Why I'm glad I went to AWP

What Would Judy Blume Do?

The Amtrak conductor who wished everyone a "Happy Groundhog's Day."

Woodley Park, one of my favorite DC neighborhoods.

VCCA's opening-night party at Open City.  A sweet welcome.

Free stuff at the bookfair. My treasure: a “What Would Judy Blume Do?” pencil from Nieto Press.

Jhumpa Lahiri’s keynote address, in which she read a short memoir of her writing life, a piece as graceful and moving as any of her stories. I sat on the front row, mesmerized.

Junot Diaz (“Great art is made in the elsewheres.”)

Holding in my hot little hands the new Painted Bride Quarterly with my story inside. Meeting the lovely & spirited editor, Kathy Volk Miller.

Discovering new presses.  Discovering old presses that are new to me.

The Gang of Four: previously unacquainted women writers from North Carolina. We commandeered the dance floor at the Marriott Friday night and didn't leave until the DJ fell asleep.

Panels, panels, panels: The Intimate Detail (Alice McDermott, Mary Kay Zuravleff, Carole Burns), Raymond Carver in the Workshops (Carol Sklenicka, Brett Lott, Douglas Unger, C.J. Hribal), Putting the Story in History (Ron Hansen, Philip Gerard, Debra Brenegan), Short Story to Novel (Alan Heathcock, Heidi Durrow, Eugenia Kim, Marie Mockett, Alexi Zentner, and Tea Obreht), and The Craft of Historical Fiction (Robin Oliveira, John Pipkin, Kelly O’Connor McNees, Anna Keesey). And these were just the ones I loved.

Old friends.

New friends.