I feel like I've been neglecting you guys for days, for which I apologize. It's been a circus around here.

First I spent two days at Thrillerfest, which was a blast. Did a panel with Carlos Dews, the other half of Sam Cabot (this was his first crime-world conference, nothing at all like the academic ones he's used to!) and Douglas Preston, Catherine Coulter, JT Ellison, and Blake Crouch. The subject was collaborative writing and I was fascinated at how other collaborations work, Sam Cabot being my first. Had a good talk with Stanley Trollip, the Stanley half of Michael Stanley, on that subject, also. Saw some other good panels, enjoyed the banquet, all in all had an intense but fun time.

Then, because Carlos is, in fact in town, worked worked worked. We don't get this chance very often, to sit in the same room hammering out plot issues and story and character ramifications. We're about halfway through the second Sam Cabot book, so we're at that point where we need to know how to get from the mess we just made to the resolution we're planning for.

And now, I'm headed to San Diego, for Comic Con. I expect to report from there, but let me start by reporting that lots of people on this plane are going to the same convention. I'm sitting on the flight out of Newark next to the art director for MAD Magazine.