[WWW] Lance Storm 11.02.03 column - The Three "R"s: "R"eading, w"R"iting, and w"R"estling

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The Three "R"s: "R"eading, w"R"iting, and w"R"estling

November 2,2003

Sorry I've been away so much, of late, but I've been extremely busy.
I'm not complaining about it, however, as I've been busy by choice. I
attended 2 writer's conventions this past month. The first convention
was Bouchercon, which is a huge mystery writers convention, which was
held in Las Vegas. Lee Child (Author of Killing Floor, Book Marks:
Jan. 2003) and my long time Internet friend, and favourite Author,
David Morrell ("Brotherhood of the Rose" Book Marks: Dec. 2001, and
"Long Lost" Book Marks: June 2002) were in attendance. It was the
chance to finally meet David in person that made me attend this year
and truth be told I didn't make a single conference event. My wife has
never been to Vegas before and has always wanted to so I managed to
kill two birds with one stone by arranging a great get away for my
wife and me in conjunction with this chance to meet a couple of great
authors.

Vegas itself was a ton of fun. There is so much to do in that city,
besides gamble. We went to a show, shopped, did some site seeing and
just generally had a great time. I managed a brief meeting with Lee
Child, which was great; he's a real class act. If you haven't read any
of his work, you are really missing out.

The highlight of the trip was finally meeting David Morrell. The four
of us (me and my wife, he and his) had a wonderful dinner at an
Italian restaurant inside the Venetian hotel. When you've only spoke
with someone on-line you never know for sure what you're getting into,
but we genuinely hit it off and had a fabulous time. I doubt this will
end up being a one-time meeting.

The second convention was this past week in Washington DC for the
"World Fantasy Convention". WFC is the major Fantasy and Horror
writer's convention and Douglas E. Winter (Author of "RUN", Book
Marks: June-July 2003) was the master of ceremonies. Doug invited me
to be his guest at the convention and I jumped at the chance. Doug and
his wife Lynne were a big part in getting me to start Book Marks, so I
was excited to finally meet them in person. I flew to DC on Thursday,
had dinner with Doug and Lynne as well as F. Paul Wilson (Author of
"The Tomb", Book Marks: Aug. 2002) and his wife. Again it was a great
time with great people.

I attended the convention on Friday and even spoke on a panel. Doug
had arranged to have me on a panel to discuss my Book Club. There were
4 of us on the panel (Doug, Lynne, F. Paul Wilson, and myself), and to
be honest I had absolutely no idea what the hell I was going to say or
talk about. This seemed to work out fine as I don't think anyone who
showed up to see the "Tag Team: Wrestling and Writing" discussion
panel had any clue what the hell they would be hearing.

Looking back I think the panel was a huge success. I received plenty
of favourable feedback and I had a great time doing it. I ended up
with so much to say we actually ran long on time. I think I managed to
open a few eye as to what it really is that I do for a living and what
I'm trying to accomplish with my Club. I helped dispelled the common
held believe that pro-athletes, and even more so pro-wrestlers, are
nothing but a bunch of muscle bound oafs who can't carry on a
meaningful conversation. I drew several parallels between the "story
telling" I do in the ring, during a match, and the "story telling"
authors do in writing a book.

We talked about the importance of literacy and reading and how through
my effort and the efforts of the authors who have taken part in my
Club, we are providing a very unique experience; a chance for people
to expand their minds, by either discovering the joy of reading, or
exploring new authors and books. Where else can you read a book, watch
a movie, listen to a CD, or anything for that matter, and have the
person who wrote the book, movie, song, hear your thoughts and respond
to them.
I think I may have picked up a few more Book Marks at the convention
and I hope more of you, here, will join us as well.

Till next week, good reading.
Lance