Arrived Denver too early for check in, but too late for noon panel Thursday.

Checked our bags with the bellhop and went to INK for coffee. It tasted really good as we sat on 16th Ave pedestrian mall in the cool air.

1:30 Following the Paths to Publication with Seth Harwood, Shawna Yang Ryan,

Dan Wickett. They discussed their varied paths and the publishing biz as they experienced it. Not a bad panel, but Seth should have let Shawna answer more questions. It is pretty amazing how many different ways there are to break the rules and win. Truth is, I guess the rules have all changed since postage stamps went out of style.

3:00 Smart Girls II: The Ambition Game with Patricia Foster, Sue William SIlverman, Karen McElmurray, Xu Xi, and Honor Moore (in place of Dorothy Allison, who didn’t make it to the conference, my first, of too many, disappointments like this.) Excellent panel, despite Dorothy’s absence; the women read essays on ambition, tenacity, writing risks, including the possibility that you might get divorced and be happier.

4:30 Make Money as a Writer in an economic downturn. A Duh moment. A Waste of time. Already doing everything they were patting their own backs about doing.

After a quick clean up, we headed out to the Dikeou Collection, a very awesome art gallery/collection on the fifth floor of a California Street building. The event was hosted by Lance Olsen, (who is a fine writer of social critique) and we were led their on a tip from Gordon Warnock, who is a mutual friend of mine and Lance. Unfortunately, we went to see Debra DeBlasi and also thought we might see Brian Evenson, but neither of them showed up. The reading (FC2) started out strong, with a piece by Susan Steinberg that made me an instant fan. I bought the anthology she read her piece from at the book fair the next day.

Sadly, the reading included an affected woman who read her book jacket cover, including the isbn numbers, etc. which I found to be very insulting, and a man who Bridget and I kept getting stuck with, an absolute BORE of a professor who drones on and on. In fact, in my journal during his reading I wrote a brief notation of what my comments might have been had he submitted he piece to Narrative:

4. While the writer of this story about growing up in Massachusettts has a vivid sense of Place, his overuse of prepositional phrases and reliance on adverbs and adjectives reveal a sloppiness with language. In addition, the purpose of the story, the conflict, and the arc are unclear. Reject Type A. (send no more please).

Having started early, we ended early. And Bridget is a bed hog.

More,  perhaps, to come…