I am writing this from a tiny California Pizza Kitchen in a terminal in my least favorite airport in the world, namely LAX. I am assured that it is only my least favorite because I haven’t been through Chicago O’Hare. I happily concede this point.

The last time I sat in this spot, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a California Pizza Kitchen–I think it may have been a Burger King. But I recognize the mural behind me–I have pictures of it. The last time I was here I was on my way to Defcon in Vegas. This time I’m on my way to Taos Toolbox.

I haven’t had time to get excited about it. Wedding stuff took up every spare minute of the past couple of weeks–I didn’t even get my outline done in time. Clearly I have a gift for planning major life events. I haven’t been able to get excited about the wedding, actually, either–there’s still too much to do. I’ll probably get excited half an hour before the music starts, when there’s nothing left for me to do or worry about getting done.

I wonder if I’ll be able to turn all of that off for the next two weeks and just be a writer. The stuff that needs doing I mostly need to be home to do, so worrying about it will be particularly ineffective.

The novel I’m workshopping is an urban fantasy absolutely riddled with plot holes. This makes me feel incompetent, like I’m going to be the remedial kid in class. John assures me that a workshop is a perfect place to get help in working out those plot holes. He is usually right about most things.

I’m fond of the characters, though, and many of the ideas, so I hope that my classmates and instructors will find something worth fixing in it.

I started reading my classmates’ manuscripts on the first leg of the journey, and am preparing to get my crit on. We have two minutes to present our notes. I haven’t done face to face critique in a couple of years now.

I should get as much done as I can now–I only got four hours of sleep, so the longer I’m up the less likely it is that I’ll be coherent. Class starts at 10:00 tomorrow morning–I won’t get in to Taos until about 9:30 tonight. I wonder if people will be exhausted from travel and hiding in their rooms, or if the adrenaline will kick in and everyone will want to hang out and get to know each other?

—

Update: Exhausted. Classmate Jeff and I were the last to arrive at 11:00 p.m. (it was much further from ABQ than we thought! Good thing we like each other) Have met my suitemate, who waited up for me. Passing out now. Workshop begins at 10:00 a.m. More tomorrow!