A week with only one Monday? Yes, please.




Last week had three "Mondays." The start/stop nature of the week was exhausting. Add to it several field trips and so on, and yeah... we lost momentum. This week should be less weird, though there is an advisory meeting (Mon.), and class meetings (Thurs.). I'm sure there will be something or other stuffed in there, too, but I hope to have most of my students most of the time this week!

I spent a delightful, exciting, and mentally exhausting weekend. Who knew that, after four relatively short sessions, I'd have a poem draft that spans eight pages (so far)? Wow. I kind of want to play hooky and work on it. But I won't. I'll let it simmer for a bit. I have been writing every day since November 1, so I will keep that up, too. 

But there's more stuff I need to get done. I have book reviews idling on my desk. I have holiday stuff to figure out. And I should be working on more poetry submissions, though that's not that critical. I still have yet to plunge into figuring out a new full-length collection of poems, but first I need to print off the ones I want to mess around with. That said, it's also no rush. I have not heard from Finishing Line Press in a hot minute about my new chapbook, but I suspect that will be soon. They have all the required info already, so I'm sure it's in the pipeline. If it works like it did last time, with nine weeks to do presales, I should be getting going on that in late January/February, with sales to commence in March. But we'll see. I'm not rushing. 

What do I really want to do? Get comfy and read, write, and stare out the window at the new Christmas--colored solar orbs I hung in the crabapple tree. Unfortunately, the weather has not been that conducive to charging the batteries. We need a day of sun soon. After such a hot, dry summer/early fall, we've certainly been making up for lost wetness. I think it's going to be an "old fashioned" winter with snow snow snow. I just hope it's not ice ice ice.

Speaking of which...nah, I won't. Not today. I have a former student/friend in Charlotte. I worry. 

Hug your loved ones tightly. Nothing is guaranteed, but being there for each other helps.

C

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