I’ve been crazy-busy at work, and in the limited amount of time that is not-work I’ve been working on a short story, which I just submitted (sans ending, which I still haven’t thunk up) to my writing workshop. I haven’t written fiction since a high school creative writing class in 1974. I was initially inspired [...]
“Who does Robert Olen Butler think he is?” I was trying to explain to a young man why you always, always carry a writing notebook and a pen, so I showed him this genuine, overhead-in-the-hallways, can’t-make-this-stuff-up line I had jotted down minutes earlier, and no, I’m not telling you who said it — not here [...]
Sugar lady, be my saviour, ‘Cause I’m tired, I’ve been eight days on the road. That’s right, eight days on the road, Travelin’ through the night, There ain’t no town, ain’t no town, ain’t no rest tonight. I am zooming through this post since the work-bell clangs in 24 minutes, but here’s my latest adventures: [...]
Today I am taking a writing day, as a way to help my writing soul and displace me from the omnipresent Now. I have too many writing tasks to work on in the next fourteen hours, and that’s a wonderful problem to contemplate! But I had this link roundup written, so here you go. As [...]
When I was a little girl I fell down the stairs. What I remember most is not the eyes-open terror of feeling my awkward, clumsy body suddenly loose and limber in free-fall, an unwilling astronaut launched on a possibly lethal space-walk, but my mother’s story of watching me tumble down the stairs, unable to stop [...]
The latest issue of Ninth Letter — a physically-gorgeous journal from the University of Illinois — includes my essay, “The Outlaw Bride,” about my marriage to my partner Sandy in 2004 and its aftermath after our marriage was invalidated by the state. It’s an essay about the meaning of marriage, and love, and stuff even [...]
Before this gets completely stale! Literary essays accepted for publication: 3 Literary submissions rejected: 7 [Note: should be much higher; this means I didn't submit enough.] Literary essays included in “Best Of” anthologies or nominated for the Pushcart Prize: 2 New essays started: 4 New essays completed: 1 Essays in SubmissionLand as of 12/28/30 12/28/08: [...]
Several weeks ago Kore Press notified me that they had nominated my essay, “Falling In,” for a Pushcart prize (“Best of the Small Presses”). This essay is in Powder: Writing by Women in the Ranks, which, might I add, is a mighty fine read all around and makes a lovely gift for the soldier or [...]
As Miriam B. noted in a comment, “No doubt you are hearing this from your fellow writers: RIGHT NOW, _Powder_ is being featured in a 5-minute segment on NPR’s Weekend Edition Sunday. Whoo-hoo!!! http://tinyurl.com/6g7w9t” I’m very psyched. My own contribution to this volume was in the lighter zone, as this review demonstrates. I do have [...]
Update: YouTube is being funky, so try this link (thanks for the tip!) November 11, Veterans’ Day, is the release date for Powder, an anthology from Kore Press in which one of my essays, “Falling In,” is not so coincidentally included. Here’s a trailer featuring some of the authors for Powder reading from their work [...]
