This is a personal eblast. I’m a husband, father, employer, and—with a smile—a conference godfather of sorts to around three hundred writers coming to Killer Nashville, many of you I have known since the early 1990s. Those closest to me (and now all of you) know that among my many quirks, I’m a germaphobe. A serious one.
I have been traveling by both car and plane. I (and my family and staff) are vaccinated. I still wear my mask when I go into places. On the plane, masks for everyone have been required on the flights that I have taken (they even have an announcement that if you refuse to wear your mask you could go to jail). I have speaking engagements booked through the end of October with plans to continue booking. Unless I’m told otherwise by government regulations, I will be speaking at all the events I’ve committed to. Yet, because of my own paranoia, I view every venture out of my house as a trip into an unknown. It’s overkill. It’s probably unnecessary. I probably need medication for it. But it is relevant for you to know this because this is how I’ve worked with the hotel to ensure your safety while at Killer Nashville.
Activities in this area are proceeding as normal. Restaurants, churches, schools, retail shops, Nashville entertainment venues, etc. are all operating as normal, as are we, except we will be taking extra precautions. Hugs have changed to fist bumps. We are encouraging vaccinations and masks. We expect people to keep distances from each other and respect the concerns of other attendees. Even though we are all vaccinated (as are most of our attendees), I and all the staff will be wearing masks (except when on the stage) and will be encouraging everyone to do the same. The room structures are changing considerably from previous years to accommodate distances between individuals (theater seating is now gone) and large placed tables will separate everyone. Masks are encouraged in all common areas. All meals will be individually served with diners spaced out. My request to the hotel, which they have complied, is for us to conduct ourselves as though we were at one year ago when things were at their most stringent. The hotel is accommodating all my concerns and has been wonderful to work with. The hotel has been holding conferences for the past year-plus and have fine-tuned all safety precautions. Their bookings for events is full and without other cancellations. Add the hidden firearms carried by our law enforcement and Special Agents on site (smile) and I think it solid to say that I don’t know of a safer public place to be. Our only casualty should be the poor guy in the Killer Nashville Crime Scene, but we all know he had it coming.
I write all of this to say, simply, we have our full attention focused on your safety. Some of you are concerned. Some of you are not. But I wanted to let all of you know that we—the Killer Nashville Team of staff and volunteers and hotel planners—are going overboard to make sure you have a safe, educational, and emotionally fulfilling weekend.
