(The title of this post is Mandarin for "long time, no see!")
This spring I attended two mystery writers' conferences. Left Coast Crime in Vancouver last spring was delightful, and Crime Fest in Bristol was stellar. I moderated my first panel, got to know some intimidatingly accomplished mystery writers, and finally met my first editor, the wonderfully supportive Miranda Jewess -- and got to spend time just being a tourist in Bristol, Bath, and London.
Right now, I'm taking a break from the writing of fiction to absorb myself in the other kind of writing I do for a living - the opening brief in a capital appeal -- a book-length document that will be taking much of my time and mental energy for the next half year at least. The governor of my adopted state, California, declared a moratorium on executions here last spring, and all of us who work in capital defense are hoping, more than we have dared to hope for a very long time, that this is the beginning of the end for the death penalty here. But in the meantime, the work goes on.