Earlier this month I attended ThrillerFest for the third year in a row. For those unfamiliar with the event, it’s hosted by International Thriller Writers, the premier organization for thriller writers, and it features an endless selection of panels, workshops and interviews for fans and writers to enjoy.My favorite part of the ThrillerFest is CraftFest, which is two days dedicated to the craft of writing. The reason why I love these two days so much is because you get to learn about a variety of topics – everything from point-of-view to how to kill off a character – from incredibly talented authors. I was like a sponge, soaking up as much great advice as possible. By the end of these two days I was inspired to write more and read more. The second half of ThrillerFest X consisted of panels about myriad topics and spotlight interviews with distinguished guests, including Nelson DeMille. And both CrafFest and ThrillerFest are replete with coffee, cocktail parties and cupcakes. Yes, cupcakes. This year, for some glorious reason, they decided to have hundreds of cupcakes available for CraftFest attendees at 8 a.m. alongside coffee. I couldn’t decide between red velvet and chocolate, so I took both. Below are additional photos from my wonderful week at ThrillerFest, as well as a video clip of Charlaine Harris being interviewed by Karin Slaughter. In the coming weeks and months I’m going to share tips I learned during CraftFest from several fabulous authors. Enjoy!