Back Home...for a While

So, is it just me, or does the basement drain back up with sewage only on the night before dayshift/fun things out of town (say, Writers Conferences)?

Oy giminee cricket for the love of goodness vey!?!!

But that's fixed. Still cleaning...but it's fixed.

So, the Conference, right? Waaaaay too much to talk about, as usual, but I'll hit on some highlights:

- the lovely and talented Renee Nicholson and Natalie Sypolt, back again with writaliciousness. Scored three workshops.

- always love a workshop with El Presidente Eric Fritzius. Podcasting this time...

- discussion panel called "The Appalachian Inquisition" with Irene McKinney, Denise Giardina, Daniel Boyd, Norman Jordan, Gretchen Moran Laskas (love her!), and Tim Noland. Does an authentic Appalachian voice exist? Is Appalachia a myth? Hmmm...

- pitch session with an honest-to-goodness, award-winning agent...! Hyperventilated. I'll let you know.

- got to catch up with the incredible Granny Sue Holstein

- laughed at the banquet with my table of friends until we nearly shot tea from our nostrils.


Sigh. And now, it's over for another year. I dearly love the WVW Conference...

~~.G.R.I.M.M.~~

So, I move in cycles. Right now, I'm in a Grimm's Fairy Tales whirl. Probably has a little to do with the fire in the woods, and the images that came with it...

I'm reading the Tales to my high schoolers, and they've been aghast:

"Are you serious?"
"What?!"
"Did they not think it was strange that there was a cake house that didn't have birds all over it?!"
"How did Rapunzel eat?"
"No way, that guy couldn't shoot a fly's eye at two miles!"
"Eeeew, what kind of mother tells her daughter to cut off her toe for a man??"
"What kind of witch puts a spell on him that he's a frog until someone tries to kill him?"
"Don't these people have ladders?"

I have, too. I don't think I've ever read "King Thrushbeard" before. I love that story. It reminds me of our Prince. You should read it.