Meacham!!!
Just back from Chattanooga, my old home-fire, my alma mater. I was there for the Meacham Writers' Conference. It was a very very very good time.
It is a wonderful thing that you CAN return to where you've been, different and better and happier, and see the things you used to fear, the people... you CAN visit the places that used to make you nervous. And sometimes you find that your happier self is not fearful at all.
Major peace was made, and a new friend in particular. Lydia Melvin is a rockstar. When we were in workshop together I thought she hated me, and I was a little afraid of her. Yesterday, plunked down on a hotel bed together, we stretched our arms accross years and years and became friends. There is nothing better than turning a little dark spot into a flash of light.
Paul Guest was (as always) a pleasure and a comfort and a hoot, and his amazing friends Sheri and Betsy were equally fun. Reading with Paul was especially wonderful. Like getting to be a grownup and not a grownup, in the best ways of each.
Good time was spent with Ralph Angel, Mike Magnussin, Earl Braggs... and A.D. (Adam) drove in to hear me and Paul and Rebecca read, and Adam and I dreamed of taking over the world. Made me want to move to Nashville. Rebecca Cook is a fabulous fabulous lady, and she is RIGHT to feel the things she feels.
Go get it, Rebecca. You own it already and don't even know! (I thought you were full faculty)
Mose was just about perfect. Nary a whimper. Nary a whine. It was fun to sleep with him in my big king-sized bed.
As it always does, Chattanooga socked me in the gut. The trees on the ridge were greening, and the pink of cherries was unfolding, and the river was so bright and the sun was on it and OH! I was lucky to live there then... and I am lucky now that I get to go back and visit with frequency.
Ken Smith, the king of Chattanooga fiction is retiring. This is sad, and was a shock. I didn't know. Long live the king.
A pleasure to see Laura and Roz and so many others I hadn't seen for so long. To see them all happy.
But the best thing of all is getting to be this older version of me, and to spend time with Rick Jackson, who knew well the younger version of me, the nervous and confused girl. Getting to see Rick tickle Mose, getting to chat with him, hear him read...
But more than that, getting to see how big and booming his program is-- how year after year there are more of them-- his brilliant undergraduates. And getting to see him happy with his lovely wife, Terry.
Sometimes... things get affirmed.
5 Comments:
Great that you were able to get to one of these Writers' Conferences...I hope to someday, but as full-time freelancer, rent comes first, second and third.
Read about you in AJL, and thought I'd drop by and say hi, and wish you luck with the book...
Chattanooga was privileged to have you, I can assure you . . . we await your next visit with anticipation :-) And I am now one of your many loyal fans: meeting you left me overwhelmed by your gracious help, amazed at the wealth of your instruction in such a brief time, and stunned by the unexpected gift of the encounter for me, personally. And now, thanks to your blog, I am also a fan of your great literary talent. So again, thank you!
I'm so glad you were here Laurel and I hope you do get to come teach with us. That would rock. Apply, apply, apply. We have one of the lecturers (on one-year contracts, as am I--it's fulltime, but still "temporary") who is leaving and I don't know if we've replaced her yet. So APPLY. Call tomorrow. Find out.
(I'm still so jealous of your brilliant book idea. i bought a copy and will read soon...)
was so great to meet you and mo. let me know when the world domination gears start turning toward nashville.
Never write on these (or read them, oddly). Felt much closeness & love, though, in Chatt, spending time with you & Mose (captivated by him, still). Need your _Daphne & Jim_. When will you get copies????
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