I've been rebuilt. Of course first I had to get bruised, broken and beat down. And all this happened in the span of 72 short (yet at times very long) hours at the Borderlands Boot Camp.

It was an amazing experience where I had the opportunity to workshop stories with the likes of F. Paul Wilson, Douglas E. Winter, Mort Castle and Elizabeth Massie. It was an event in which I was allowed into the minds of Gary Braunbeck, Thomas Monteleone and editors from Ace Books (Ginjer Buchanon) and Grand Central Publishing (Jaime Levine).

My story had the bejeebus workshoppped out of it. At times I was told it was one giant plot hole, that I was failing to live up to my potential (which was prefaced that the instructor was well aware of said potential) and that I was good writer (but in this case had written a so-so story in need of serious revision). I learned a lot about writing, the industry and most importantly myself as a stringer of sentences..

I met people with whom my only interactions previously had been online, people I "knew" that I got to actually know (or at least meet): John Hornor Jacobs (who gives his own thoughts on the experience HERE), Tom Beck, Erik Williams and Kim Despins. On top of that I made some great new friends and writerly acquaintances: Kevin Lucia, Brittany Muscarella, Michael Smith, Susan Taylor, Selena Chambers, Jerry Enni, Nicole Ferweda and a slew of other faces (and talented wordsmiths).

It was three days of sensory overload coupled with sleep deprivation and the only thing I can think is -- I can't wait to go back.