Attended the 2025 Killer Nashville Writers Conference in Franklin, TN, just outside of Nashville from August 22-25. My 5th time attending this mid-sized but very enlightening Con. Had the pleasure of sitting on the Law Enforcement in fiction panel (pictured with fellow panelists: (left to right) small-town Oregon cop, me, retired Memphis PD cop, and retired FBI agent. Also sat on the military and horror panels. Attended many others, most notably the agent/author relationship and memoir panels, two especially relevant subjects with my current writing project. 

If you’re interested in attending a writers conference and can spare the approx. $400 attendance fee, I recommend Killer Nashville (I’m not affiliated with it, just my personal opinion). You’d learn a lot, meet many authors, agents, and others in the book world, and get to visit a beautiful small city that is Franklin, pop. 90,000. I found the cost to be fair, as it includes two days of breakfast/lunch, as well as two days of cocktail mixers. Feel free to skip the $100-plus awards dinner unless that’s your thing (I probably won’t do it again). Held at the Embassy Suites hotel, con attendees do enjoy a relatively cheap hotel stay. If you ever visit Franklin for the con or anything else, check out downtown Franklin, The Factory, Arrington Vineyards, and The Hermitage (the Andrew Jackson estate) all nearby. And of course, downtown Nashville, only a 20-minute drive away.