It's been a good week

Sunday night the kids went to my sister's, so my wonderful husband and I had a date. We went to hear a local band that features one of his high school classmates on drums. The drummer's girlfriend (flashback--I once started a story called "The Drummer's Wife") is also a freelancer for The Commercial Appeal, so we had a great conversation about our writing projects and frustrations. We've been corresponing by email all week, alternately venting and then patting one another on the back.

I am sooooo enjoying getting to know other writers. It's such a wonderful, helpful community.

Tuesday I submitted my short story to the Memphis Magazine Fiction Contest. Yay! For 10 years I've wanted to enter that contest, but this year I finally did it.

Thursday I turned in my diesel fuel article to the CA, and my editor wrote back to say it will probably be the Sunday business centerpiece. It was a complex story with lots of sources (many of which I wans't able to use in the article), but I think it turned out pretty well. I've got my next assignment already, and when school starts, I hope to have time to write one newspaper article per week.

Yesterday I decided to go on record with my writing goals for the month of August, and I confided to the other freelancers on the thread that I would like to go to a writer's conference in the near future. Someone made mention of an October conference in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, which just so happens to be where my wonderful husband and I were married.

Boy, the wheels in my head started turning. That's Fall Break for my oldest daughter, and we already had plans to go camping that weekend with our extended family.

Could I possibly go to the conference instead of camping with my wonderful husband and two delightful daughters? Can we afford it? How much of a burden (financially and otherwise) would it be for my wonderful husband if I went? Who'll watch the kids on Thursday while my wonderful husband's at work and I'm driving through the beautiful Ozark Mountains? Could I borrow my mother-in-law's laptop and write during breaks, and late at night, and early in the morning, when I'm too giddy to sleep?

Stop! First things first. Talk to Kevin, my wonderful husband, and feel him out about it.

"There's a writing conference in Eureka Springs Fall Break weekend and..." that's all I got out of my mouth before he interrupted.

"I think you should go." Have I ever mentioned how wonderful my husband is?

Eureka! Eureka Springs, here I come!

I still have to work out the details, but...

I'M GOING TO A WRITER'S CONFERENCE IN OCTOBER IN BEAUTIFUL EUREKA SPRINGS!

And more importantly, I'm married to a wonderful man. :-)