Viable Paradise, Writing Workshops

Overflowing Bubbles: I Feel Like Champagne

M.E. Garber

A Champagne Cheers!

I am so excited! And happy! And nervous, and … wait, let me just tell you the amazing news: I’ve been accepted at Viable Paradise. I’m going to be a member of the class of XVII (or 17, for those who’ve left Rome behind)!

Viable Paradise is a week-long “neo-pro” writing workshop held in October on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. There will be 24 of us students (who I’m already getting to know on the Yahoo forum) tentatively arriving to learn, socialize, and grow as writers. And I’m to be one of them! I still can barely believe it.

I already have a room, and a roommate (who eats gluten-free!), and have found two other gluten-free/celiac students among the group! We’re now the Gliadin Liberation Front (thanks, Michael!). I also have train tickets from NJ to Boston, and am mentally packing my bags. (Those bags will be so packed by the time mid-October rolls around!)

All weekend long (before I could come clean in public), I was doing little bubbly dances inside. I felt like a glass of champagne, all bubbles fizzing up and up and up, in an unending euphoria. And then, just when the bubbles settle down and all felt normal, something would ting the edge of my glass, and the bubbles would prove they’re still there, still spouting that euphoria throughout. For instance? In the grocery store, I went by the little pre-made Indian meals and got shivers of delight as I realized that I’d be taking some of those along for quick lunches. (Yes, how silly is this, but still…)

So, if you’ve been there and care to drop any hints here, feel free. And if you drop hints about The Horror that is Thursday, I’ll be sure to keep it quiet. Honest. 😉

Until then, it’s back to writing. A short story rejection came in over the weekend, and I need to ship that story back out again, and then finish the one I’m writing now, and then edit, and …  (smiles. Ah, VP in October  :-))

Published by M.E. Garber

I'm an itinerant Ohio-born speculative fiction writer now living in central Florida.

14 thoughts on “Overflowing Bubbles: I Feel Like Champagne”

  2. Congrats !!!! I know you have been anxiously awaiting the news and now it’s time to celebrate!!!

    1. Thanks, Cory! And thanks for both pointing me in their direction and aiding and abetting me with what became my submission story. Now I just have to wait until October (taps fingernails)…

  4. Huge congratulations on making VP! I look forward to meeting and critting with you in October.

    You mentioned excitement over people who eat gluten free. I don’t, and am curious if there’s importance to being around people who have that diet. I won’t harm you by being near you after eating something, will I? Is there any way I can prevent that?

    1. Being *near* me won’t hurt, but contamination (from hands sprinkling crumbs as they reach over a bowl, from dipping a knife into butter after touching toast, etc.) will affect me “negatively” (that’s a polite way of saying it :-). It’s really pretty hard for someone unfamiliar with it to get used to (not your fault, of course, and I’d prefer NOT to be used to it, myself), so it is a relief to be able to be a touch less vigilant in the condo. And thanks for asking!

      See you…not soon enough…?

      1. It might be clunky to learn, but I’ll be happy to accommodate if we wind up eating together. And yes, makes a deal of sense to share a condo with like-eating individuals.

        Not soon enough indeed!

  5. Congrats, Mary!! I am dancing like crazy for you now. Sounds like so much fun!

    1. Thanks! I hope to arrive the day before the “official” start, so I should have time to walk around and explore a little bit…

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