Every year around this time, my post on finding a literary agent at AWP gets more hits. And thus I'm reminded that I will be attending the conference again. I love the Twin Cities, and Mike and I are doubling up with a visit to his dad, so my approach will be considerably chill. I probably won't have time to visit the Walker Art Center, one of my favorite museums (in the world?), but my chief goals include: multiple visits to Cecil's Deli for Jewish food and a fleeting drive-by glimpse of the Paisley Palace. The Minnesota Center for Book Arts is also well worth another visit.Blintzes, books, and Prince--what could be better?I do have some literary events:

• Thursday night at 8:15 pm at The Nicollet, I'm reading at Literary Wilderness, a benefit for prison writing programs around the country. The theme is is WILDERNESS, so be prepared!
• Saturday afternoon, 3-5 pm at Boneshaker Books, I'm reading with the Cambridge Writers' Workshop, which accepted a batch of my writing prompts into their CREDO Anthology.

And a number of panels caught my eye:Thursday

• Small is the New Big: Working With Independent Presses to Build a Literary Career
• No Shame: Sex Scenes by Women, About Women

Friday

• Ekphrasis Goes Prose
• Chekhov’s Gun: How to Make Surprise Suspenseful
• It's a Crime to Skip This Panel

Saturday

• Yes, Writing Is a Job: People Who Get Paid to Write
• Historical Fiction and Fictional History
• Fascinated or Haunted: Why We Continue to Write & Rewrite Fairy Tales

For last year's book fair, I had a laser beam focus on small presses to submit my first novel to. This year, I don't have that particular laser beam, or any particular laser beam. I'm sure I'll come home with an unwieldy pile of books and I'm sure I'll pile up their spines in a picture, right here, just for you.