Cordelia Kingsbridge's Blog

I’m tiptoeing out of the shadows to cautiously dip my toe back into the pool of regular social interaction! I just posted about this over on Patreon - I don’t have the spoons to repost it here, but the post is public, so you can read it even if you aren’t a patron. Wishing health, safety, and happiness to all!

Continued from Part 1

This was Coastal Magic’s first year doing a murder mystery party, and it was one of the parts of the weekend I’d been looking forward to most. I’ve done these in the past with my mom’s family during our summer family vacations, and they’re a huge amount of fun if everyone playing is willing to commit.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, for a murder mystery party, the guests take on the roles of the story’s characters. You receive instructions in advance of the party with information on your character’s personality, behavior, and wardrobe, as well as details about your relationships with some of the other characters and a few secrets you might know.

When the murder mystery takes place at a party where the guests far outnumber the named characters (like at a convention!), the majority of the guests take on the shared role of “Investigator”. In this case, they don’t receive any information in advance of the party, but they’re given a booklet when they arrive that details some juicy tidbits they know and curious things they’ve observed in relation to the named characters.

During the first part of the party, the characters circulate through the room, interacting with each other and the Investigators in-character and dropping various hints/clues as they’ve been instructed. Then at some point, there’s a - gasp - murder!!!

One of the characters is declared to have been murdered. The players themselves have no idea who is going to be killed, or which one of them is the killer - they don’t find out until they open the sealed section in the back of their character booklets in the middle of the party. Then the party shifts into crime-solving mode: the guests find clues that have been hidden around the room, investigate the crime scene, and talk to the characters some more before the characters are publicly interrogated.

At the end of the party, the guests vote for which of the characters they believe is the killer. For the one we did at Coastal Magic, we also voted for the best actor and best costume. The ballots are tallied, the results are announced, and the killer is given the opportunity to explain themselves.

The Jazz Age Murder Mystery was an absolute blast! I played one of the characters myself - Win, stuffy accountant to gangsters and criminals. For my costume, I went with a “nerdy gangster” vibe: black pencil skirt, white button-down, suspenders, old-school black stockings, and of course a jauntily angled fedora.

All of the players committed to their roles 110%, which is honestly what makes or breaks this kind of party. I was also amazed by how genuinely hilarious many of the players were. Some of them had like professional-level improv skills and comedic timing. Special props have to go to Elicia Hyder (who deservedly won “best actor” - she had my vote!), J.D. Monroe, Meghan Maslow (attorney… at law), and Avery Flynn. There were times when I was falling-down, tears-in-my-eyes cracking up!

As for the mystery itself, I was vindicated in having figured out who the murderer was as soon as the victim’s identity was announced. However, it turned out that I had ascribed a much more complex and sinister motive to the killer than the game had, LOL. (I thought the murder was a premeditated conspiracy with another character, whereas the game had it as an unintentional crime of passion, albeit rooted in the same reasons that I thought it was premeditated.) I guess that’s not surprising, given my own personal taste in murder mysteries!

The party also gave me the chance to connect with fabulous author Sarah Nicolas, a person after my own heart, who ended up being the killer. In a weird stroke of coincidence, Sarah had been drinking a gin and tonic during the party - and the murder weapon turned out to be a gin bottle!

All told, I think the murder mystery party was a roaring success, and I hope it becomes a new tradition that continues at future conventions.

Saturday was the busiest day of the convention, starting with my romantic suspense panel in the morning. There were five authors on this panel, and even though we all write romantic suspense, it was interesting to see how we all write it in very different ways. It just goes to show how much story variety there can be even within a single genre!

I had a break between the end of that panel and the start of my next commitment, and for the first time, I didn’t feel the need to return to my room to decompress and recharge my introverted self. Instead, I went to the “Improv Flash Fiction” panel, which is something Coastal Magic does every year. 

For this panel, a large group of authors (I think there were 8 or 9) sit in the usual line facing the audience. The moderator asks the audience for a handful of story prompts, such as the type of protagonist, genre, setting, and main conflict. The authors then use those prompts to craft a story on the spot. Starting with the first person in line, each subsequent author builds on the contributions of the authors before them by adding anywhere from a handful of sentences to the oral equivalent of several paragraphs, introducing their own twists to the tale. As you can imagine, the story gets progressively zanier as it makes its way down the line.

This panel ranked right up there under the murder mystery party as one of the most hilarious parts of the con! And from what I’ve been told, it’s like that every year. The funniest parts, IMO, were the reactions of authors farther down the line when the author before them did something totally unexpected and wacky, then left them to deal with the fallout.

Plus, the panel was impressive as hell: all of the stories (there was enough time for 3) ended up being coherent narratives with interesting twists and turns as well as satisfying resolutions by the end.

I am in awe of people who are able to think quickly on their feet and improvise successfully - in part because it’s in such diametric opposition to my own skill set, haha. I could never, ever participate in something like this; my brain would be in a panicked scramble the whole time. But as an audience member, I love improv. Almost every podcast I subscribe to is some form of improvised comedy, and I got the same kind of kick out of the flash fiction panel.

TBC tomorrow - Lunch with an Author, and my first-ever book signing!

I’ve received a few asks about how the Coastal Magic Convention went (it was February 20-23 in Daytona Beach). In a word: AWESOME! But for those interested in a more coherent account, I thought I’d write up a full report on my experience. 

It turns out that I have a lot more to say than I’d realized, so I’m going to break this up into a few daily chunks, or it’ll never get finished! Here’s what I’ve got for today:

As many of you know, I’m extremely introverted, and I also tend to have a lot of social anxiety, especially in unfamiliar situations. (Shocking qualities in an author, I know. LOL!) My social skills have vastly improved since childhood, and at this point in my life, I can usually “fake it ‘til I make it” in social situations without problems. But this was also my first convention ever, so I was very, very nervous going in.

Fortunately, during a Skype chat back in October, I’d had the opportunity to meet Jennifer and Dolorianne (the con’s organizers), as well as four readers planning to attend the con. One of those readers - the indescribably wonderful Tina - ended up being the first person I ran into when I stopped by the registration desk on Thursday. She immediately welcomed me with open arms and made me feel so much more at ease. I can’t thank her enough!

That night was a Roaring 20’s-themed welcome mingle. Now, one of the best things about Coastal Magic is that so many of the authors and readers enjoy it so much that they come back year after year. But when you’re the proverbial new kid in school, walking into a huge room full of people who all seem to know each other when you know almost nobody is a straight-up nightmare.

I was kind of hovering awkwardly on the side of the room, pretending I wasn’t totally uncomfortable (you know the move), when I met author Cynthia D’Alba. I don’t know if she realized how uncomfortable I felt or if she was just being naturally friendly, but she invited me to sit at her table and chat. As someone who vastly prefers to listen rather than talk myself, I always appreciate the company of a talkative person, and Cynthia is definitely that! She’s also an experienced convention-goer, so she shared some words of wisdom with me. But what I’m most grateful for is that she rescued me from having to wander the room like the new kid searching for a place to sit in the cafeteria.

The most fun part of the night was when Jennifer brought in a pair of professional dancers from a local dance school. They performed a 20’s-era dance, then invited people up to learn some moves themselves. IMO, doing something active is the best kind of icebreaker - and I also just love to dance, so I jumped right in.

It was super fun - lots of silliness and giggling! There was some shuffling of partners over time, as some people got tired, and I ended up dancing with a woman named Stephanie. It wasn’t until after the dancing exhibition was over that I realized this was the same Stephanie who’d pre-ordered all 6 of my books to pick up at the con’s signing! We hit it off, I chatted with her and her friend Amanda for the rest of the mingle, and we ended up hanging out quite a bit over the course of the weekend.

Panels started on Friday morning. My first one was about the roles of female characters in books with two male leads. This panel topic was actually inspired by that Skype chat in October - it came up during my conversation with the readers, and Jennifer and Dolorianne and I discussed it further afterward. You all know this is a topic near and dear to my heart, and I had a lot to say on the subject. LOL!

We had a great moderator, and my fellow panelists were awesome. They included author Bru Baker, with whom I discovered I had in much in common (including our authorial roots in the Harry Potter fandom). I was pleasantly surprised by how much fun all of the panels were throughout the weekend: a lot of humor and plenty of laugh-out-loud moments mixed in with some great insights. And the readers - again, during all of the con’s panels - were so engaged and asked awesome questions.

After the panel, several people made a point of coming up to tell me that they would never have known it was my first convention if I hadn’t said so. That meant a lot to me, because I was still SO FRICKING NERVOUS. The last time I was this nervous was when I officiated my sister’s wedding! This panel was also when I got to meet my reader Sue, who is an absolutely lovely person and had the kindest things to say. <3

Lunch was an authors-only pizza party, and after that, I got a sweet tooth craving. I headed down to the hotel’s coffee shop - and who should I run into outside, but a table full of all the people I knew best at the convention? I grabbed a Danish from the shop and joined them. Let me just say, it’s incredible (and unprecedented!) how quickly I felt comfortable and welcomed within this group of women. During this conversation, Dolorianne also gave me some great advice on how to decide on which writing project to focus on next.

My afternoon panel was, ironically, called “The Killing Game”. (Pure coincidence!) As you might guess, it was about all of the fun ways to kill off characters. I finally got to meet Jay from the Joyfully Jay blog in person, as she was the moderator, and afterward I met Jeff from the Big Gay Fiction Podcast as well. This may have been my favorite panel of the entire weekend, for the pure mischief of it all!

I had a nice long break for the rest of my afternoon/early evening. Now, one thing you probably don’t know about me is how much I love makeup. Playing and experimenting with makeup is one of my favorite things, and I own so much makeup paraphernalia that I have to pack my actual products in two different travel bags, and then all of my makeup brushes in their own separate third bag.

So you can imagine my reaction when I opened my suitcase upon arriving at the hotel on Thursday and discovered that I had forgotten my bag of makeup brushes at home. *headdesk*

Luckily, I’d brought several differently-sized makeup sponges with me in a different bag (I’m not exaggerating about how much I love makeup), which served in a pinch. But sponges aren’t ideal for eye makeup in particular, so I decided to use my long Friday afternoon break to walk the half-mile to the Walgreens down the street from the hotel and pick up some cheap brushes to tide me over.

No big deal, because I much prefer walking to driving - I constantly miss the days of living in Pittsburgh, when I could easily walk to the corner store, the supermarket, even work. Half a mile is just about the perfect distance for a short walk if you happen to be healthy and able-bodied, and it was also nice and cool outside, since February is one of Florida’s few bearable months.

What I wasn’t expecting was the 25-30 mph winds!

I’m not kidding. The Hilton in Daytona is right on the beach, so walking down the sidewalk outside the hotel meant there was only one layer of buildings between me and these enormous gusts of wind coming straight off the Atlantic Ocean. They were so intense that at times I had to stop walking, plant my feet, and brace myself against getting blown off the sidewalk into oncoming traffic! It was insane, although it did lend a sense of adventure to an otherwise mundane walk.

Anyway, I made it to Walgreens alive and bought a bunch of Wet & Wild makeup brushes for like $1.50 each (they’re barely any different from much more expensive brushes, tbh). Then it was back to the hotel for some downtime while getting ready for… the Jazz Age Murder Mystery Party!

TBC tomorrow!

First off, I want to apologize for the unexpected length of my hiatus. What I originally intended to be a 4-6 week absence has stretched into about 6 months, and I know that many people have been concerned about this extended radio silence. 

The longer I stayed away, the more difficult it became to return. Once you build up that much inertia, it’s really hard to overcome; it’s like I’ve been hovering at the edge of a pool for months, trying to work up the nerve to jump in.

As you may remember, the motivation for my hiatus was to focus on improving my mental health. Unfortunately, that didn’t work as well as I’d hoped, but on the flip side, I also don’t feel any worse. I seem to have stabilized at a persistent low-grade depression - which of course isn’t ideal, but continuing my hiatus clearly isn’t the way to go about solving it.

I want to express my deep gratitude to all of those who have sent messages of support over the past months. I’ve only been checking my email and such very sporadically, but it always gave me a little lift to see those kind thoughts waiting for me. Thank you all very much!

One of the biggest reasons I was able to break out of my self-imposed inertia is the upcoming Coastal Magic Convention in Daytona Beach! This will be my first-ever convention, and I’m super excited about it. If your schedule is free from February 20-23, come join us - February is one of the few months of the year when Florida is a true delight instead of a swampy hellscape.

More on the convention coming soon! In the meantime, I’m happy to answer any questions or comments you may have.

I’ve been
considering this for a long time, and after a lot of careful thought and
discussion, I’ve decided to go on hiatus for the next 6-8 weeks.

As many of
you know, I’ve been wrestling with particularly severe depression for more than
a year now. Despite medical treatment and my best efforts, my mental health has
continued to deteriorate, and has reached a point where it sometimes feels
life-threatening.

I’m going to
spend the next couple of months focusing solely on my physical and emotional
health – hitting the “reset” button, as it were. During that time, I won’t be active
on any form of social media, and I won’t be checking my email or responding to
messages. (I also won’t be updating my Patreon, with sincerest apologies to my
patrons.) My goal is to return in August in a healthier state of mind.

I know this
seems like a drastic step to take, but that’s a measure of how untenable the
situation has become for me. I absolutely cannot keep going the way I have been
– something needs to change, and I’m going to use this hiatus to implement
those changes.

Thank you in
advance for your understanding during this difficult time.

LMAO!!!! Thank you very much.

Aaahhhhhh!!!!!! I need to gooo and meet you!!!!!!!!!!! I just need to figure out how to get there ��

I hope you can make it! Late February is one of the best times to be in Florida - the weather will be similar to a balmy mid-spring in a temperate climate. It’s part of the very limited window of the year when I actually enjoy living here, LOL.

Guess where I’m going to be next February? My first-ever book convention! Join me in my home state for a casual beachside weekend celebrating the magic of stories and storytellers. It looks like it’s going to be a ton of fun!

That’s a really interesting question! I’ve never been in this situation myself IRL, so I would actually suggest that the best course of action might be to do some research on BDSM + disability to read some first-hand accounts. 

BDSM is all about creativity, so the characters would just need to think outside the box a little - finding modified positions that don’t cause pain would be a big one. It might also help for them to shift more emphasis onto psychological forms of control rather than control via physical restraint. I think it would be super-interesting to read about characters learning to explore the more cerebral aspects of BDSM after experiencing new physical limitations.

Again, primary sources are going to be your friend here! There are sure to be plenty of people who deal with similar situations on a regular basis and have shared their experiences online.

That’s a really interesting question! I’ve never been in this situation myself IRL, so I would actually suggest that the best course of action might be to do some research on BDSM + disability to read some first-hand accounts. 

BDSM is all about creativity, so the characters would just need to think outside the box a little - finding modified positions that don’t cause pain would be a big one. It might also help for them to shift more emphasis onto psychological forms of control rather than control via physical restraint. I think it would be super-interesting to read about characters learning to explore the more cerebral aspects of BDSM after experiencing new physical limitations.

Again, primary sources are going to be your friend here! There are sure to be plenty of people who deal with similar situations on a regular basis and have shared their experiences online.