This is how The Crumb (BL's daily newsletter) put it:
"No workshops meet today. Rest and recover. There's more ahead, including: 10 more readings, five more lectures, three fiction workshops, two poetry/nonfiction workshops, six special talks, four sessions of craft classes, a program on William Meredith, a book signing, gala reception, a slideshow, and, believe it or not, another dance."
The first night, Michael Collier told a story about how, near the end of the conference one year, he fell asleep on a table in the back of the Little Theatre where the readings are held, intending just to nap a little. Someone woke him, hours later, long after the reading was over. We laughed thinking that would never happen to us. In a way, it's true; instead, we're falling asleep during the readings themselves.
Here's a typical day:
7:30 am - breakfast
9:00 am - lecture
10:10 - 12:10 - workshop alternating days
11:20 - 1:20 pm - outing for those not in workshop (Robert Frost cabin/trail, Texas Falls, Middlebury, etc.)
12:00 pm - lunch
1:30 pm - special talk - usually by agent, editor, or publisher (big houses and small presses and lit mags)
2:30 pm - craft classes (6-7 choices per day, more fiction, maybe 1-2 poetry or nonfiction choices)
4:15 pm - reading (fellows, tuition scholars, guests)
5:00 pm - another special talk or book signing or movie
6:30 pm - dinner
8:15 pm - faculty and fellow readings
9:30 pm - another reading - waiters, staff, or tuition scholars
10:30 pm - bonfire and two dances (staggered throughout)
Aren't you exhausted?
Two little tips if you come here - there's a place called 'telephone rock' out in the field across from the Inn where, if you stand on this large, gray rock, you can get decent cell phone reception. Also - the barn at the back of the campus has great treats between classes - cookies, bagels, and for the last two days, leftover blackberry pie from the Robert Frost picnic/talk (which was amazing).
Dara, one of my workshop-mates, and also a fellow guest at the Chipman Inn, where I'm staying, saw a moose last night on the way 'home.' He was crossing the street 1/2 mile from the Inn and she had to slam on her brakes so as not to hit him. I am so jealous. I have been absolutely dying to see a moose. We are now calling her the Moose Whisperer.
I have seen Nessie, the chipmunk who lives in the Inn - she ran between my feet when I was in the lobby reading, and I saw a hedgehog cross the road (why does a hedgehog cross...?), so the animals I'm spotting are getting bigger. Hopefully by Saturday there will be moose!
Comments