Moving on into the second week of my internship, I have some new projects I'm working on at Alice James Books. Per usual, I drove to Farmington, Maine, this morning through small roads that wind through the hills west of Waterville, where I'm living. Got caught behind a logging truck-- there are tons of them that drive to and from Farmington-- that no one wanted to pass, but I made it to Farmington eventually.

Once I got there, I helped my main boss, the managing editor of AJB, get ready for her trip to the AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs) Conference this weekend.

From the AWP's website: "Each year, AWP holds its Annual Conference & Bookfair in a different region of North America in order to celebrate the outstanding authors, teachers, writing programs, literary centers, and small press publishers of that region."

This year, several AJB poets will be reading from and signing their work, so I packed up a lot of books for the editors to take with them to sell. In particular, lots of copies of Brian Turner's "Here, Bullet" and "Phantom Noise." Turner was a soldier in the Iraq War who wrote poems about his experience-- he's one of AJB's more famous poets.

I got to see what a lot of work it is for a small press to attend and promote themselves at a conference. We packed up banners, book holders, and some things to sell like tote bags and magnets. Today I also helped take notes on a meeting we had about computer stuff (less exciting than getting to look at all the books). We'll see what tomorrow brings.