The guy at the next table is teaching a woman how to play castanets. He doesn’t have any, so he’s snapping his fingers and occasionally slapping the table to simulate flamenco footwork (I assume).

Two wonderful things happened to me at the James River Writers Conference this weekend. 1. An editor asked me for a partial. 2.An opening I wrote was savaged publicly.

“Ok, Carol. We get #1, but how can #2 be a good thing?” Because, aside from the searing pain of public (although anonymous ) rebuke, I looked at it and said, “They’re right.” And then I went back to the hotel and spent two hours on one page and I think it’s at the “pretty good” stage, if not the “This is so great I want to be your agent” one.

If you’re going this weekend, look for me. It will make me feel loved.