I returned home from my road trip to HippoCamp 2015 nine weeks ago yesterday, a day before the official beginning of Cross Country season, and twelve days before the first day of school. I remember sitting in the final keynote speech, a fantastic state-of-the publishing industry address by Jane Friedman, and thinking how lucky I was that I’d have time to fully process the whole HippoCamp experience. I would go home and write up blog articles on the sessions I attended, I’d follow up with all of the great people that I met, and I’d use all the great tools and prompts I’d picked up to produce some really stellar creative nonfiction. “Thank God I don’t have kids to distract me,” I thought.
JINX. (If you believe in such things…)
The first day of cross country practice, the head coach told me he’d be having back surgery 36 hours later. So it was up to me to take on the responsibility of coaching the team (with the help of a fantastic former runner/now assistant coach) until his return.
So when I thought it was lucky that I didn’t have kids and instead would have TIME, I didn’t know I’d end up with 43 teenage girls
and
this is the first thing I’ve written since…BUT--we are off to one helluva season!
Cross Country is one of the great joys of my life. Our competitive season is the shortest in HS Athletics, only 11 weeks. But it’s definitely at cross-purposes with writing. Though I’ve been striving for balance, this is one area I have not been successful with.
And as much as I LOVE Cross Country, I can’t help but feel a HUGE sense of regret and lost opportunities…to strike while the iron was hot, as they say. I definitely want to keep up with all of the great people that I met and foster those relationships through social media and even personal emails. The biggest regret is that I wasn’t able to follow through on blogging for the magazine. The sessions I attended were excellent, and the presenters deserve to have their sessions reviewed and written about, so I am bound to do it…
Next post will be a HippoCamp 2015 Wrap-up: Better Late Than Never!