Back at it, finally

 

I have let this blog languish for almost a year.  How did that happen?  It’s not just the blog that has languished.  I have not written a poem in over a year, either.  Friend, master writer, and professor Heid Erdrich told me “Nobody writes for two years after their MFA.”  I know that’s not true for everyone, but it made me feel slightly better.  2016 was a year crammed with writing milestones–two intense MFA residencies in Tahoe, finishing my thesis, spending a month writing (sort of) at the Vermont Studio Center, graduating, and receiving the Region 2 Arts Council’s Artist Fellowship, plus a couple of readings here and there.

2017?  Not so much.  My focus there turned from writing to teaching, and I added online teaching for Lake Tahoe Community College to my regular full-time high school gig.  Part of my assignment at LTCC is teaching in the Incarcerated Student Program, and the work that I am doing and have done with incarcerated students has been interesting and fulfilling, as is all of my teaching.  So, now, I teach full-time-and-a-quarter.  But what about the writing?

I resolve that in 2018 I will send out my thesis manuscript to possible publishers/contests, send out individual poems for publication, apply for jobs that will afford me more time and focus on writing, and, most importantly, carve out time to read, think, and write (the holy trinity).  Part of that is the commitment I have made to a group resolution of many poets to blog at least once a week for this entire year.  This is my first post to that end.

Now I’ve said it out loud, so I have to do it.  Stay tuned, and check out some of the other poets who I’m joining in this pledge.

Happy new year, all.  You’ll be hearing from me again next week!

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Here’s a list of poets who have committed to blogging at least once a week in 2018.