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I'm leaving today...
It’s late. I am on the train heading back from New York City. My brain is oozing out my ears from the Writer’s Digest Conference I attended over the weekend. (If you want to read about the writerly stuff that happened over the weekend, you can check it out at the Lunch Hour Novelist, as I am trying not to contaminate this blog with book stuff.)

On Friday I took the day off from work. It had snowed early in the morning, so I left the Mini in the garage and drove the jeep to the train station in Kingston. When I got on the train I pulled out a book and enjoyed the forced inactivity of reading and watching the scenery, until the woman beside me struck up a little conversation.

I meet the nicest people on planes and trains. There was the time I met the yacht manager who was on his way back from managing some mega sailing yacht somewhere in the Caribbean. This man was older than dirt, had a stutter, and could only speak in 2 volumes… loud and LOUDER. He whipped out his laptop to show me pics of the boat. Before I knew it, I was gazing upon a digital picture of his naked wrinkled genitals as he lounged on his favorite nude beach.

Then there was the time I met the man who was the president of the local Sierra Club. He was actually quite cool, as was this woman I sat next to on Friday. Turns out, she is the mastermind behind Be My Guest granola. I listened as she told me her story, and I thoroughly enjoyed the passion with which she told her story. More people should be like that. Her eyes twinkled as she talked about her product and how it was catching on. I totally want to party with her.

When we arrived in New York we agreed to find our way to the cab stands together. I helped her get her bag off the train, as it was overloaded with granola. She made it a bit lighter as she gave me a bag (which was a Godsend when I got up at 6 on Saturday morning to prep for my day at the conference). Let me tell you, this granola is EVERYTHING I’ve been looking for in a granola. I love to toss a handful into my yogurt. I’ve even turned my friends on to doing that. And this is awesome granola. It’s not too sweet, it’s got a nice balance of nuts, fruit, oats and seeds. I will buy it again, and I encourage you guys to try it too.

We shared a cab, which wasn’t really a cab. We nervously stepped into a Mercedes SUV for $20 each. We stood outside Penn Station and wondered if we should trust that this man wasn’t ripping us off. I pointed to the line of people waiting for cabs and said “Hey, our time is worth something.” And it was fine, we got to where we were going.

I arrived at my hotel and went to my conference to begin my first day of learning to be more authorly.

To be continued…