Plotting and San Francisco Scheming at Left Coast Crime 2026
- Brandi Bradley
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
I went to Left Coast Crime 2026 and here are all the things I learned while I was there.
Writers conferences are everywhere, and I have made a point to visit as many as I can if they are specific to my genre of mystery and crime writing.
Back when I started out, a friend of mine was knee deep in the romance community. And she would tell me about the conferences she would attend and how much fun she was having. I was crazy jealous of the community she was building, especially because I was still toiling on manuscripts and wrapping up grad school.
I attended my first writers conference back in 2018, when I went to Tampa for Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference. It was fun. I learned a lot. It was not quite the barn-burner that I hoped it would be. I was not ready to put myself out there. But this was the space where I realized that mystery and crime writing was actually my genre, so I am grateful for the trip for that reason.
After I finished my dissertation, I tried again with writers conferences, but COVID cancelled everything. Eventually in 2024 I was able to attend my first mystery writers conference – Bouchercon 2024 in Nashville, TN – and now I am all in travelling to large hotels, sitting in breakout session rooms listening to panels of writers, and making new friends with people in my genre.
Most recently, I attended the Left Coast Crime: San Francisco Scheming.
There are many nice things to say about San Francisco. The people are chill. The food is fantastic. The street trollies are freaking adorable. The first morning I woke up, I looked out my window to see the famous fog I had always heard so much about.
After breakfast I went downstairs for the first session, and Hubs said he was heading back to the room to watch movies and place an Instacart order for snacks and essentials. He was living his best life hanging out in San Francisco – another pin laid on his personal travel map of the world – while I pitched my novel, learned more about my craft, and made new friends.
Of those new friends, I learned that hotel husbands are a thing, most of them said their husbands were also upstairs hanging out while we worked. Shout out to all the hotel spouses making sure the writers are fed and watered.
Here are some of the things I did that made the long journey from Atlanta to San Francisco totally worth it:
I participated in an Author’s Speed-dating event, where walked into a banquet hall and bounced from table to table handing out bookmarks and telling people about my novel. I was teamed up with a Culinary Cozy author Carmela Dutra, who was pitching her food truck murder mystery titled A Murder Most Fowl which she described as The Amazing Food Truck Race with a murder investigation. Here’s what I witnessed – the swag that people handed out was elaborate. Stickers, lip balms, pill bottles filled with candy, evidence bags with ephemera: the stuff was impressive. But one of the people who was sitting at the tables told me, “It’s nice, but the only thing that matters is if people liked the story you pitched.” I hope I made a good enough impression but I also think some new Pretty Girls stickers would have been a good idea.
I sat on an excellent panel titled “Crime in the Family”. I always ask to be on a panel because I like talking about books, writing, and artistic intentions. And for this panel, I had a great group and an excellent moderator, Sarah Warburton who wrote the novel You Can Never Tell. She gathered us via Zoom before the event and we developed the potential questions together, which is an excellent collaborative experiences. We could be prepared (although I often don’t prepare because despite my introverted nature, I am surprisingly comfortable talking in front of crowds). I sat with Glenda Carol, Paula Bernstein, and Rhoda Berlin. One of the primary points is we all said we wrote from the viewpoint of how crime has a ripple effect of everyone around it, and that we wanted to write stories where the victims were the forefront and not the after-thought. I’m so glad I was able to sit on a panel with such awesome women.
The most engaging and entertaining session of the whole trip was a swords and knives demonstration by Dale Berry. I learned why swords have ridges, the history of weaponry over the ages, and how certain blade-weilders would attack. He had a wide selection of blades that he removed from leather pouches, bubble-wrap, and cardboard, all items from his personal collection. He also pulled out a replica of a 17th Century rapier, to which I called across the crowd to ask, “Is that the sword from The Princess Bride?” to learn that yes, it was a replica of the type of sword Indigo Montoya would use. When he demonstrated a butterfly blade, I shared how that was a knife I had wanted since I was a child. He said, “Prepare to cut yourself with it.” to which I said, “I cut myself every time I walk into my kitchen, so I am used to it.” My husband is terrified now.
I attended a lock-picking session led by Matthew Porter. Oh the skills I acquired in San Francisco! Apparently owning lock-picking tools are not necessarily illegal; it depends upon which state you live in. There are people who participate in lock-picking competitions, called lock-sports, and a person can acquire a clear padlock to practice on. I will be making many purchases soon.
I sold a couple of books! That means Pretty Girls Get Away With Murder is in some people’s homes on the West Coast! For me that’s an incredible win as an indie. I don’t have a corporation or agent backing me. I’m not local. Coming out of the South to pitch to a completely different geographical area is difficult. There were times when I wondered whether my Southern charm was as charming as I think it is. The fact that I sold anything and the fact that everyone was so nice, meant that something was clicking and I am proud of that fact.
But the primary thing I picked up on – for anyone wondering if LCC is worth the investment – is that this conference is a little smaller and that’s what makes it so appealing. Almost every author I spoke with bragged about how much they loved that conference because it wasn’t overwhelming like some of the other big ticket ones. ThrillerFest, Pitchmas, Killer Nashville, AWP, and even my beloved Bouchercon were all name checked by many people I chatted with at this conference as being too large to make many connections. I agree that some of those conferences are too much and in my opinion, too expensive. For me LCC was a good price, in a great town, with cool people, and I made a little money selling books. I won all the way around.
I have many events coming up, so be sure to check out my Events page to see if I am heading to a town near you.
Also, I have some new things coming out soon and I want my readers to be the first to hear about them. Be sure to join the newsletter, which sends out one email a month with announcements, sneak peeks, exclusive content, and my Currently Loving list.
And if you don’t know what the people of San Francisco now know, Pretty Girls Get Away with Murder is available at my store and other retailers.
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