It’s the day of my big debut. Or so it was to be. This weekend is/was the long-awaited New England Crime Bake, a wonderful writers’ conference I’ve enjoyed for several years–except last year, thanks to the COVID lockdowns. I was particularly excited to be returning to this event this year since my debut novel was released into the world in May.

Being with my fellow debut authors in that room, in front of all our peers, the established writers we’d long admired and whose ranks we’d worked so hard...