Mid-Winter

Ava in all her glory!

Merry Christmas and to all a good night!

Three words I never thought I'd say: Florida sweet Florida!

Cowboy Up, Sugar!

Hi everyone,

Good news: my short story "Cowboy Up, Sugar" is going to be appearing in the Mid-American Review's 30th anniversary issue this March. Check out the review here:

http://www.bgsu.edu/studentlife/organizations/midamericanreview/

Teaching Fiction

For all of you who asked: yes, I will be teaching fiction again in the near future. I was asked to teach a fiction workshop for the Summer Writer's Institute at Washington University this summer. I believe the dates are June 14-June 25. Come to St. Louis if you get a chance. The program is reasonably priced, and I'll be here, of course. I can't wait!

I miss the hills but I'll see them soon...

I have to tell you: I am absolutely unable to contain myself because I get to go home to Wisconsin in two weeks and I haven't been back in over three years now, before Ava was born! Since then, my father and stepmom have moved from our house, which overlooked the river valley, to the Springs, which I used to run past when I was training for cross country in high school and college and which is equally beautiful and green. I never thought I would love Wisconsin so much, but here I am today dreaming about it more than I dream about my husband (sorry darling). This is not to say that I'm unhappy in St. Louis, but for me, it lacks the charm of hill country. I miss hearing the birds in the trees. I miss catching frogs in fields. I miss walking around barefoot. I miss seeing a lovely maple tree outside my bedroom window (as of now, I see an enormous transformer and a whole lot of concrete).

Most of all, I miss the sound of quiet. I miss the bird sisters, too.

Home: what an unsatisfactory word for all it really means. And yet, what would I do without it?

xoxo me

Editing, Crosses, and State College!

I have just finished the first round of edits for Kate Kennedy at Random House, and boy am I glad to have that out of the way. They weren't nearly as painful as I thought they'd be, but still. I am always in a great hurry to make my novel better. I finished the edits in four days (and nights) and now I will be waiting for the line-edit round, which my editor assures me will be pretty painless. It's getting exciting, though, because we're beginning to talk about the design of the book, which makes the whole process feel more real to me.

Also, I will definitely be doing a reading for Penn State next, next spring! I got my offer from them yesterday and it was very generous. I can't tell you how excited I am to be able to go back to State College and stomp around a bit. I miss those hills! Below is what it looks like approaching St. Louis, where I live now...(yes, that's a cross!)