Sanibel for the weekend

I took Vivian with me this weekend to attend a Writer's Conference on Sanibel Island. My wonderful Mother-in-law offered to watch Owen, and my parents offered to come with us to babysit Vivi while I attended classes and readings during the day. It was such an incredible opportunity and I met so many fabulous writers. Thank you to the grandparents and Ben for making this trip possible. You all are the BEST!

I had the chance to sit in on lectures given by published authors who were so inspiring and enjoyable to listen to. In the afternoons, there were readings where the authors would select essays or chapters from their books to read to us. I loved every single minute of the conference. Especially the people I met. The first day I met my conference buddy Dusty. He and I hit it off right away and hung out during the breaks in between sessions. He read my work (writing exercises that we were given during the lectures) and gave me the confidence to read one of my pieces aloud during a class. He's going to make an amazing professor in a few years. :)

It was such an awesome experience that when I came home, I immediately booked another one. The author who I was hoping to meet at the Sanibel conference actually didn't make it due to an illness she contracted the day before the event. So I checked out her schedule and found that she's the keynote speaker of a memoir writer's retreat in March and I managed to get one of the last early-bird tickets for a long weekend in Seattle. Cheryl Strayed, if you wanted to check her out. She's pretty amazing.