"You are not a fraud," the small town girl with cinnamon hair repeated to herself as the Garmin directed her group of writing friends into Salt Lake City for the 2011 ldstorymakers conference.
By the end of the weekend, she would know that she was neither a fraud nor supremely gifted, as she'd believed. These facts bothered her, as did this example of author intrusion.
Epilogue: The humbled writer returned to Wyoming, armed with knowledge, strengthened by the power of hundreds of writers gathered in one place, fueled by the best chocolate pie she'd ever tasted, and determined that this would be the year she finally became a professional writer. Here is a record of what she learned along the way.