>Sunday at VCCA

>It’s hard to know what to expect from a Sunday at VCCA. Breakfast is later, so some people get a slow start. Some fellows who are here for a long time actually leave on weekends; others find churches to visit or otherwise change their routine. We’d been talking about making a trip to the Appalachian Trail, as I’ve done each time I’ve been in residence here, and because the weather for the next several days looks discouraging for outside activities, today was the day. Eight of us took off at 10:00 (at least I got some work done in the morning) and got to the trail head at about 10:30. Since I’ve done this walk before, I took the lead, and soon the group split into two. Our group moved pretty steadily up hill and by about noon came to an amazing view of the Shenandoah Valley to the west. We didn’t know what our goal was, but after seeing that amazing view we decided we didn’t need to go further, and we headed back down.

I worked in the afternoon, although I was tired and not very efficient.

After dinner, we had a wonderful presentation from Anki King, a painter whose work is wonderful. Many of the slides she showed us are up on her website, so be sure to check it out! Of course, it was wonderful to hear her talk about her work, but you can get a good sense of it from the pictures.

About the author

I am the author of three novels--THE LAST BIRD OF PARADISE, OLIVER'S TRAVELS, and THE SHAMAN OF TURTLE VALLEY--and three story collections--IN AN UNCHARTED COUNTRY, HOUSE OF THE ANCIENTS AND OTHER STORIES, and WHAT THE ZHANG BOYS KNOW, winner of the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Fiction. I am also the co-founder and former editor of Prime Number Magazine and the editor of the award-winning anthology series EVERYWHERE STORIES: SHORT FICTION FROM A SMALL PLANET.

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