AWP was...

Wonderful!


But GOOD GOD, did I miss Mose and hubby.


I made a resolution to myself, last year when I found out I was pregnant (at the conference) that I'd be there this year, in Austin, drinking and hooting and having fun, and so I did. Because I want to be a mom who takes care of herself, and all that noise...


But I cried when I came home, crawled into bed, and cuddled my boy. I think in future, I'll "take care of myself" for individula evenings, and take Mose with me on anything longer than an overnight.


Things change you. Sometimes, you change. It's okay to change. This is a truth.


But that aside, the conference was great, and it was good to be in Austin, a city I love...


Special thanks to:


Reb, for walking me back to the Hilton when I really really needed to go... she "got it" and I can't thank her enough.


My apologies to:


Reb (again), for missing her pajama party. I had a 4 am wake-up call. I'm disappointed, particularly to have missed the spanking machine.


A few highlights:


Joe Massey moaning, and the garden party in general. Running into Bradley Paul. Zach Schomburg's reading, specifically his whale poem. The impromptu spin-the-bottle game that I left, just as it was getting started. Laura (Tony Robinson is a lucky guy)! Getting to chat with Marion Wrenn. Meeting Josh Edwards, Rob Arnold, Ander, Emma, and Megan (who are really really great people). Running around with Jordan. Rooming with Ali. And of course, just seeing all the best people I know... Jason, Danielle and Lara, Shanna, Richard, Dave, Charlie, Eduardo, Sandra and Ben, Chelsey, Dumanis. And so many more of you.


One of the best things about AWP is that it's a yearly chance to re-meet some folks I've known in other chapters of my life. I had a really fun time catching up, for instance, with Dumanis... someone I found disconcerting in Iowa, where most things were disconcerting for me. Now that I'm a little older, a little more secure (and both of us now with our drivers licenses) I feel like he's a whole new person.


Not that he's changed. Rather that I have.


AWP always feels like a reunion, a place for do-overs on so many interactions from my past. From high school, college, grad school, Breadloaf, etc. etc.


A pleasure.


Some interesting conversations were had at the Verb table, about audio. I have to mull. And these pictures (above) were taken on the roof of the Speakeasy... where Ali, Emma, Megan and I... had cocktails and big Texas skies after lunch.