And so we came to the end. It’s not surprising in a situation where you’ve become close to a lot of people that the leave-taking can be painful. Because half the workshops don’t even meet on Saturday, a number of the conference participants have already left the mountain. But the fact is that we aren’t done yet. Wyatt Prunty will be giving a reading this afternoon, followed this evening by Tony Earley’s reading and the final party at the Pub. I plan to be at all three and then I’ll hit the road early Sunday morning.

But I’m ahead of myself. The last couple of days have been just as crammed with wonderful events as the earlier days. We had Jill McCorkle’s craft lecture, in which she used anatomical metaphors to describe the elements of fiction (think: the story being a marriage of heart and brain, with the lungs to breathe life into the creation), a publishers’ panel, a reading by poet Rachel Hadas, a lavish reception at the French House (smoked salmon, wonderful meats and cheeses, brownies, and, of course, beverages), and an animated reading by Randall Kenan from his forthcoming novel. On Friday we had the final fellows’ readings (Jehanne Dubrow, Cheryl Strayed, M.O. Walsh), a charming craft lecture by Robert Hass (in which he analyzed the basic units of poetry), a reading by staff members Caki Wilkinson and Kevin Wilson, and to end the evening a great reading by Mark Strand. This morning a number of people went on the second bird walk (I was absent again, too lazy to get up) and this afternoon quite a few went for a tour of the Tennessee Williams Performing Arts Center on the university campus.

As I expected, this second week of the conference has flown. Between doing the serious work of the workshops and attending as many readings and lectures as I can, and also enjoying the various parties and receptions—all in the name of building connections and maintaining friendships, of course—there’s been very little down time. I confess, though, that I’m ready to go home, to get back into my writing routine, and to apply what I’ve learned here.

I’ve enjoyed each of my Sewanee conferences, but this year, my Fellowship year, because of my many talented fellow Fellows, will always be special.