Reporting Live from the Front

Back from whirlwind Fred excursion with blistered heels. Tho to be fair, I didn't get the blisters until trying to navigate icy sidewalks last night on the walk home after the bus. There is a guy in this town who thinks he knows me. Everytime he sees me he lays on the horn and waves like he's trying to take off. Young guy, probably a student, dark hair cropped short, the kinda guy who wears his ballcap backwards, drives an older model cream coloured car, perhaps a caprice but my make/model knowledge has spiralled downward without the constant presence of an auto obsessed boyfriend so I could be dead wrong on that one. Anyway, I only mention him because his horn honking scared the bejesus out of me on the hill very nearly causing me to go splat on the ice in an unnatural splits. I'm sure I provided some comic relief to anyone looking my way at that moment. Maybe he doesn't think he knows me, maybe he just enjoys the fun of spooking me. There's that squirrely girl again, lets see if we can make her fall down.

So I bussed to Fredericton for Wednesday's day-long Writers' Union workshop and found myself as a radio guest on Tuesday night. A LOT of talking! And what is up with my cheeks?! They're absolutely bulbous. At least I don't have that whole googly-eyed thing going on (most aptly seen in video) or the wide-eyed deer-in-the-headlights thing. But anyway, it was kinda fun to be in a studio again, especially one using a board as old as the one I used to work on.

A big crowd showed up for the workshop, a mix of students and experienced/less experienced writers. I pity the most inexperienced participants because the amount of information was overwhelming. Lots I knew already but it's good to be reminded, some things I knew less about, some grey areas still. The hand-outs themselves were worth the price of admission for me though, particularly in the area of copyright as that's always a concern in my business. This will really help me to develop my own workshop on publishing that's coming up soon, as far as what REALLY needs to be said etc.

A little souvlaki break and it was back to the library for Joe's reading. It went really well, got to hear some new work, had a top-notch quality audience come out for it. Though all those hours in the same room was a little excessive, at least the lay-out changed a bit for the different events. Afterward we went for drinks with an artist/author and ended up closing the place. Great conversation and stories. Lots of fun. I liked Robin a lot. There's really no better way to spend an evening. Of course I paid a wee price yesterday for the excess of the night before, but hey, what's a little foggy head amongst friends? Child-proof? Child-birth? Same thing only different, right?

Overall, it was an excellent excursion and I'm feeling like it did the trick on the motivation and focus issue. I'm dead tired, blistered, arthritic from the storm that threatens yet never arrives, but clear-headed at the same time, if that makes any sense.

I was supposed to be visited by the tech types this morning, bringing my data back, but this fake storm has delayed the visit until Monday or Tuesday. Oh well.

Mood: sharp
Drinking: coffee
Listening To: The Freshman, Verve Pipe
Hair: a mess