Posts Tagged ‘Catherine Coulter’

ThrillerFest – Author Catherine Coulter

Posted: July 20, 2015 in Writing
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Catherine Coulter is a legend. But I hate saying that word because it makes someone sound old. And she’s not. She’s as sharp as a tack, gracious as ever and has beautiful green eyes. When this woman turns and looks at you, you know it. She doesn’t address you as a fan. She addresses you as if you’re the most important person in the world. Maybe that’s the southern charm in her. I don’t know.

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I’m personally not a romance or historical romance reader. But since she’s begun writing suspense thrillers, I’ve become a fan. I read Bomb Shell and was instantly hooked. Now she’s has a co-writer, J.T. Ellison (who’s great in her own right), and they’re putting out excellent thrillers.

I jokingly tease my wife that Catherine is my New York City girlfriend. Somehow I get the pleasure to run into her at ThrillerFest every year. And not just in a classroom or panel session. It’s been in an elevator, in the audience, in a crowded hallway…just saying 🙂

Check out her work:
Catherine Coulter

ThrillerFest recap

Posted: July 12, 2015 in Writing
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ThrillerFest is the annual conference of the International Thriller Writers. A community with over 3,000 members in 28 countries and nearly 3 billion books in print!

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This was my third year attending the conference and I couldn’t be any happier. For the second year in a row I attended the Master CraftFest class which is an 8 hour, intensive course examining your work with an ultra successful author in a class of only 10. And let me tell you, you learn a great deal from this one day event.

But that’s not all.

That was just Tuesday of last week. The next day and a half you have hours of tracks and classes by a variety of instructors. And let me tell you, there not just any authors giving instruction. They’re Best Selling authors giving you the goods on what they’ve learned over time.

Steve Berry, Peter James, Gayle Lynds, David Morrell, Andrew Gross, James Scott Bell….geez. The list goes on and on. To see a list of all authors, go to their website: ThrillerFest.

And that’s not all.

The second half of Thursday gets you the opportunity to pitch to many, many agents looking for authors. Even if an agent is not interested, most of the time you will learn something new about your book, your story and how to tell it/sell it to others. I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned just trying to pitch my work to an agent.

But….there’s more.

Then ThrillerFest starts. It’s two days of panels and interviews, coupling some of the greatest Thriller authors we have on this planet.

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It is like drinking from a fire hydrant of knowledge. Half the time I’m scratching down notes from the instructor/author and the other half I’m scratching notes to address all the new ideas they’ve helped me spawn in a session.

If I could only go to one conference, ever, I would chose ThrillerFest.

BTW, I volunteered this year to help the organization. If you attended ThrillerFest 2015 – and another BTW, it was their 10th year, I probably handed you your swag bag full of books, water bottles and a hat.

Come empty handed because you’ll be buying books galore to have your favorite authors sign them.

If you’re into Thrillers, this is the BEST place to go.

I’ll be posting more on the individual authors and experiences I had this year. Too much to cover in one short post.

See ya soon,

Peppi

Catherine Coulter

Posted: September 18, 2014 in Writing
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Peppi Vecchio
Catherine Coulter has written 70 novels, with 66 of them hitting the New York Times bestsellers list. Originally known for her historical romances, she started writing suspense thrillers, and with great success. I met Catherine in an elevator at ThrillerFest 9 in New York. She stood quietly in the back, a handful of something or others clung to her chest and she had sunglasses or dark glasses on. I didn’t recognize her at first. But couldn’t help but think this chic woman was important. Then she reached out her hand and introduced herself. As she exited the elevator I couldn’t help but count through all the FBI suspense titles I’d recently seen of hers in the bookstore.
Later in the conference, I had the chance to attend one of her lectures. Before it started she went around and introduced herself to each and every attendee. Magnificent. She did everything with a smile and grace. I hadn’t previously read anything of hers, but quickly sought out Bombshell. It was excellent.
During her class, she introduced me as the man she had sex with her in the elevator earlier. Of course it was all in fun, but she has a grand sense of humor. After that, she certainly had a fan for life.
Check her out: Catherine Coulter