Incredibly, the end is near. I hate to say that, but we’ve only got a couple of days left.

The last two days have been filled with highlights, but I’d have to say that one event stood out for me: Steve Yarbrough’s reading on Wednesday night. He read a long story about a writer who mines his life for his fiction and lives with the consequences. Everyone in the room was rapt. My mind does wander from time to time during a reading—I think that’s fairly common—but Steve had my full attention. A great, great story.

But besides that, we also had terrific craft lectures from Diane Johnson, in which she likened a novel to an ocean-going vessel, and Padgett Powell who invoked the words of Flannery O’Connor, Barry Hannah, Mark Twain, and others, in driving home the point that seems to have become a recurring theme in this conference: choose the right word, and eliminate everything that isn’t necessary. Excellent advice, to be sure.

We also had great readings by fellows: Dylan Landis, Julie Tosh, Will Wells, James Magruder, Matthew Pitt, and Catherine Wing. One night all of the fellows left campus for dinner, just to get to know each other better. What a great group we have!

There were also excellent staff readings on Wednesday morning: Hastings Hensel, Jonathan Heinen, Adam Vines, and David Roby.

But wait, there’s more: I also loved Dan O’Brien’s reading of a play he’s done about the prize-winning photographer Paul Watson, and the readings by Greg Williamson and Mary Jo Salter of their poetry. We also had open mic readings both Tuesday and Wednesday to round out a couple of very long days. (And I’m leaving out the fact that there have been several editors, publishers, and agents running around making themselves available to participants, but I know that’s another important element of the conference for a lot of people.)

We’re not done yet, though. Stay tuned for one final update!

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