Check In

So, like, wow. Lots going on, and enough with the requests for an update. Here it comes. Thanks for asking — now I know you care 😉

1. No word from the literary agent. Big surprise there.

2. Literati is canceled. See previous post. See www.alamedaliterati.org. See the Alameda Free Library Web page.

3. Kids are well, Patrick is well, I am well.

4. Mia is in New York now, just started at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and found a room to rent. She likes her new roommate, loves NY and says it’s cold already. It will be colder soon. We loved having her with us for three months and very sad to see her go. Very. Sad. Indeed.

5. My dad’s 80th birthday is coming up and we’re having a big shebang for him Nov. 19 up in Sonoma County. That will be fun, with lots of relatives and longtime friends present.

6. Enjoying my new job at The Monthly (formerly the Berkeley Monthly, now also known as the East Bay Monthly). My co-editor, Andrea, is the best. I really love her. Our first co-issue is out on the East Bay streets, so check it out and let me know what you think. You can also read it online at www.themonthly.com. There’s a letter from the co-editors that we wrote, just to tell readers about the changeover.

7. Getting ready to start a new independent study program with dear friend Erin, on feminist theory, spirituality and poetics. Working on a study plan, booklists, course of study, etc. Very exciting stuff. Look for a book at the end of it all. Or two.

8. I have just finished an article for the January issue of Alameda Magazine and have a couple of other articles brewing. The new Music Scene is almost finished and I’ll be working on finishing it this weekend. One of these days I’ll gather together the next Red Hills Review issue — we’re almost due for one.

9. Reading lots of good stuff lately. Revisiting The Mists of Avalon, an old favorite, just because I was in the mood. Reading Little House in the Big Woods aloud to the Boy. Just finished Farmer Boy and we decided tow work our way through all of them. I’m also reading a novel called Two Women of Galilee, and I have just started Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse to read along with an online reading group (see www.cecilvortex.com for details — free and fun. And sign up for Dan’s poem of the day list, too — very cool stuff.) I’m also awaiting arrival of a load of books on my study course — creation spirituality and more. Fun stuff, if you like that kind of thing.

10. The house is in good shape. When the plants go dormant I’m going to rearrange a lot of them, and will rototill the back yard in late winter, early spring for new sod. Raised beds for veggies are next, and maybe I’ll try again for a water garden. The raccoons decimated the first one. They think the succulent roots of water lilies are all that and more. Thanks, critters.

11. Did I mention that I went to my HS reunion last month? I did, and it was so much fun. Really had a good time. Hope to keep in contact with some of these fine folk, but it doesn’t always work that way. I’m trying.

That’s the update. No deep thoughts. No advice for writers. Just a quick catch-up. That’s it.

Happy Halloween. Boo!

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