Slowly, I Return

to greening. Each year, this particular time in the academic calendar has the power to flatten me with exhaustion, and when I slowly return to the world, I am each year shocked by its greening. It was a nice change today to set aside my schoolwork and just sit and look out my window, where the little tree that shelters me has leafed out most fully.

I have taken the day off. The cardinals sing intermittently, and the house next door, recently sold after a year on the market, is undergoing some work involving power tools, while the sun lets loose its wide-awake.

Words, as you might tell, are cluttering behind my tongue again, and I am impatient for May 16th, the day that marks the end of my responsibilities at school.

Hiatus

Unfortunately, the end of the semester workload is preventing me from updating the blog with new posts. Please check back in a week or so, when I should have survived the brunt of the grading. Thanks for reading, and I'll be back soon!

ALF

Today, Pulaski Tech hosted several creative writing workshops at the Arkansas Literary Festival. I had a great time working with Caroline Lewis, my colleague at PTC, as we presented several writing exercises designed to break writer's block. We had a standing room only crowd, all enthusiastic and all eager to write.

If you are in the area, consider attending the festival. There's a lot more to do this afternoon, and tomorrow afternoon has a great line-up as well.

Oh, and some good mail yesterday. Jill Gerard of the Chautauqua Literary Journal has taken "In the Delicate Branches" for the 2009 issue.