Category: writing

The latest issue of Meniscus has my poem, “A Song of Bathsheba” in it. 

I’ve got a newly published poem from my Chicago Sonnets sequence in the premiere issue of Bronze Bird Review. While numbered as #43, this is actually the second sonnet I wrote for the sequence, depicting the young women of Lincoln Park as seen through the eyes of age and regret. The issue can be purchased […]

One of the things that was a source of amusement for me in college was the fact that the Russian word Мир (“Mir”) meant both “peace” and “world” and we would joke that when the Soviets would declare that they wanted peace, they were really saying that they wanted the world. The obvious next step […]

My latest publication is an excerpt from the novel I’m currently querying, We, the Rescued, entitled “A Blessing of Tears.” It’s a little startling to think of how long ago I first started working on this chapter. According to my computer, the creation date for the first draft of the chapter is 20 June 2017, so […]

This was a month of getting stuff done thanks to a pair of little writing retreats. I did one long weekend at the Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House for a formal writers’ retreat, although I ended up skipping the structured parts because most of it didn’t really feel relevant to me. Then a couple weeks later, […]

This month I workshopped a new story, and while it didn’t get the rapturous reception that I hoped it would (largely a generational thing, I think), it was paradoxically a boost in my mind for the story. Getting a chance to see who responded lukewarmly and why made me feel more secure in what I […]

First draft of the new story is done and I’m into the rewrite. I’m thinking that this might be the first story of a collection about the main character. I’ve committed to a workshop date in September to keep me from dawdling with this story. Still paused on the novel. I’ve been doing a lot […]

Got a new story workshopped with some good feedback on it and a thousand words of another story written. A workshopped story went into submissions. Paused a bit on the novel querying realizing that it needs some revision to be better. I’m making sure that the first 50 pages at least are as perfect as […]

My big thing this month, by far would be writer camp. I spent the last few days of the month in central Pennsylvania, mostly writing, although some reading, some talking with other writerly folks. A rather deep questioning about the novel, and whether I even have the right to write it (I think I do, […]