Word from the Mountains

So we spent last week at the Wildacres Writing Workshop in the Southern Appalachians--if you have a map, it's in the mountains north of Asheville, North Carolina. The terrain is a kind of cloud forest--the Smokies, which are named for the fog and clouds, are the next range to the west. This results in a forest full of blooming rhododendrons--

With lots of other scenic stuff--

Wildacres itself is a mountaintop conference center supported by a family in Georgia (they made their money on Liquid Wrench and Radiator Gunk). It's a couple of lodges connected by a nice courtyard, with comfortable rooms, good food, and a Steinway for Kathy to practice on.

The gathering was upbeat and social. At the literary character party, this is Kathy as Chekhov's "Lady with the Lapdog," our instructor Ron Rash as The Misfit, from the Flannery O'Connor story, and me as von Aschenbach from "Death in Venice." Kathy read all the manuscripts and audited my workshop; she turned out be the second most well-read person in the room after Ron, who was full of literature and poetry recommendations.

Afterward, we stayed two days in Asheville, which is a lively, cosmopolitan town we'd be happy to go back to. This is Kathy after her birthday dinner--the cell phone is for talking to Jeff and Danny.