Late July Happenings

I had so much to do the last week – we celebrated our 17th anniversary, Glenn turned 40, and of course, still organizing readings and such for my new book, She Returns to the Floating World. (Have you gotten your copy yet? I still have a few copies left if you want a signed copy…) New readings I’m putting together include the Richard Hugo House’s Cheap Wine and Poetry Series this fall and the new Northwest Bookfest in October. Excitement! The fall is filling up!

Remember to check www.versedaily.com tomorrow to see a poem from my new book! (Link to the poem will go live tomorrow…so excited to see which one it is! Thanks Verse Daily guys! – Here it is, “Advice Given to Me Before My Wedding”)

I’m going up to visit the Port Townsend Writers Conference this week as well, culminating in a little reading on Saturday night, the 23rd, at 7:30, with none other than my literary heroine Dorianne Laux. A dream indeed! And I am looking forward to catching up with lots of friends – after all, I used to live up there! (And here’s a list of readings in the local paper the Port Townsend Leader, including mine!)

Hope you’ve been enjoying the Summer Interview series feature on the blog! So far, we’ve featured Roland Kelts on Japanese literature, novelist Helen Phillips, Kelli Russell Agodon, Susan Rich, Diane K. Martin, Marie Gauthier, Collin Kelly on social media, Elizabeth Austen on radio interviews. Let me know in the comments if there’s someone you’d love to see interviewed!

I’m going to the rheumatologist down at UW today so if I have enough energy after, we’re going to go see the new Harry Potter (well, if it’s not sold out…lots of kids in capes around here!) I strongly believe in balancing time spent in doctor’s offices with time spent doing something more pleasant. There is so much to be thankful for, this gloomy rain-cloud-y Seattle morning…I’m thankful for my friends, for my husband, that my ankles and TMJ are slowly improving, that my allergy situation seems more stable…that I’m back in a place where I can visit doctors without worrying about crazy unexpected bills (our insurance didn’t transfer well to California…) and that I’m looking forward, in a hopeful way. I’m hoping for good things for this little new book of mine, for my two as-yet-unpublished manuscripts of poetry, for stable health, for dreams of maybe writing a little creative prose, for more work opportunities if if if the economy improves…