Finding my bliss at Blissdom in Nashville

One of my goals since I started this blog last July has been to attend a blogging conference. I've been teaching myself everything I do here in this space completely on the fly, which has never been my preferred method of learning. And I'd really like to be more intentional about improving my writing skills, and a conference seems like a good avenue through which to do that. I also thought it would be a fun chance to meet some people in real life who share my interest in carving out space for myself on the web.

I know very little about what separates one blogging conference from another. But when I read that the Blissdom conference was taking place in nearby Nashville, Tennessee, I thought it made sense to sign up. It's being held the last week in January, and I'm only going for one day, but I hope to learn a great deal and meet some fellow blogging folks.

A highlight for me will be spending a night in the recently renovated Opryland Hotel. I visited this hotel when my family first moved to the midwest from Connecticut. I think I was 10 or 11 years old, and I remember very clearly wandering around the hotel's giant atrium in complete awe. The lush greenery, the water, the bright flowers--I nearly convinced myself I was in an exotic jungle. I was devastated when I heard how it was almost completely destroyed during the floods that hit Nashville last spring. The Huffington Post has some astonishing photos of the damage. I worried this American treasure might never bounce back.

Atrium of the Opryland. Photo courtesy of the Gaylord Opryland.

But indeed it has, and today I dream of once again standing in awe in that atrium. I'm also dreaming of being able to devote a full day to learning about blogging--I hope to return home with lots of ideas to make Arrows Sent Forth a more fun and enjoyable read.

Are any of you headed to Blissdom? I'll be there on Wednesday for the Wisdom Workshops and would love to meet up!

This post is a part of Mondays are for Dreaming at The Mother of All Trips.