I had an amazing opportunity last week. A representative from the International Mystery Writers' Festival, a new festival in Owensboro, Ky. celebrating mystery writing in all forms (plays, screenplays, novels...), called me out of nowhere and asked me to come down and help high school drama students write a play. I almost turned down the offer, because I was already traveling to three conferences in seven days. Adding a fourth would be killer. But ... I'm a sucker for any chance to write a play, so, like you guessed, I accepted.

The students (highschoolers from all around the Midwest) and I only had one day to write a short five- to seven-minute original mystery play. I won't lie - it wasn't easy in the least; it took three hours just to decide on a premise. (Winning premise: a murder on a movie set. Don't lie - you're intrigued.) When we did finally lock down our premise, the kids really started to toss ideas around. I had to lasso them in every now and then, but they all did a great job. After seven hours of work, we had a complete story, but no line-by-line dialogue. I whipped up a first draft and turned it over to them for as much editing as they wanted.

The finished product will be performed by students at the end of the festival (which happens all this week, by the way) on Sunday, June 17. If you're around the area, or just love mystery writing, check out the festival!

Me and the kids map out a plot for our original mystery play. The play will be performed as part of the International Mystery Writers' Festival in Owensboro, Ky., on June 17. Check, check, check it out!