“Wow!” It may not sound very writerly, but it was the first word that popped out when I stepped to the mike at the 2025 Killer Nashville Awards Ceremony to give my heartfelt thanks for winning the Silver Falchion for Best Western.
The thrill ride continued when I exited stage left and Sara Paretsky (author of the V.I. Warshawski novels and many others) leapt from her seat to grab my arm and say thanks for calling attention to the pressures Indigenous people and US Fish and Wildlife Service workers are facing today. Moments later, she took to the stage and gave a passionate, provocative, and poetic keynote speech about the real threats to our First Amendment rights, including free speech.
To all my readers, a loud shout out for making last night possible.
