The break between semesters had me working hard, and I am just now returning to creative writing (I wrote a so-so draft of a poem today, but at least I wrote something). In the past five weeks, I graded a lot of final exams, polished part of an intro for a collection of essays due out late this year, finished one of the essays and wrote another one from scratch, wrote two conference papers, and made it through the first Christmas holiday with the experience of having Firstkid home from college along with the new teen and the restless tween. It was a busy time all those weeks, but here I am on the other side, wife happy in her new job, kids happy to be back at school (yes, all three of them), I happy to be back in the routine, as of five minutes ago the proud owner of a brand new rejection slip (not even a letter) from a journal whose initials spell a negative conjunction.
This afternoon, I get to re-read passages of Moby-Dick and Sister Carrie to prepare for the classes I teach tomorrow.
My department is hosting a poetry open mic event tonight, and I am looking forward to participating. I could use some creative recharging.
