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March 08, 2007
IN LOS ANGELES WITH ONE WEEK LEFT TO GO
If you want to read a detailed account of happenings at the AWP head over to the Emerging Writers Network blog.
I returned from Atlanta last Saturday, late in the night. The return flight was the sort one hopes to avoid - disembarking from the American Airlines flight in Dallas because of engine fuel problems. I got out of the queue waiting for technicians to fix the problem and waited for another flight later on that evening. As I hung out on the airport lounge, I read a wonderful story from the latest Agni - must-read is fiction by Michael Mejia - Report to Ito Sadohara, Head of Tuna, Uokai, Ltd., to the Ministry of Commerce, Regarding Recent Events in the Domestic Fishing Industry AND William Pierce wonderful article that follows.
Our panel, Online Fiction: Words Across The World, worked out quite well. It was great to see some familiar faces in the audience and to find the room fairly full. The writers who co-presented were people I'd collaborated with for so many years -- I met them for the first time the day before.
Before I left Los Angeles, Angela helped me read my story properly. I was surprised at the difference she made. I fell in love with my story all over again. Angela Garcia Coombs is directing the play, Missouri Waltz by Karen Black at the Blank Theatre in Los Angeles in May. Look out for it.
Also amazing for me at the AWP was the row upon row of wonderful magazines and their editors. I checked out magazines that had caught my attention in the past year and collected a few that I fed ex-ed back to LA. How am I getting them back home?
At the moment, I am staying in Los Angeles, in Hollywood, with Angela. I have even, with her help, started a screeplay. She is a great teacher! This is an unexpected turn of events. If you had told me last year that I would be writing a screenplay or that I would be staying in Hollywood...
Tomorrow, we drive up the coast road to San Franscisco at a leisurely pace. In Santa Cruz, we'll have a cup of coffee with Jevin who I met during my last trip, in New Orleans - I went there because I was a finalist in the William Faulkner Awards and got way more than I expected, meeting Pia Eardhart and being introduced to that wonderful city.
Friday afternoon, we'll have lunch with magazine editors, Angela and I met in Belize - what a wonderful trip that was. Then we'll be in the hands of Angela's brother. More later...
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