Horizons

I have some exciting ventures on the horizon that I'd like to share. Sharing good news makes me happy and helps keep me moving when the bad news (rejections) come rolling in.

Venture One: Next week, Friday, 7 March, I'll be driving on down the road to Conway to participate in UCA's annual literary festival, ArkaText. I'll be the featured poet on Friday. Each year, UCA brings in three writers with Arkansas ties: a fiction writer, an essay/non-fiction writer, and a poet. Each visits the campus on a different day of the festival. I'll be giving a "craft lecture" as well as a reading from my work. I'm looking forward to it!

Venture Two: Andy McFadyen-Ketchum, grad student at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and creator of Poem of the Week, has asked to feature my work in an upcoming posting. He just sent me the interview questions, and I can't wait to delve into them. The questions are insightful and pointed, focusing on the three poems he's chosen to use in the posting. I'll keep you updated on this, but you should check out the site ASAP.

Venture Three: In about a month, I'll be judging the Roxana Rivera Memorial Poetry Contest at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Aside from judging both undergraduate and graduate entries, I also get to visit SIUC and read alongside the winners! I am a huge fan of the faculty at SIUC: Allison Joseph, Rodney Jones, and Judy Jordan. Since this trip will coincide with my spring break from PTC, it couldn't have worked out any better.

In the meantime, there is surely a poem waiting to be written in the pages of my new notebook. I finished the last one on Monday. It's always fun to start again ~ all those blank pages of possibility!