Working Working Working

There’s a lot to do these days (a list of sorts)

1) I have a teaching portfolio to put together that will contain samples of course syllabi from classes I’ve taught, a lengthy CV, a teaching philosophy, and all sorts of other good stuff.

2) I have my Stegner Fellowship application to finish up. All I have left is to decide what writing sample to include. It had better be good this time because last time I used a sample from my first novel “The Evolution of Shadows” and we all know how awful (wink wink, nudge nudge) that book is. I don’t know, maybe it was my Statement of Plans that did me in last time. This time I’m keeping it short and sweet.

3) Tired of sitting all the time, I’m looking in to building a standing desk.

4) In the next few days I will receive my manuscript back from my editor full of comments and suggestions, and so I’ll be spending the rest of the month revisiting my first novel for the 6,000th time. I don’t completely understand writers who cringe at this step of the process, or who refer to all the revision as picking up a dead fish. To me, creation is the hard, frustrating, painful part. Revision is where we make art. I get to discover, more deeply, what it is I have to say, I get to refine my ideas, sharpen the images, focus my characters, tidy up the unintentional loose ends, smooth out inconsistencies, and throw out the dead weight. It appeals to my inner perfectionist, and my obsessive compulsiveness. Rough drafts unnerve me. They are the textual equivalent of extemporaneous speech, and I suck at extemporaneous speech. I have a black belt in Footinmouth.

5) I’ve begun reading another excellent book from Unbridled. The Wonder Singer by George Rabasa.

6) I am going back into some of my short stories in an attempt to get them polished up before sending them off to magazines. My best bets, I think, are “Among Predators,” “Dr. Zeus,” and “Life Jackets.” The last one needs a title change though. Maybe “A Permanent Condition,” which is a story related to my novel.

7) I need to write up a little press release kind of thing to announce to all concerned that I’m closing up the magazine. I’ll keep the website up as a kind of archive. Such as it is, I’ll keep the blog.

8) As a newly minted Associate Member of the Author’s Guild, I can get dental insurance through Cigna, but my dentist isn’t a member of the HMO plan. So, I have to see if he’ll join it, or refer me to a dentist here in town who is a member. Unfortunately, the Author’s Guild doesn’t offer health insurance in the state of Kansas. But hey, if your teeth are in good condition, you can chew your way through anything else.

9) I am also reading a book called “The Murderer Next Door” by David M. Buss. Very good stuff. Pertinent to some of the things I’m looking to write in the future.

10) there are three short manuscripts that other people have asked me to read and I’ve neglected them. I promise to get to them soon, Laura, Anna, and Tiffany. I apologize for the tardiness and delays.