1. Meeting Andrew Smith was absolutely an unexpected bonus to the weekend. Drew was a presenter at the conference, and was also collecting interviews to edit a piece for BBC Radio back in his home town of Gateshead, U.K. My husband, Don, and I made sure he didn't lack for eats and things to do after the conference. Now we've started a jar to save up our nickels and dimes for a visit to Drew's neck of the woods across the pond. You can check out more of his conference adventures and audio interviews with George Clayton Johnson here: Illegible Me.
2. Meeting Carol Serling after she watched my presentation at the mini-course. Such an honor and what a lovely woman. She seemed to think my ideas were interesting, which was gracious of her to say. The students didn't fall asleep, and it was after 7:00, so she may have been telling the truth there.
3. Realizing what a huge impact Rod Serling has actually had on my imagination, the way I think, the kind of stories I tell, and the way I tell them. While putting my presentation together (which I had the presence of mind to videotape, and yes, I will get a clip up as soon as I can manage), I came to see how the images and ideas from The Twilight Zone had entered my fertile, bizarr-o imagination as a tiny youngster, were blended and harvested into nightmares, and later became fodder for so many of the stories I write. Examining some of those images, like this one:
was like decoding my own story telling; both exciting and humbling. It was like finding a long-lost compass and having the inspired realization that the needle always points to... The Twilight Zone.
2 comments:
Ah, you make me blush. I hope that savings jar is literal by the way!
I can't WAIT to make it there M.B!
Post a Comment