I attended the Writer’s Police Academy in Greensboro, N.C. this past week thanks to the suggestion of a friend and author.

It was a fabulous experience and I’d highly recommend it to any author or film-maker of any genre, non-fiction included. The academy makes pain-staking efforts to provide as much realistic information as possible to writers. Why? To make sure that Law Enforcement is depicted properly in the media. I will share further detail on some of the sessions that were particularly interesting in a later post.

For me, personally, it was not only a lesson in finding my errors in pre-published work, but an opportunity to see how much more potential there is for a great (not just good) story. I glaringly recognized my flaws and know future writing will be improved as a result of attending.

The instructors were fabulous, with a surplus of intense stories that put me leaning forward on my seat, shoulders tensed, waiting for the next revelation. I wasn’t able to attend all the sessions as there were too many in such a short time. However, I found the Interviewing and Interrogation, Blood Testing/Analysis, Criminal Profiling, and Gun Fighting sessions interesting. My husband was pleased that I attended the handcuffing session and volunteered to be a candidate for future learning….such a man.

Let me reign in my wandering words – this post is about the R word. Yes, romance. There were a lot of authors at the conference who wrote works similar to mine and many that didn’t. I suppose there’s a tendency to take the work less seriously once that R word is mentioned.

I asked everyone I spoke with to tell me about their books or current writing. Have you ever played the guess what that person writes game? I think we all secretly make assumptions when meeting at a writer’s conference. Which is why I ask. Invariably the quiet, shy person that I thought wrote cozies is actually writing a paranormal, horror, or a true crime drama. And the people that I think might share a glass of wine and a story discussion are non-drinkers and totally disinterested in unimportant little me because they’re on the NYT Bestseller’s list and just want peace and quiet. Never make assumptions. These are seriously creative people with seriously creative stories. Plus I love to meet people and learn about them so hearing what they have in the works is fun.

My goal in attending the conference was to ensure that future writing would more accurately depict the heros, heroines, and bad guys(yes I can say protagonists and antagonist but I’m just a simple country gal so I’ll leave the picky word-smithing to those that really give a shit (sorry for the language)). Besides even the experts at the conference called them the good guys and bad guys. If they can say it, that’s good enough for me.

Each instructor had real-life stories to tell about people they had dealt with in the line-of-duty. It gave me a renewed respect for the profession. It also made me understand why the few law enforcement officers that I know personally are so stand-offish. Two things ran as strong as a fireman’s arm muscle through each of these individuals; A sense of duty that was always turned on, and a desire to have a personal life that fulfilled them. Why do I know the latter? Because they were all married and for the most part, had made changes in their work life to accommodate their personal life. I assume that the best age for the special agent, street cop, or undercover person is between 18 and 28. After that he or she wants more in the personal realm.

Incoming. Bam. There it is. No matter how frivolous anyone may think romance. The truth is…we all crave it. Even that gruff, hard to get along with, serious-as-hell asshole that pulled you over and gave you a ticket. Either he wanted to go home to the person that cares most about him and had one too many life threatening hours, or he hasn’t found that person yet and is lonely as hell when he’s not on-duty. Even he craves it. And deserves it. The only difference becomes what that equates to for each of us. His picture may be a little less “sweet” than mine. So, trivial or not, I still intend to write that relationship/happy ending stuff –but hopefully, I’ll get a little grittier and more intense and accurate. Who knows, maybe someday, I’ll do justice to the effort these law enforcement officers put into this conference.

To all you good gals and guys out there, I wish you:

• Great strength when others need you,
• The knowledge and training to carry out your duty at all times,
• Great calm under pressure,
• Excessive humanity in the face of those who lack it,
• Someone always at your back when you need them,
• And a long life full of the love, passion, and reward that you deserve.

I will be more specific on some of the conference content in future posts but to get the best from it, you really need to attend next year.