Day starts at 9:00 with a poetry craft talk. At 10:15 we go to our workshops for the first time, groups of eight or so people critiquing each others work along with 1 or two faculty moderators. I go to the building I’m assigned to and discover the classroom is on the second floor but there is no elevator. A few minutes of confusion and then one of the staff finds our workshop another room that I can get into– a quick response that was greatly appreciated.
Workshop goes til noon then we have lunch on campus. A fiction craft talk afterward followed by a reading and book signing by two of the faculty. At 5:00 we break for dinner on our own. Lots of restaurants in walking distance but I opt to bake a pizza at the dorm.
Another reading and book signing by three of the faculty at 7:30. At 9:00 a bunch of people gather in the dorm lounge and we do student readings. I read third, having signed up thinking the crowd would be a lot smaller than it was. Nervous, voice squeaking like a pimply teen.
Now 10:00 PM and I still have work to do for tomorrow’s sessions. Pace has definitely picked up (thank goodness for shot breaks!).
PS – There was a class reunion (I think) on campus and so there were a lot of older folks hanging out. The DJ at their party played YMCA and some of the reunionees were dancing in the drizzle. A cool sight.
Whoever chose the music for that reunion dinner was off their nut! There was all of one guy dancing (he’d probably had a little too much to drink) with a volunteer staffer to MJ’s Thriller while the elderly alums looked on. It seems like Glen Miller would have been a more obvious choice.