I’ve spent the last week immersed in conversation about writing and books. The result: I can’t read. I return to my hotel room at night, look at the stack of books I brought along and don’t even bother.

This has happened in other years when I’ve come to residency, and I anticipated it would again so this time I only brought short stories–a mix of old favorites and some I hadn’t read (Alice Munro, Ward Just, Elizabeth McCracken).

I could use a stack of People magazines. Entertainment Weekly and Cosmo sound good too. I suspect, however, that Vanity Fair would be too taxing.

There’s still a lot of wonderful stuff on the residency schedule for these last few days (including a reading by Jane Yolen on Saturday night–come one, come all*) but I confess I’m already looking beyond the graduation on Sunday to when I head home. The new Anne Tyler is waiting for me there (Please–no reviews in the comment section, okay?) and Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games, is waiting for me at the Eau Claire library. (Ditto.)

I live about ninety minutes east of St. Paul. I have no idea if the drive home will provide enough time to retool and regain my reading skills. Here’s hoping.

MQ

Jane Yolen reads Saturday, January 16
7:00-8:00 p.m. Hamline U
Giddens Learning Center, Room 100E, 1556 Hewitt Avenue, Saint Paul