OK, first of all, let me point out that my note-taking method leaves a lot to be desired. I generally just write down things that strike me as being interesting or important, and that I don’t feel I already know. So the notes are by no means comprehensive. But if what’s being said is too interesting, I may get caught up in listening and forget to take notes. So these notes can’t even be considered as the highlights.
I’m not just going to include my notes about writing, but rather will include things I remember about the whole experience.
I’m going to break these notes into several part and post them over the next several days.
Day 1: Saturday
I flew from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles, and was met at the airport by someone from the contest. Along with Joy Remy, another writer, I was driven to the Roosevelt Hotel, on Hollywood Boulevard in — you guessed it — Hollywood. At the hotel, I met Sarah from Galaxy Press (publisher of the anthology), who was the person who helped shepherd us through the whole week. She did a fantastic job of taking care of us and making sure we got where we needed to, when we needed to.
I took my stuff up to my room, where I met my roommate, writer Andrew Tisbert. I then received a phone call from Tom Pendergrass, whom I knew a bit from Codexwriters.com. Tom and I went and walked around a bit — which ended up helping me later.
That evening, we met novelist
Most of us had dinner at a Thai restaurant, which was pretty good, and we mainly just chatted and got to know each other.