On our way to Misty Valley Books!

This weekend, my wife and I will travel to Chester, Vermont, leaving our one-year-old daughter behind for the first time. I am appearing with five other first-time novelists at a two-day New Voices event sponsored by Misty Valley Books.

Clara will be staying with her grandparents for the weekend. While Elysha and I are thrilled to have the opportunity to participate in this extraordinary event, we’re also dreading the prospect of leaving our little one behind. Oddly enough, we’re not worried about her safety or happiness. She adores her grandparents, and we know she will be well cared for. We’re afraid that we’ll miss her to death and find ourselves moaning in bed at night, wracked by unbearable waves of Clara withdrawal.

Hopefully, we’ll make it through the weekend without too much suffering.

The event is open to the public free of charge and will begin at 2 PM in the First Universalist Church in Chester’s Stone Village. A reception is organized by church members, and a book signing will follow the session in the church’s basement.

The public is invited to snowshoe or cross-country ski with the authors on Saturday morning at Grafton Ponds in Grafton and have lunch with them around the fire in the lodge.

Following the afternoon sessions, the public can also dine with the authors at the Fullerton Inn, on the Green next to Misty Valley Books.

I’ve spent the evening reading about the other authors involved in the program, and I can’t wait to meet them and pick their brains. All seem utterly fascinating and quite accomplished. I’m feeling very fortunate to have been invited.

More information, including a list of authors and details about the events, can be found here.