VCCA Residency--The End is Near

I'm nearing the end of my stay at VCCA. It's been arelatively productive period, and I have made a lot of progress on shaping anew novel. (If nothing else, I think I found a killer title for it.)

We didn't have a lot of artist presentations this week,which I was happy about. I love the presentations, but it's not so great whenthey happen every night. Not that anyone is obligated to attend, but I like tosupport the other resident fellows and, besides, they can be inspiring.
On Thursday we had a couple of brief open studios. First,Margie Nea, a photographer, showed us some of her amazing photographs from hermany trips taken on behalf of Bread for the World and other organizations. Theaccompanying YouTube video shows some of these pictures. 
Then we moved to thenext studio where Katherine Fahey did a performance of her "cranky"—a light-boxpuppet show illustrating a shape-note song about a pioneering Vermont woman.(That description does NOT do the project justice; check out her website to geta better idea of what she's doing.)
Then on Friday night we had two poets reading in the livingroom. First Sabra Loomis read from her book and also some newer poems—lyrical andvery moving work about family, friends, and landscape. And then Dan Vera alsoread from his book and some newer poems. Dan's work is edgy and sometimespolitical. Both Sabra and Dan were very good readers. Plus, they supplied a coupleof big bottles of wine, some chocolate and nuts, and so many of us stayedaround after the reading to talk. It was the first night I didn't go back tothe studio in the evening to work.
It's been a nice stay. As always, I hope I can carry somemomentum with me when I resume work at home on Monday. We'll see.