What I Learned at the Edgars....

What I learned at the Edgars....

1) It’s an honor just to be nominated. No, really.

2) Award shows can wrap up before 10 pm. (Especially if the host has an early-morning gig to get up for.)

3) Donald Westlake is, for a certain generation of mystery writers, what Brando is for young actors. We revere him. He’s our wellspring. One by one, we tracked him down through the evening to express our incoherent admiration. By the time I got there, he was pretty weary. “Mr. Westlake, I just wanted to tell you how much I loved The Ax….” The Ax? I could hear him thinking. The Ax?

4) It’s an honor just to be nominated.

5) And yet you are asked to prepare an acceptance speech just in case you win. And this forces you to imagine yourself winning. You see this quite clearly. When it doesn’t happen, it sucks.

6) Though it’s an honor just to be nominated.

7) Sandra Brown, from a distance, looks like Raquel Welch.

8) Stephen King I wanted to hug. He seemed very dear.

9) Several months ago, my friend Bella Stander told me if my book didn’t win the Edgar, there’s no God. So now we’ve settled that question.

10) It’s an honor just to be nominated.

11) I would have dedicated my award to my dad. And I would have put it on the shelf overlooking my desk – right where the Edgar Allan Poe action figure currently sits. (It doesn’t have much action to it, just a detachable raven.)

12) It would have been nice to win, but let’s look at the big picture. The Edgar is an award, that’s all. “Vanity of vanities,” says Ecclesiastes. “All is vanity.”

13) On the other hand … why suffer through five hours of tuxedo shoes if you don’t really want to win? (I think I honestly scared Donald Westlake.) Isn’t that what being an American is about? Winning? Isn’t that we’re taught to do from the moment we tie our own shoes??

14) Um, it’s an honor (say it!) just to be nominated.