Curio the creeper

Unexpectedly, Curio is getting some year end attention. I hope you enjoy this interview in jmww. Beth Buchannan is the Writer-in-Residence at St. Alban's school in DC, and we talked at length after she invited me out to speak to her creative writing students in October.

heart sick

Wednesday was a a bad one. Thursday wasn't so hot, either. We learned that the cause of our little Einstein's loss of appetite over the past 10 days was an inoperable mass constricting her small intestine. The oncologist detected several types of "bizarre" cancerous cells(her words, and she's a big deal researcher), none of which was reasonable to treat. She also said Einie's level of discomfort at the moment was like having the flu, but that it was going to get worse very fast. So we made the hard decision, made harder because Einie, although tired, seemed in good spirits. She was only seven. We only had her with us for four and a half years. She never stopped looking and acting like a puppy.

Top secrets of 2011

A very literary baby boy is due today, but then so are final projects for my class, and I bet those are gonna be late, too. Thinking good thoughts about little no-name-yet.

Speaking of the final project, this year I'm a genius. Instead of requiring a revision, portfolio or self-evaluative essay, I made my students interview each other--Smokelong style. The results, so far, have been amazing. NEVER have I enjoyed grading so much.

I'm also finishing up my reading my reading for my Wigleaf long list picks. In a year when I did not publish individual short pieces, I've felt a little untethered, but going through the year's output for these amazing online journals (I'm responsible for about 67?) reminds me how good and vital the art of vsf really is.

Let's see . . . 12 more days left in 2011. Still time to suck up, you know?

Big Deal Round Up, Florida edition

I'm writing this in the Palm Beach International Terminal after a great visit with mom.

This morning my notes on "Being Indie" went up at the TNBBC blog.

Yesterday, The Orlando Sentinel recommended Death Wishing as a Holiday gift pick for hipsters.

The always-wonderful Jen Michalski also recommended DW as holiday pick at Karen Lillis' blog, Karen the Small Press Librarian.

And on Tuesday I read at the 8th installment of Jesse Bradley's fabulous Orlando prose series, There Will Be Words. Place was packed!And there were three other great readers: Leslie Salas, R.W. Graham, and Jesse reading for Ben Lowenkron, who came down with a sudden illness.

Lurvely New Reviews

About Death Wishing

In the intro to my Book Notes Death Wishing Playlist largehearted boy says DW is a "charming and unforgettable comic fantasy that begs to be adapted into a feature film."

About Curio

Jack Kaulfus thinks my shorts are disturbing, in a good way.