Off to the Mountain!

I‘m off to the New England Young Writers’ Conference today, and I’m pretty excited about it! The last time I was at Breadloaf was three years ago, and the experience was just awesome, so I’m hoping this go around will surpass the last one. I have a student going this year, which is very cool. I’m looking forward to hearing what she has to say about her time in Vermont.

I’m working on a few things that I know will be of interest this weekend. My first is a story (well, really a part of a longer story) that is crucial to my collection, kind of a keystone piece. That’s going to be workshopped, so I’m pumped for the good feedback. The second is a short flash piece that will serve as a kind of prologue to the whole collection. This is going to be a challenge, but I hope that the clear Vermont air (although it’s supposed to be chilly and rainy all weekend) will help me focus on the work at hand.

My goals are simple: get some good feedback, work some on the pieces I’ve mentioned, read a bit (I’m trying to work through the weirdly ignored, underrated Corriegadora), pick up some good tips from the instructors at the conference, and hopefully get reacquainted with some old friends. As I said to my administrators at work, this is the best PD I could ever ask for, and I’m just thrilled to be heading up to the mountain again!

Oh, and I turn 50 on Saturday. Kind of a cool birthday present.