On my soapbox...

Yeah, I'm being serious for a minute, but don't worry. It won't last long.

When people ask what it takes to chair a Bouchercon, I usually say something to the effect of "it takes a strong opinion about how Bouchercon ought to be run, and what you want to see in a Bouchercon". But that's just dissembling, prevaricating. Hell with it, it's lying.

It takes passion. Plain and simple. If you're not passionate about it, you're not going to be willing to put in the hard work, and take the knocks, that come along with the job. The rewards are huge, and entirely worth the aggravation and the panic and the long hours.

What rewards, you ask? Well, they're certainly not financial, the little cadre of volunteers who work to make Bouchercon special get absolutely no money from this thing, in fact, a number of them sacrifice money as well as time to make it all work.

The rewards feel something like this.......






And look something like this.....




...and this....





...and this....





While I'm passionate about every single moment of Bouchercon by the Bay being chock-full of fabulosity, there are two things that really get me going to the point of, well, climbing up on my soapbox: one is that all the newbies get treated especially well by all of us.

The other is, yup, you guessed it; the program. The panels. It's the hardest part of organizing Bouchercon, in my opinion, and causes the highest rate of upset amongst people who want to be part of the program; and the highest rate of upset stomachs amongst those trying to accommodate them.

By far the most emphatic and consistent request I've heard since I was given the honor of chairing Bouchercon (and I'm not kidding - it truly is an honor) is "please do something to refresh the panels - do something innovative". So, we are. We'll have Traditional Panels, and our salon-type Continuous Conversation, and our 20-on-the-20 spots. As I've said all along, our goal with the panel programming is to provide as many opportunities as possible for fun, informative, and entertaining interaction between readers and writers.

And, happily, when we sent out our panel questionnaires, most of you told us that you were happy to participate in all three types of programming. So, we're taking you at your word, and your program assignment will be based on what you've offered to do, but also on where we think you'll shine the brightest, and how the program topics are organized.

Bottom line is, we appreciate that you're coming to San Francisco, and I really appreciate that you're willing to try some new things, and I'm super excited to see how it all works out.

OK, off the soapbox now.....





...and back to our regularly scheduled foolishment..... some nitwits have decided that they should remake The Rockford Files. OMGWTF. That is soooo not fabulous. There is one, and only one James Garner, and Rockford begins and ends with him. Here's are a couple reminders of why some classics should just be left alone.....

The topical one (30 years later).......




The "Jim Rockford is just so darned cool" one.....




Happy weekend, everyone!