Cold Wolf Moon, Changing Times with Fires and Social Media, Taking Better Care of Body and Mind in the New Year

Contemplating Changes and Changing Times with Fire and Social Media under a Cold Wolf Moon

Cold Wolf Moon

The full Wolf Moon was visible because of the uncanny cold clear weather we’ve been having here in the Pacific Northwest. We’ve been watching the LA fires with so much sadness, because I spent part of my childhood in LA and have many good memories of places there as an adult that have disappeared. Pasadena’s Altadena neighborhood was particularly tragic. Sending so much love and empathy to those who have lost so much. California is so beautiful, but so startlingly apocalyptic, and at the strangest times.

And we do live in strange times, don’t we? MLK Day is tomorrow (along with the inauguration of one of the worst people to be elected President in history) and a younger generation is mourning the loss of TikTok while an older generation, pissed at social media mavens’ various betrayals, are disavowing Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon.

And me? I’ve started the new year by contemplating change to my life, both mind and body.

Taking Care of Body and Mind (and hopefully spirit) in the New Year

I am not big on New Year’s resolutions, but given the stress that the news has brought (along with increased feelings of helplessness) and the clusterfuck that is social media right now, I limited myself since Jan 1 to thirty minutes of news a day (television, newspaper, or online) and decided to cut my time on my phone and social media in half. And you know what? My terrible anxiety and depression have lessened. I’ve seen more people in person, gone out of the house more, read more books. I’ve written more poems in the new year than I had in the previous three months.

And I spent some time taking care of some physical things as well—getting an eye exam and getting new glasses made (aging and MS are hard on the eyes!) and getting the first of four front teeth crowned (without Novocain – ouch!) I spent time checking in on myself in terms of where I am in my life and what I want to spend time doing with it. I’m going through a whole house reduction in stuff—from little things like throwing out old makeup and bath products to reducing the number of items in my closets and helping Glenn get rid of worn-out items—a broken toaster oven, worn out t-shirts. We are donating, recycling, and even consigning to help reduce overall waste, but I’m telling you, this act of getting rid of stuff in general has given me a feeling of more control over my immediate environment. (Have I reduced books yet? The answer is, not enough, lol! And I got rid of expired sunscreens and lip gloss and found I had to replace them. On the positive side, I found that going to the mall once convinced me that the clothing I already have is better made and cuter than the stuff I could buy there. So has it been a perfect experiment?)

I am also looking at my network of friends and family—and my writing career/life, as it were—and seeing what I need to nurture both. If the last four years have been isolating for me, as they have been for many with poor immune systems, it seems time to start rebuilding networks of people you can care about and who care about you, strengthening bonds you want to keep. If I don’t know exactly why I write, and I’m a bit at sea about what to do next, so to speak—for the next section of my life—not exactly sure at my age what to even expect—maybe that’s pretty normal. I can prioritize things that matter and decide to get rid of things that aren’t aiding me in my life. I can’t control wars, or Presidents, or the environment, my health, or how many people read my work, but I can decide what I spend my time and energy on, and who, and what deserves that time, energy, and money.

On the plus side, we had a lovely book club meeting this month at J. Bookwalter’s discussing After Dark—staying late afterwards to talk (and some to talk and try some fancy whiskeys—what a book club!) I spent time catching up with some new poet friends. Spending time with people in person can be so life-affirming, even if it does bring a few more bugs my way. And I have a real in-person reading next week, and my neighborhood of Woodinville is getting a reading series at the winery, with an open mic after—the first literary reading series I’ve heard of in this area for some time. I want to enter the world of writers again in a more active way. Like blinking into a brighter, harsher light after reading in the dark or cave walking for some time, I’m looking with realism—and some optimism—into 2025.

Sending you all the best possible energy into the next week, which might be a challenging one. Let’s hope the planet’s alignments bode well. Let’s hope we can all work to make our individual corners of the world a little brighter, and hope, by extension, to illuminate the world.

Hello 2025! Upcoming Appearances, Classes and Readings in January, Plus Plans

Hello 2025! Upcoming appearances, Plus Plans

How was your new year’s? I had a mild cold so we actually celebrated our new year on January 3rd! Now we’ve taken down our Christmas decorations and have restored the house to some kind of order, I’m starting to make plans for the new year.

One thing I want: more fun and more adventure. I’m not sure exactly how to make this happen, but I want to spend less time in doctor’s offices and more time with friends. I want to visit people and places that make me feel joy. More joy in 2025, somehow, even the chaos spinning around us.

If you want to see me, I am doing a class on PR for Poets with a Q&A after for the Poetry Salon – virtual on January 12th. See the flyer below. And, if you want to see me in person and you live in the area, I’ll be reading with a few friends on January 23rd at J. Bookwalter’s tasting room in Woodinville at 6:30 PM. Even though January is usually not my most energetic month, I’m also going to attempt to go to a writing residency! Whew! It turned into a busy month after all. And I’ve decided to try to attend AWP in LA after I said I wasn’t going to. I mean, Seattle in March is no picnic, and it would be great to see the sun, see friends, see the ocean…this is part of my plan for 2025. More fun, more adventure, right?

Plans, Resolutions, Hopes and Dreams

So, do you have a vision for your 2025? I am working on mine, though I admit the vision is not as goal-oriented as usual? I have hopes. Hopes I will be more well, and that I will get back into better physical condition (immune and otherwise.) Hopes that I can visit friends and family I haven’t seen in a long time, and visit places I have never seen before but always wanted to. Having the bath renovation in the middle of the year may be a good excuse to get away someplace (since I can’t be in the house for three weeks of the work due to my asthma and allergies.)

I watched the Wicked movie last night – I’d read the book when it first came out, but never saw the musical and though I enjoyed it, I repeatedly thought “I don’t really think I identify with the good witch.” Which would make sense given my first book was called “Becoming the Villainess,” even though I do like pink. I’m working on my next book which has villainesses like world-weary Persephone, Cassandra, Poison Ivy, confronting a world of plagues, politics, environmental disaster, with only their powers to protect them. I hope I find a publisher soon, but it’s a fun, and dare I say, defiant, book? So that’s part of my 2025 plan.

Accumulate less stuff, and add more experiences. That’s definitely a goal. More parties, more readings, maybe seeing some musical theater and more concerts (going to be ballet reminded me how much I love to be part of that scene! I used to do theater in high school, after all!) Be careful, but maybe not too careful?

Hope the beginning of your 2025 has been as healthy and happy as possible!

Happy New Year! Trumpeter Swans, Revaluating at Midlife after a Tough Year, MRIs, and Ballets

In Kirkland, in rare December sunshine

Happy New Year! Trumpeter Swans, MRIs, and Ballets

Writing this right before New Year’s Eve, and right after going to the ballet The Snow Queen, danced by the Kyiv Ballet, whom my little brother had seen while he was working in Ukraine right before the war. I hadn’t been to the ballet in a long time, but I remember really enjoying ballet as a kid and also as a college student (when I could still get student tickets).  It was fun, the dancers and costumes, although I was missing the talking reindeer and Robber Queen’s daughter.

Our Christmas was pretty quiet, but also low stress. The only thing I was sad about was missing Christmas Eve service, because for some reason the church we usually attend held their service on Monday the 23rd?  Then I had an MRI this week—never my favorite thing to do but expedient as it’s pretty expensive and I’d have to pay a new deductible after January 1 rolls around, plus those things always find something to worry about.

Here are a few pictures from Christmas, with Glenn holding Charlotte and a few baubles on the tree.

Driving by our pumpkin/lavender farm this week, we saw some beautiful Trumpeter swans among Canadian geese. And here’s a scene from the Kyiv ballet “the Snow Queen.”

Glenn and I going to the ballet

Re-Evaluation at Midlife After a Tough Year

I have to admit that this was a tough year for me. Is it because of my age? Is this a peri-menopause thing? A mid-life crisis? The election nearly wrung all my positive energy out of me. My last book’s sales were respectable but not great (not as good as my previous book’s), and my rejection vs acceptance rate was mediocre at best. I worked hard but felt a bit like I was butting up against a wall in the literary world. I am lucky to have wonderful writer friends but I’m missing the spark that usually drives me to write. Not sure if it’s plain disappointment or disillusionment or what, exactly. The grungy weather is bothering me a little bit more than normal, and my MS flared up worse this fall than it has in a long time—not sure of the cause, which left me unable to do much besides listen to audiobooks and watch old movies on TCM.

So, what do you do? Well, two good, very healthy friends—one died suddenly, the other experiencing a “surprise” terminal illness—have taught me a hard lesson. Maybe we should be kinder to ourselves, appreciating the days that we do have, and maybe not being so judgy about what we are accomplishing and focusing more and how much we are enjoying what we have, and experiencing things like “joy” and “awe”—things we often don’t put a priority on in our culture of productivity everywhere, all the time. While I am being scanned for tumors and tested for cancer and autoimmune problems, when I am dealing with yet another crown or root canal—I have to remember to prioritize the good days and take advantage of them. I have maybe, in the last four years, lived a too-circumscribed life, too safe? Certainly, too much damn time in doctor’s and dentist’s offices. Have I not been allowing myself enough adventure? Maybe that should be my goal for 2025—to live a more adventurous, joyful life—to maybe take a few risks in the days I have, because tomorrow is never guaranteed.

Anyway, my friends, happy New Year to you. May it bring you good things.

Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah, Bad Blood and the Ballet, Wishes and Hopes for a New Year

Solstice double rainbow

Happy Solstice, Merry Christmas, and Happy Hannukah!

It’s 12:01 on the 22nd as I draft this post, the moon is rising on the horizon, and today was drizzly, with a beautiful double rainbow in the middle of the afternoon. Glenn and I spent are spending a quiet holiday—we went for dinner at the Fireside Lounge at Willows Lodge, where we saw two friends from our neighborhood pumpkin farm—one who was the performer of the live music. We also visited Chateau Ste Michelle, which was decorated for the holidays, and playing holiday music. We had the last book club of the year at J. Bookwalter’s winery, where we had mulled wine and a terrific discussion. We’re also delivering cookies to our neighbors and still working on holiday cards.

Woodinville lights with bunnies

It’s a quiet holiday here, which is good. I still have an MRI and more blood work to do before the end of the year. Last week I had some blood work with 40-some results, with about seven troubling “abnormal” results. Sobering, sure, but it’s not the first time immunologists and oncologists have given me bad news before a holiday, and it probably won’t be the last. On a happier note, I’ll be going to the ballet before the end of the year to see the Grand Kyiv Ballet—my little brother last saw them in the Ukraine before the war, dancing Swan Lake—perform The Snow Queen, one of my favorite fairy stories that Disney tried to ruin with Frozen. I have been to the ballet maybe a handful of times—I’ve seen The Nutcracker more than once, Peter and the Wolf, Swan Lake, and maybe one or two others. The last time I went I was writing cultural pieces for (laugh if you want) America Online. So that’s been some years. It’s good to make time for these kinds of experiences, especially if you’re in the winter, in need of beauty, of feeling something new, awe, etc., that sometimes only art can bring.

You, like me, may be struggling to feel hopeful about the new year, with the next presidency of possibly our worst president ever (not discounting terrible presidents of the past Woodrow Wilson, James Buchanan, and Andrew Jackson) and the vague rumblings of another pandemic—the bird flu—on the horizon. Sometimes it’s hard to see the moonrise when the glow of fire blots it out, an experience too frequent recently here on the West Coast. But the moon is there, all the same.

I’ve got a residency planned in January, and looking at more travel – residencies, classes in Europe, maybe. I’ve got a new book manuscript that I’m sending out to new publishers. Even if my health situation wobbles—as it has for years—there will still be joy and beauty ahead. Hospitals and medical tests and terrible politics can’t blot all that out. Read writers who lived through plagues and world wars; they all have something to say to us, now. Hope and joy can seem unreasonable in certain circumstances, but I will say sometimes hard time can push us to try new things, to take leaps we might not have taken in happier times, to find courage. Or maybe I will take hibernation to new heights. Either way, see you on the other side of the light, with days stretching longer before us. Here’s wishing you all a happy holiday season and happy-as-possible new year.

My Review of Martha Silano’s New Book on Mom Egg, Holiday Lights and Holiday Celebrations with a Full Cold Moon

Glenn, me, Loree, and Mike

Happy Holidays! Holiday Lights and Holiday Celebrations

This is a bit early, but we celebrated an early Christmas with my little brother Mike and sister-in-law Loree this weekend, which was really fun (and forced us to clean and decorate the house, not as fun but definitely needed!) We had a Christmas dinner (Glenn made it and it was delicious as usual) and caught up on things and talked about plans for next year. We both have house projects in the works for 2025. They’re going home to the Midwest for the holidays, so this was our last chance to see them. Before they left, though it had been rainy and windy when they arrived, we went outside and got a glimpse of the full Cold moon.

Today I’m finishing a few more holiday cards (definitely behind on that) and planning out the rest of the year. We also took a few pics with Redmond reindeer lights while we had some light. I’m ready for more sunshine ahead. Glad the solstice is coming up.

My Review of Martha Silano’s This One We Call Ours up at Mom Egg Review

I’m so happy to have a new review of Martha Silano’s latest, the winner of the Lynx Prize, This One We Call Ours, up at Mom Egg Review. It’s a wonderful collection and I hope you take the time to read about it—a call to action about the environment, apocalyptic and fierce. Here’s a short excerpt:

While Silano’s previous books have dealt with similar subject matter – physics, biology and the end of the world, the science of human psychology – this new book make the danger that shimmers in the background of her other books more menacing and urgent.”

As much as I liked this book, I know based on some of the poems she’s published about her journey with ALS (see: Poetry Magazine, among other places, for her work) that Martha’s next book will be even better, so keep your eye out for news about that book’s publication.

Wishing you all a safe, healthy and happy holiday.

A Busy Week of Pre-Holiday Teaching, Celebrating with Friends, SAL Event with Aimee Nezhukumatathil, and More

A Busy Week – Pre-Holiday Teaching, Celebrating with Friends, and More

I saw the sunrise more than once this week, as I got up early at the beginning of the week to do a class appearance for Dr. Lesley Wheeler’s class at Washington and Lee University at 9:30 AM Pacific Time. The class asked great questions, they asked me to read poems from Flare, Corona I hadn’t read out loud yet, and generally had great vibes despite the early hour.

This week was also filled with social activity—downtown Seattle dinner with poet friends, attending a Seattle Arts & Lectures (SAL) event, and an early morning downtown Seattle breakfast to end the week with old friend (best-selling writer and poet) Aimee Nezhukumatathil.

Next week we’ll celebrate Christmas early with my little brother and sister-in-law. In the meantime, we’re still in the middle of decorating the house, getting out holiday cards, and oh yeah, seeing endodontists for a root canal, scheduling MRIs and blood draws and eye exams. It was nice to have one week where I felt like a writer again, a real person, instead of a case study, if you know what I mean.
If you are struggling, and I know many are, please be kinder to yourself than you think you need to be. Take a trip outside your house to see people who brighten your life. See some holiday lights. Give strangers the opportunity to be friendly for once. Have that espresso martini. Tonight I’m going to try to write and send out some poems. Work on my next book manuscript. Listen to the tiny voice inside my head that says: despite everything, cling to the light.

Happy Post-Thanksgiving, A Season of Rejection, Holiday Lights with Dragons, Seeing Friends and Winter Birds

Happy Post-Thanksgiving

Hello! Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. We had a solo low-key Thanksgiving, which was nice. I’m not a huge T-Day person anyway, so we got out the Christmas tree, put on some Christmas movies, ate only the things we wanted to eat and FaceTimed with our families. We didn’t shop on Black Friday, but we did go out on Small Business Saturday and got a few things.

Here’s a shot of a sunset in Kirkland, in front of some shop holiday windows, a sunset, and some winter bird shots from my back porch, including a beautiful pileated woodpecker and a female hummingbird. I also had a week of rejections—but it’s also time that many literary mags are reopening, so it’s the circle of poetry publication, I suppose. Can’t wait for the days to get longer again!

Holiday Lights at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens, and Holiday Plans with Friends

In front of poinsettia tree at Botanical Gardens

In following my previous post about seeking to do positive things that will help lift our spirits, we visited the holiday lights—somewhat non-traditional—at Bellevue Botanical Gardens, which features dragons and flowers made of lights, as well as a very cool underwater scene. Video of dragon below pics.

This year BBG also has concerts every weekend, and when we went, they had a jazz guitar quartet, so we listened to a concert of jazz standards by Cole Porter and the Peanuts Christmas theme on steel guitar. We hadn’t seen live jazz in a long time, so it was a fun bonus.

Tomorrow I’m doing a class for a university on the East Coast early, and later in the week I’m going to meet a friend downtown for drinks and then go to the SAL event featuring Aimee Nezhukumatathil, whom I’ve known since we started blogging in….2003? So it’ll be nice to go be social a bit. I hope you are also keeping your holiday/election blues at bay with whatever makes you feel even a little happier.

Please enjoy a few seconds of this dragon light display. And have as happy a holiday season as you possibly can.

Bomb Cyclones and Power Outages, New Poems in Friction, Practical Plans for the Future, Doing Something Positive in the Face of Despair

Woodinville Holiday Lights and Rain Reflection post-bomb cyclone

Bomb Cyclones and Power Outages

We had a once-in-twenty-year bomb-cyclone storm that killed two people, injured many others, and left almost a million people without power, internet, or cell phone service. We were out of power for four days and tried to tough it out with our propane generator, but eventually went to a hotel downtown to shower, have power and heat (our house got down to 50 degrees, which is chilly!) But even there, the internet and phone weren’t working normally. I am now back at home, buried in emails, laundry and dishes, cleaning up, etc. It felt a little apocalyptic here, especially considering the bad news of the last month. What’s the old saying? “Cheer up, it could be worse!” and sure enough, I cheered up and it got worse!

The one good thing that came out of the disaster was it reminded me I can survive bad things. We went out to eat twice and out of those two times, I had an allergic reaction from something. My MS symptoms were acting up, but I didn’t collapse or need the hospital during the days the power was out. Here are Glenn and I (me with makeup put on in the dark, and no blow drier!) at the lobby of the Edgewater and Hyatt hotels, which were full of people with two dogs and two kids in tow, looking exhausted. Others happily typed away on laptops.

Sylvia with her copies of the new issue of F(r)iction

Three Poems in the New Issue of F(r)iction

But I am happy to say I had three poems appear in the gorgeous new issue of F(r)iction, pictured at left with a snuggly Sylvia (who hid all the days the power was out? She doesn’t like her routine interrupted, which I understand). My three poems were accompanied by art by Tyler Champion. You can order a subscription here. This issue is the “Dreams” issue.

In other literary news, I found out after I got home that local treasure (and really sweet human) Lena Khalaf Tuffaha had won the National Book Award for Poetry, and Percival Everett (long overlooked) had won for fiction. And I’d been rejected again for the NEA.  So good news/bad news.

Here’s a sneak peek at two of the poems. I hope you enjoy them, but the whole issue is beautiful and worth reading.

Practical Plans for the Future: Doing Something Positive in the Face of Despair

I have seen multiple people in the last week encourage those who feel despair or discouragement in the face of life (health stuff, money stuff, election stuff, friends dying, power outages, etc.) to do something positive for others or themselves in the face of despair. Something concrete. For instance, going out and being extra kind to people you interact with, who are probably also going through a hard time. Taking something over to your neighbors. Calling a friend who is struggling. If you are feeling despair about your health, doing something positive for your health—a diet tweak, starting your tai chi practice again—if you are feeling despair about your career, taking a small step—sending out a resume, taking a class.

In my case, I’m going to try to spend more time writing, editing and submitting, not just stressing out about my lack of success as a writer. Seeking out an opportunity to study or do a residency in Europe. Doing a short visit before trying to move to either Ireland or France seems wise. I’ve also looked up resources for disabled people and for people with food allergies who are moving to Europe. I’ve taken a masterclass with resources on visas, pets, banking, and work for Americans moving to Europe. I’m trying to get in touch with people I know in Ireland and France. Anyway, small, concrete steps towards my goals.

This week, I’m going to prioritize joy and connection after several weeks of feeling disconnected and despairing. I’m finally putting up some holiday decorations. Glenn and I are exchanging one present, instead of lots of things that might fill up the house (we are trying to declutter and downsize). I’ve been struggling with anxiety (and weird blood pressure) and MS symptoms, so rest and things that are good for the body and mind are on my list of things to do, too. Adding beet juice and sweet potatoes into my diet, and yes, at least a few minutes of tai chi (laugh all you want, I still suck at it, but it feels like it helps everything from balance to asthma tightness). A nightly hot cider and a few Christmas movies (The Bishop’s Wife with Cary Grant, Christmas in Connecticut with Barbara Stanwyck) might be a new habit to build in too. Giving food to food drives, clothes and toys to donation centers.

Do I sound like I have a new perspective? I think the death of my old roommate and being out of control with the power/internet/phone outage actually forced me to think about what I need to do to survive. I want you to think hard, too, about what is within your control, and how you can bring more kindness, generosity, and joy into your life, in your own sphere of influence. Sending light out there to everyone who is struggling.

When You Lose Old Friends, Interventions at the Zoo with Snow Leopards, and Contemplating Changes in a Supermoon

Dewi Plass’ Escapism

Interventions at the Zoo with Snow Leopards

Earlier in this week, before the Woodland Park Zoo had a bird flu scare (stay safe, zoo animals and keepers!), Glenn took me for a brief trip to the zoo to see the new baby snow leopards. Some of the holiday lanterns were already up, plus we saw chirping otters. Yes, I had to be in a wheelchair for the trip—MS still acting up—but hopefully I’ll be back to walking soon.

It was hard to be sad or angry while watching snow leopard cubs do their snow leopard thing. Also, I hope that people will remember to save the cute snow leopard cubs, and therefore the environment. I can hope!

But here’s my sad news of the week. My college roommate, Tara Polek, who helped get me through Organic Chem and went to UC basketball games with me, who moved from Ohio to Seattle just like I did, who was the smartest, kindest children’s cancer researcher ever, passed away.

Tara Polek and I in 2023

I feel like this is where I should have poetic thoughts, but I’m still mostly in sad mode. Tara had two young children and a husband, and I never heard she was even sick. In college, she was the friend who, when I caught pneumonia and the girl across the hall had to be airlifted to the hospital with even worse pneumonia, never even got a sniffle. She ran—for fun—ever since I knew her. She spent her entire life doing cancer research. I wish I had told her how much her 30-year friendship meant to me while I still had the chance.

Me, Heidi, and Tara in 1994

This is a picture of us (with another dorm mate) on the way to a basketball game my freshman year of college. Anyway, I notice that my friends tend to be smarter, better people than I am, and, inevitably, taller than me. This makes it harder when you lose them. So, make sure that you tell your friends, no matter what else is going on, how much you appreciate, how you think of them as bright lights. Because you don’t know how long you’ll have them.

Contemplating Change in a Frost Supermoon

The frost supermoon

One thing that the death of a good friend will do is make you reconsider your life and where you are in it. At 51, I have spent too much time in the last decade in doctor’s offices, not enough having adventures, traveling, seeing the world. The world seems to have shrunk, especially since the pandemic, and now, with the election, it seems more dangerous than ever to just elect the status quo.

So, I signup up for an online class called She Hits Refresh, about women over thirty moving out of the US, and I’m researching grad schools, cities, visas, vacation time, disability, and medication rules. It’s been my dream for a long time to live in France, and besides that, visit England and Ireland.

On top of that, I’m sending my next manuscript out to new publishers. I’ve got be braver with my art, and my personal life. I feel like I’ve seen my life shrink and I don’t want that to define the rest of my life, or my writing. I don’t want to live in fear.

On that note, wishing you warmth and bravery as we near the holidays. Stay strong, stay sane.

Doing Terrible? Me too! Setbacks in Physical and Mental Health, How to Move Forward (with Typewriters and Poems)

My pink typewriter, maple leaves

Hello My Friends! Doing Well? Me Neither.

You may have noticed I didn’t post last week, and almost didn’t past today. My MS has been acting up with some pretty severe symptoms, and since the election, I’ve also been dealing with depression and anger. This is on top of a pretty bad career setback I’m still reeling from, money issues, the root canal I still haven’t found a person to do for me.

I postponed needed updates to the house because my MS is too bad for me to even have people around. I’m looking at ways to move forward – finding maybe a new path.

How to Move Forward

So, how to move forward after setbacks in your personal, professional life, your health, your spirit, your feelings towards your country?

Good question. I read some philosophy, including Voltaire, who contended that people were too stupid and too self-interested for a democracy to work (he may have been right?) I tried to reconnect to my spiritual side. I thought about paths I might like to try – maybe a graduate degree in another country, focused on something totally impractical that I’ve wanted to do for a long time, like folklore studies. I looked at requirements for moving to countries like Ireland and France. I tried self-care – sleeping, breathing exercises, etc. I am still, to be honest, struggling. I wake up in the cold dark, and the sun (if there is any) disappears at four PM. I try to avoid any news. I deleted Twitter, cancelled my newspaper subscription. Sold a bunch of clothes and getting rid of a bunch of old furniture. I checked in with some family and friends. Maybe moving forward will take some work and some time.

Typewriter with fairy agaric mushrooms

Still a Writer

The only thing I know for sure is I am still a writer, so I will write and submit and keep trying to encourage people to read, and specifically read short stories and poetry. I’m supposed to do a class visit soon. Right before the election, the site Poetry Out Loud posted my poem, “Spellcaster,” which is from my latest manuscript which I am now looking for a publisher for.

Here is a sneak peek.

I wish you better news and a better week ahead.