Day 1

Thanks to procrastinating till the last minute on my packing, I got a whole 4 hours of sleep before going to the airport and getting on my flight to Albuquerque.

I dozed a bit here and there, read a novel, and ate a sandwich every four hours though I didn't want to.

Pretty warm when I got into Albuquerque, but it's a dry heat. My bag turned up at the airport ahead of me. That's a first for me. I noticed when I saw it by a baggage office rather than at the baggage claim terminal, where I waited for ten minutes and saw other people from my flight collect their stuff and leave.

I then boarded a shuttle van to Taos, New Mexico, and ended up being the last of 7 people dropped off because the Snow Bear Inn was the furthest drop off point. :-/

I did get to talking with the other passengers, one of whom was attending a mainstream fiction workshop in a motel in town. Caroline Chung-Wipff. We exchanged e-mails and promised to exchange short stories. I'm looking forward to reading her tale about... two Korean orphans caught up in the Korean War, if I recall correctly. I'll send her my Richard Takashima tale I'm prepping for WOTF after getting comments from Critters and Taos.

Anyhoo, after about 3 hours, I finally got to the Snow Bear Inn. The temperature fell something like 20 degrees fahrenheit. Bracing, a bit like the Rockies in Colorado. I can imagine what this place would be like with snow...

I found my room, chatted with Walter, Connie Willis, and some other people, and ate more food.

We have three presubmitted to stories to critique for tomorrow. I'm going to crash, then write up my thoughts in the morning. Fotunately, I'd already read all the manuscripts before coming. I just have to refresh myself on each one as I get to it.

I'm curious to see what Walter and Connie have to share with us.

Hailing frequencies closed.