Two things occurred this weekend that signaled the end of summer but heralded the start of a new season in my life.  First was our annual Hampton Roads Writers Conference held here in Virginia Beach.  Over one hundred thirty writers, agents, editors, and authors met for two days to talk about the craft and business of writing, and to network and inspire each other.  We were privileged to have two outstanding keynote speakers, Jill McCorkle, a Southern writer who confided that Southern children become nostalgic by the age of eight, and Benjamin Herson who, with his co-author Jeff Deck, traveled the country correcting typos wherever they found them, until they nearly landed in jail for defacing federal property.  We aspiring writers left with a renewed fervor for the challenge but great satisfaction our work affords.

The second event was the Neptune Festival held down on the Boardwalk along the Oceanfront this time each year, the last big event before the coming of colder weather.  My husband and I took in the sounds of the crowd and seagulls, the smell of the gyros, eggrolls, barbecue, funnel cakes, and many other offerings in the food booths, the sights of the spinning Ferris wheel and other carnival rides, the incredible sand sculptures, and the pounding surf that served as our backdrop.

Yes, summer is indeed over, but just as the colder weather is on the horizon, I feel invigorated.  Instead of an ending, this seems like the start of a new determination to get on with my life and stop wasting my days.  I don’t want my resolve to fade as the coming wind and rain will dissolve the sculptures.

Related Articles

• Jeff Deck and Benjamin D. Herson Document The Great Typo Hunt (blippitt.com)
• The great typo hunt: mission immpossible? (nationalpost.com)
• Tripping On Typos (bostonist.com)