I’m about to get in a Lyft and go to the airport, hopefully making it smoothly to Tampa by this afternoon for the AWP conference. (Everyone who’s going just quietly rolled their eyes at me for spelling out “the” and “conference,” whereas the rest of the world doesn’t know what this conference is; so it has ever been, so it shall ever be.) I thought this poor orangutan, hungry for self knowledge but also probably dehydrated, was a fitting tribute to the conference.

A couple of things!

Yesterday I was named a “Woman to Watch in 2018” by BookList, along with 10 other incredible writers, and since this comic was called out by name (“important to note”!!!) I would be remiss (remiss!) if I didn’t share that news here. I am, needless to say, EXTREMELY PLEASED by this news and by the company I share on this list.

The other thing!

I will mostly be having a “social AWP,” i.e. wandering around the book fair and occasionally retreating to my hotel to lie on the bed and wonder about the meaning of it all/watch TV, but I will be part of a great reading Thursday night (fabulists!) and a great panel Saturday morning! Find me:

• Strange Theatre: A Menagerie of Fabulists. Thursday March 8, 7pm, 5 Star Dive Bar
• S111. First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage: When, Why, and How Short Stories Become Novels. Saturday March 10, 9-10:15am, Grand Salon D, Marriott Waterside, Second Floor

Find me! Hug me! See you soon!