At the airport, I started reading Elizabeth Strout's Amy and Isabelle. It's beautifully written, and sad. I was overwhelmed by a surge of missing Kate and Anna. Ten days feels like a long time, especially when you're reading a book about an anxious, struggling mother and her troubled teenage daughter (I'm not ready for adolescence...!).

Asheville is not too hot, but boy, is it muggy. No AC in the dorms, either, and I think my room has the world's most anemic ceiling fan. Not that I'm complaining...

Humidity aside, I'm thankful to be here. For ten days I will attend workshops in the morning, classes in the afternoon, readings in the evening. In between, I will hang out with poets and fiction writers, eat food which has been prepared for me, go running and not wash anyone else's clothes. I miss Wes and the girls. I'll miss them everyday. But it's wonderful to be here. It really is.