Meeting Robert Crais

I’ve had this blog entry written for oh…well…over a month now, but I’m just getting around to posting it. Sheesh.

That’s because I’m focused on finishing my dark paranormal before the end of the year. Yay! (I’m sooo in love with these characters and this story.) But I do tend to tune everything else out when I get rolling on a story--except family and friends...and deadlines (those have come up, too).

However, even though I don’t post regularly when I’m in story writing mode, I do read your blogs every single day, as they jumpstart my morning. So, thank you!

Anyway, back to this post.

That’s Robert Crais in the picture…(Oh, and I’m standing next to him, but who cares, right? LOL) ;-)

I had the opportunity to hear him speak at OCC’s October 13th meeting, and he was absolutely charming. He certainly went out of his way to make others around him comfortable. And the cool thing was how he began his speech with how he’d struggled with numerous rejections for his first Elvis Cole novel, The Monkey’s Raincoat, but he didn’t allow himself to give up. Very inspirational.

He also spoke about how his family refused to support his choice to become a writer, at least not until he became a successful one (after he sold his first teleplay). And he offered up point-by-point how he worked damn hard to become the name he is today. Yeah, gotta say this endeared him to pretty much everyone in the room.

He’d written teleplays for “Hill Street Blues,” “Cagney and Lacey,” and “Miami Vice” as well. (And he mentioned the first show he’d worked on, but now I can’t remember the name…I want to say “Baretta,” but someone please correct me if I’m wrong.)

Anyway, I was first introduced to the name Robert Crais when his novel L.A. Requiem was required reading in a novel writing course in college, and that, of course, also became my introduction to the Private Investigator character, Elvis Cole. The setting, the suspense, the well-developed characters, the mystery, the voice…his books have it all. There’s a good reason Crais has jumped from struggling fiction writer to New York Times bestseller.

I thoroughly enjoyed having the opportunity to meet him, and it’s always a pleasure to put a warm and friendly personality with well-known name.

Have any of you read his books? Or have you had the opportunity to meet Crais?


Take Care,

Michele