Just another writer
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The Tournament of Books short list is here!
Very excited to see this year’s list is out and to also note that I’ve been very good at hitting notable front-list books of late. Of the 18 books on the short list, I’ve read five and four more were on my to-read list, so reading everything on the list before the tournament begins will…
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Writerly resolutions: November status
The novel continues with a completed draft of the first chapter (although I do periodically think of things to add in that I left out) and a bit of a start on the second chapter, although weekends with the kids have kept me from the keyboard more than I might otherwise. Querying the old novel…
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New Poem: A Song of Bathsheba
The latest issue of Meniscus has my poem, “A Song of Bathsheba” in it.
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New post on my mailing list: One million stories!
Dig me, putting out two mailing list posts in two months. This one is about big numbers and how small we are.
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New Poem: Chicago Sonnet 43
I’ve got a newly published poem from my Chicago Sonnets sequence in the premiere issue of Bronze Bird Review. While numbered as #43, this is actually the second sonnet I wrote for the sequence, depicting the young women of Lincoln Park as seen through the eyes of age and regret. The issue can be purchased…
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I can assure you it most certainly is NOT “War and the World”
One of the things that was a source of amusement for me in college was the fact that the Russian word Мир (“Mir”) meant both “peace” and “world” and we would joke that when the Soviets would declare that they wanted peace, they were really saying that they wanted the world. The obvious next step…
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“A Blessing of Tears”: The Story Behind the Story
My latest publication is an excerpt from the novel I’m currently querying, We, the Rescued, entitled “A Blessing of Tears.” It’s a little startling to think of how long ago I first started working on this chapter. According to my computer, the creation date for the first draft of the chapter is 20 June 2017, so…
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Writerly resolutions: October status
This was a month of getting stuff done thanks to a pair of little writing retreats. I did one long weekend at the Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House for a formal writers’ retreat, although I ended up skipping the structured parts because most of it didn’t really feel relevant to me. Then a couple weeks later,…
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The big countdown
On the eve of my 18th annual 39th birthday, it’s been a year of death for me. My brother and aunt have both died in the last twelve months. This has hung over me for much of the year. Perhaps this is why my life expectency is down to 86. As of tomrrow, I will…