Scattershot Monday

No new drafts in a few weeks. The end of the semester grading has me distracted. Even though I have time in the morning to write, I find myself looking over at the stack of papers waiting to be graded. I just can't focus with them sitting there. Happy news, I should be done grading by Tuesday afternoon if I keep up the pace. Woo Hoo! My writing goal for December is to complete 3 new drafts before New Year's.

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Given my current inability to concentrate, I've been blog surfing for over an hour and found the following tidbits.

***Friend and fellow U of Arkansas alum, Bill Notter, has a poem up on Verse Daily from his just published book Holding Everything Down. Hope you take the time to check it out.

***Thanks to Rus Bowden (via Facebook) for the link to this great poem "What the Elephant Sings" by Lois Marie Harrod in Canary. I'm unfamiliar with Harrod's work, but I'll be looking into it.

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In other news Timothy Green, the editor of Rattle, sent out a call for audio files of poems from back issues. Check out the Rattle blog. Each day features a poem from a back issue (currently the Summer 09 issue...older issues will begin in the spring) sometimes with audio. This spurred me to learn how to record an mp3 of my own work. I'm happy to say that my poem "Self-Portrait: November" from Rattle 19 will appear on April 6, 2010, and you'll be able to hear my reading of it on the blog as well. Many thanks to Tim for promoting work from back issues and working to create a great poetry community at Rattle.com.

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The papers are starting to tear up b/c I've left them alone too long this morning. Poor, sad papers. I must away, then, with my purple pen and begin again to whittle away the stacks.