more pictures on my website.
After we returned, we headed to Loveland Colorado for the Goodguys Car Show. This was the fourth year I’ve attended. The weather was perfect, and the crowds were huge. And oh my the cars were incredible. There was this 1959 Corvette which had the most gorgeous paint job. There are 2 photos below, but they don’t do it justice. I’m still in search of a 1969 Mustang Boss 302 that matches the car private eye Jarvis Mann drives. I heard of one in a town nearby but didn’t get to search for it. More car photos from Goodguys are on my website.
Our trip to Nashville wasn’t all work, as we did some sightseeing. We went to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum to pose with many famous stars. Then we took a trip to the Grand Olde Opry. And we ate at some great restaurants. You can find more pictures on my website.
We got to take a break this past weekend with no events. We did help our daughter Dakota finish painting her bedroom. Kim and her doing the painting, while I helped move all the furniture out and back in again. The new lighter color helped to brighten her room.
Starting this Saturday it’s 5 straight weekends with 6 different events, the first 2 being outdoor events in Broomfield and Sheridan. You’ll find future events listed at the bottom of each newsletter and on my Events Page on the website.
With the two events I did in Nashville, I’ve lined up a lot of great authors who’ve agreed to be on future episodes of my video podcast, Bringing Life to Characters. On Oct 7th at 7 PM Mountain time I’ll have award-winning and best-selling author Margaret Mizushima where we’ll talk about her new book, Gathering Mist: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery which you can watch live via this link. And I’ll be interviewing my audiobook producer, Phillip Polite on Sept 19th at 9 AM Mountain Time to talk about all the work involved in producing audiobooks. You can watch this interview live via this link. I’ll have many more amazing authors and content providers to chat with in future shows, including a husband and wife lawyer team who both write fiction. You can find upcoming shows and watch all my recorded video interviews on my website or YouTube Channel.
This month’s featured author is Amy Rivers. Amy is an award-winning novelist, as well as the Director of Writing Heights Writers Association. She was named 2021 Indie Author of the Year by the Indie Author Project. Her psychological suspense novels incorporate important social issues with a focus on the complexities of human behavior. Amy was raised in New Mexico and now lives in Colorado with her husband and children. You can find her website via this link, and sign-up for her newsletter and find offers for books via this link.
Amy is also making this wonderful offer to my readers. Dive into A Legacy of Silence with a chance for one reader to win signed copies of each book in the trilogy (US Shipping Only). If you’re interested in these thrilling books, either reply to this newsletter or send me an email and we’ll enter you into the drawing.
This month you can download more free eBooks via the Sleuths and Suspense: Mystery Group Giveaway. You can find 26 books until Oct 15th via this link.
We’ve always had great luck with plants and flowers in our garden. But not a lot of luck lot growing vegetables, other than cucumbers. We are picking 8-10 a week from our garden, which is more than we can eat. If you love cucumbers and live near Westminster, give me a shout. We’d love to share some.
I will wrap up this month’s newsletter with a big shoutout to all the readers and authors I met this past month in Nashville. It was a great adventure, one I’ll remember for years to come. Now I need to get back to working on my latest book, which I’ve fallen behind on.
All the best!!
R Weir