Fall is Here, Sign Up for a Spooky Season Zoom Class with me and Kelli Russell Agodon, Zoo Visits and More

Fall is Here!

No matter that we’re a few days early for the official start of fall, the cold temperatures and rain don’t lie—and neither do the farm stands, with squash and apples showing up along with the last peaches and corn. I love fall, although this one is pretty busy—I’ve been tied up with dental stuff for two weeks now, first a dentist broke my tooth at a cleaning, then back to patch it, then to an endodontist who said I needed a root canal but he refuses to do it because I can’t take Novocain (allergy)—I mean, exhausting—and that’s outside of all the specialists and scans and infusions on the calendar. I have to make sure to take some to focus on the good things—a quick stop at the Woodland Park Zoo to see snow leopard cubs (hiding during my visit) and our red panda, a visit to Bob’s Corn and Pumpkin Farm. And squeezing in time to write and try to submit and work on my next book (and work a little harder at promoting Flare, Corona!)

September is also rejection season AND submitting season—a double hitter that can be hard on the writer’s ego, and of course I’m waiting to hear about the results of the Washington State Book Award after Flare, Corona was named a finalist. And later this week I’m doing a recording for Writer’s Digest this week and putting together a Zoom class with my friend Kelli. (More about that later in this post!)

Kelli and I with sunflowers

Sign Up for a “Spooky Season” Zoom Class with me and Kelli Russell Agodon

Just in time for Spooky Season AND Sylvia Plath’s birthday, Kelli and I are hosting a Zoom class on October 27, 2024, called:

The Thinning Veil: Writing Poems About Where the Natural and Supernatural Worlds Meet

Zoo Visits

Carson the Red Panda

Woodland Park Zoo is under a lot of construction (including building a new habitat for our red panda!), but it had three brand new snow leopard cubs, and it was the last day of the Butterfly House being open, so we snuck in a quick visit. The snow leopard cubs were hiding while we were there, but we got to visit with their beautiful mother.

Going to the zoo is one of the summer rituals I didn’t want to skip, even though the weather is getting cooler, and the timing was hard. It’s important to squeeze in the things that matter to us—even if it’s just watching butterflies—in between paying bills, doctor appointments, work, and the busy work that is too big a part of our lives. To be a writer is sometimes to prioritize the butterfly watching.