It’s good to be back in Virginia, though my head is spinning in orbit somewhere over the Atlantic. I’m sure it will land safely back on my shoulders tomorrow once the old body clock has reconnected. It’s also good to be safely manacled and shackled to the Greenhouse desk again. Or rather the virtual desk, since (very predictably) both phone and broadband crashed in my absence, necessitating a hasty cobbling together and camping out at a temporary desk elsewhere before The Man comes to fix things.
There’s a ton to do: a mound of paper manuscripts, a landslide of emailed ones, several deals to be done (hurrah!), and plans to be finalized for my trip to Vermont next Friday for the alumni conference of the MFA program. I’m really looking forward to it – taking part in several panels, hosting a Greenhouse cocktail party to welcome attendees, and no doubt meeting many aspiring writers.
It’s been a good, if pretty exhausting, trip to the UK. Lots of work done, family and friend reunions enjoyed, and publishing contacts and colleagues reinvigorated. Not exactly a vacation, but at least a change of pace and scene. Greenhouse Son #1 says he feels he is a ‘citizen of the world’ and I agree. I belong in both the USA and Britain and feel at home in several other places too. Hmm, I find that interesting – the realization puts a different spin on every issue, as well as having such a bearing on how I see the literary scene and what I hope to achieve for my authors.
It’s good to be back, fellow Citizens of the World!