I’d probably have an easier time convincing people I saw a bonafied UFO than get them to believe how much time I’ve spent on buses this weekend. Portland isn’t far from Seattle. Bolt Buses are cheaper than trains, and practically the same thing, right? 

I mostly caught up on sleep on the way down. That, and read Much Ado About Nothing. My friends think I’m nuts for treating Shakespeare as light reading, but what can I say? My increasingly large pile of young adult and contemporary fiction I should be reading and reviewing has become (dare I say it) WORK. Plus, I’m still a English Literature major at heart. Just because I got the degree doesn’t mean I’m going to stop reading it!

The conference was a fantastic success, and it was really interesting to be treated like a resident expert on fiction just because of my work with Miracle, the novella I sold in 2013, my experience with agents, and my career in general. I guess I actually have accomplished a bit in the past four years. Funny how it sometime takes a stranger’s awe to make you realize your own aptitude. It was encouraging-scary-fun to have one of my posts publicly critiqued by two of the editorial staff from Long Reads. Such friendly guys! Everyone at the conference was sweet, although I have to admit I’m surprised at how few people had business cards on them!

The whole weekend was exactly what I needed to break up my editing and give me a chance to unwind before I come back to my manuscript for a final read-through. After the conference, I even got to meet up with an old friend I haven’t seen in years and go glow-in-the-dark put-put-golfing with him at Glowing Greens, which was amazing. I didn’t even know that was a thing, but it sure was fun. We got sushi afterwards. I also was introduced to Summer War, which was the best anime movie I’ve seen in a while. I’m also now hooked on Full Metal Alchemist after the first three episodes.

All in all, it was an amusing (and informative) weekend. Of course, now I have to get back to work and try not to stress too hard about the finishing touches on this manuscript.