One of the coolest parts of being an author is getting invited to participate in events or teach workshops.

For example, last month I spoke for an hour at the January meeting of my local writing club, the Texas High Plains Writers. My workshop was about pacing, especially as it relates to crime novels (thrillers, suspense, mysteries, noir, etc.). Despite the fact I don’t speak in public that often, people seemed to enjoy it and learn a thing or two.

So, when I was invited this week to participate in a panel at Amarillo ArtsFest 2020 on April 18 at Amarillo College (time TBD), I jumped at the opportunity.

Technically, my first author panel was at ThrillerFest last year. Although that doesn’t really count, since all I did was speak for a minute about me and my book along with 30-plus other authors who are members of my International Thriller Writers debut class.

But the panel I spoke on at last year’s Hub City Comic Con in Lubbock is probably closer to the experience I’ll have in April. There were three other authors, all from Amarillo: Bestselling fantasy author A.G. Howard, small press fantasy author Libbi Duncan, and successful self-published thriller author Andrew J Brandt.

We spoke pretty generally about being an author and answered the basic questions we all get: How do I get started? How does the publishing process work? Where do we get our inspiration?

The subject of April’s panel is “What Do You Need in Your Writing Toolbox?” Some of those tools include reading (a LOT of reading!), critique groups, and writing conferences.

I’m glad I’ll have a year of “being an author,” along with several writing conferences, having written a second novel and being under contract for more. I will speaking from at least some experience, so the impostor syndrome may be somewhat tempered.

The ability to speak on these panels and lead workshops is one of the hidden joys of being an author, and I treasure every opportunity.

Rick Treon’s newest novel, Let the Guilty Pay, is available for pre-order in Kindle format. Other pre-orders will be announced soon, and the novel will release wide on July 4, 2020. His award-winning debut novel, Deep Background, is available in paperback wherever books are sold online, in select Barnes & Noble stores in Texas, and at all Burrowing Owl Books locations. It is also available in paperback, audiobook, and ebook formats on Amazon.com.