What One Girl Knows

Nearly finished the last of the new chapbook, Dreams of the Drowned. I've already written the ever-grim final poem in the set. But because I'm two pages short of the minimum requirements for a chapbook, I need to write a few more poems. Jason suggests they be slightly cheerful -- just to mix things up.

With the second chapbook almost complete (first draft, at least), I've also started writing the first pages of a new story -- utilizing my newly fine-tuned attention to language. So far, so good.

In domestic news, I smell gas in the stove vicinity. Last time there was a leak, after the gas company turned off the stove and tagged it, it took the Management Company five days to mosey over and fix the damn thing. We had a lot of pizza and mushy foods in the crockpot. Not having a working stove made me want to cook the most elaborate dinners and baked goods, and not being to cook made me grumpy. So we're going to call Dominion Peoples and start the whole grueling process over again.

Jason's temp job ended on Friday, and Kelly Services didn't have another for him to start right away. So today we're hanging out in the lesser library, and doing our reading/writing thing at home. Jason had already written a poem by the time I woke up this morning!

Just sent out submissions to River City, Inkwell, and Karamu. I think an average of three literary journals per week is pretty good.

I need six more pages of poem to complete my second chapbook -- a narrative cycle about a woman living at the turn of the century. Grim stuff, these new poems. I emailed the first chapbook to my mother and am sure I will hear comments like: that incident didn't happen the way you say it did. I never did that.

Not much else. Reading a nonfiction account of a family of dwarves in Auschwitz. Wearing my new pirate t-shirt, waiting for dinner with Nina and Ben. Sushi!

Oh, and one of these days I'll get around to posting a picture of Ella, the rapid growth kitten.