I had a good time at the workshop at Rockaway Beach. I leanred a lot and took notes from the hosts Mary Anne Mohanraj and Jed Hartman, plus Jay Lake--I can listen to Jay Lake any day, but I discovered some things from him during the weekend. The excercise of looking at the first page of our workshop stories gave us the perspective of an editor.

Mary Anne made some great food. We had curry on Sunday night and I got to take home some of the hot, spicy coconut item. It warms my heart, opens my pores, my skin flushes, and it makes my scalp itch. Mmmmmmm.

I got to meet, in person, Greg, Jenn, and Heather. And they're just as cool as they appear from reading their journals.

I didn't spend enough time with any of my fellow workshoppers. By the time I get up to speed and ready to socialize--come out of my shell so to speak--the weekend is over. We had some nice beach walks, though, and we read some great stories. I also slept well, getting an adequate amount of sleep each night.

There's something amiss being at Colonyhouse at Rockaway Beach and not writing. The cool people are there, but not the writing. Talking about writing is cool. I think actual writing at the workshop would have made the weekend even better. I've now noticed--thanks to the Denise Little Workshop last weekend, along with the two-week coast workshop--I get more out of workshops by writing instead of only talking about writing.

But of course I would not trade the Strange Horizons weekend for anything else. It was still a joy. I liked the focus on theme.

Maybe someday we'll do it again.