Fly

October and November have flown by and here we are bumping up against Thanksgiving and December.  As I am teaching five classes and my book just came out, I literally have had zero time to do much except grade, lesson plan, travel, and cook.  Writing?  What’s that?  What I have managed to do:

 

October 13: Attend the 2011 Gulf Coast Gala at the Finger family home in River Oaks.  The gala benefitted Gulf Coast: A Journal of Literature & Fine Arts and was simply wonderful.  The Finger family’s home is gorgeous and they are all so gracious and hospitable.  Nick Flynn gave a reading from his award-winning work, which, of course, was amazing.  My good friend Becca, who is the managing editor at Gulf Coast, helped to organize it all and did a spectacular job!  I wore this dress from eShakti:

 

 

October 21-23: I was invited to read at the Improved Lighting Reading Series at Nightbird Books in Fayetteville, AR.  Jeff and I flew up there and stayed with our dear friends Brett and April, who recently purchased the cutest old house not far from the University of Arkansas campus (where Brett is an associate professor and April is finishing up her MFA in Creative Writing).  I had so much fun!  After the reading, we had a wonderful dinner at Wasabi on Dickson St.  followed by drinks at Bordino’s.  A good number of my books sold at the reading, which I was really excited about!  The best surprise?  My long-time childhood friend, Jennifer R.’s parents came to my reading!  They retired to AR and now live about an hour from Fayetteville and were there when I walked in the door!  I was thrilled to see them!  Apparently, she has told them about my reading and they made the drive to come see me.  I hadn’t seen them in (gasp!) 16 years and was so humbled that they came all that way to see me.  I was really moved when they told me how proud of me they were and how much they liked my book.  We, of course, had to Kodak that moment:

 

With the Roddas @ Nightbird Books

 

October 27:  I gave another reading as part of Houston’s famed Poison Pen Reading Series at Poison Girl.  That was an amazing reading even if it did begin to rain after recent Whiting Award-winner Shane McCrae (who I read with) finished reading his last poem. When the Reading Series began years ago, I dreamed of reading there and now, voilà!  A girl’s dreams can come true!

 

November 4-6: My husband Jeff is such a great guy.  About a month ago he suggested that we drive up to Dallas to see the stage version of “To Kill a Mockingbird” at the Wyly Theatre.  It was hands down the best play I’ve ever seen!  I love, love going to plays and I love, love TKAM.  The girl who played Scout was Scout.  The last five minutes of the play were filled with sniffles from the audience (including me).  My God, it was extraordinary.  I’m so glad we had the opportunity to see it!  After, we popped over to H&M (the only H&M in TX) as neither Jeff or I had been to an H&M.  We then had dinner at Bucca di Beppo and coffee at my new favorite coffeehouse, Crooked Tree Coffeehouse.

 

Playbill

 

I wanted to go to this year’s Nutcracker Market (I’ve gone the past two years), but I just didn’t have the time.  I’ve also been buying Christmas presents like a madwoman (I like to get it ALL done by Thanksgiving so I can relax and enjoy my holidays) and really didn’t want to part with additional money (I never leave the Market without spending several hundred dollars).

 

Speaking of Christmas shopping, I was joking with Jeff the other day about how you know you’re an old married couple when each of you wants an appliance for their big Christmas present.  Jeff wants a Worx Trivac.  Here’s what I want (and actually got early):

 

KitchenAid "Artisan Design" 5 Quart Tilt Head Stand Mixer, Raspberry

 

I LOVE this mixer and have been wanting one forever!  Besides the fact that it’s a great mixer and that it’s a gorgeous shade of pink, it also commemorates the 10th anniversary of KitchenAid’s “Cook for the Cure” partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure.  Get one here.

 

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As the semester rolls to an end, I hope to be able to take a breath finally and have a nice, long, break (until Spring term).  I have such a long list of books I want to read over break and start thinking about future writing projects.  I’ve sent my second manuscript off to a handful of writing contests, lately, and should hear something in mid-Spring.  Fingers crossed.  Until then, you can find me nose-deep in one of those long-neglected books or whipping something up in the kitchen (like this, this, this, this, or this).

 

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The reviews/news for my book are slowly coming in!  Here are a few:

Short-Shot Review @ Mead Magazine

Interview w/ Kim Young @ Chaparral

My book, The Glass Crib, is named a top 5 best-seller in poetry for October 2011 @ Small Press Distribution!