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Welcome to the new,  improved LouAnnMuhm.com!  It will get your whites whiter, your teeth brighter, and keep you up on all the happenings with my poetry and poetry teaching.

Well…one of those, anyway.

It’s been a bit of a writing dry spell for me the past couple of years.  Lots of writers talk about the “post-first-book slump”, and I’ve been in it.  There’s something about having that finished object in your hand that makes you wonder “How did I do that?  Can I ever do it again?”  I think the mistake is that suddenly you’re thinking about a manuscript instead of just thinking about each poem as it comes. That’s how it was working for me, until I figured out that’s what I was doing.  So now, I’m taking it one poem at a time and reminding myself that the first book happened just that way. After all, I write poems, not books.  If those poems end up becoming  books, great, but if not, I still want to write them,  revise them, and be illuminated and uplifted by the whole process.

Teaching-wise, I’m very excited to have led a session at The Loft’s Teen Writers’ Conference on June 18.  I’ve also had my proposal accepted to offer an online class through The Loft for the fall called “Compression and Concision: Writing the Short Poem.” More information and registration instructions can be found HERE.

I’ll be blogging on the idea of the short poem on the Loft’s Writer’s Block  blog on July 15.  check it out!

My review of Deborah Digges’ posthumous poetry collection The Wind Blows Through the Doors of My Heart is online at HerCircle Ezine.

In other summer news, I’ll be participating in the Y Steak House (Park Rapids, MN) “Sunday Classics” series. Kate Kysar and I will be cocktailing, dining with and reading to all of the North Country’s glitterati. Tickets and more info are available by calling 218-732-4565.

Plans are also in the works for a 3-week workshop at The Nemeth Art Center in Park Rapids, MN (formerly North Country Museum of Arts), culminating in a reading and reception at the Art Center during Park Rapids’ Art Leap on September 24.

Quote of the week:

Check back for updates!