Viggo Sunday

It's a blizzard outside and to make things even better, TNT is playing all three Lord of the Rings. It doesn't matter that I have them all on DVD. I have a little tender spot for Viggo Mortensen, maybe because he is a poet as well as one stunning Aragorn. I also heard somewhere (though probably a rumor) that he may play the father in The Road. Who knows...but I wonder who would be directing that. I'm not sure how well I think The Road will translate onto the screen, but I was impressed with what the Coen brothers did with No Country for Old Men.

No excuses for this mess

The semester is officially over so there is absolutely no reason for this mess. My writing space is littered with books, notebooks, receipts, pictures, you name it. I could at least stack the mess in a neat pile. It is to the point where I am tripping over things and crinkling papers that are important. For example, as I was kicking a manila folder underneath this bookshelf the other day, something caught my eye. It was my birth certificate. The scary thing is that the above picture only shows one of the four bookshelves I have...and every single one of them has a junkyard of paperwork surrounding it. I wish I were the type of person who slid a book from the neat bookshelf, read it, and put it back, but I'm clearly not that person. Instead I snatch a book, read part of it, and then put it on the floor (perhaps even on the washer or dryer).

MFA not as good as law school?

Brainstorming ways to afford summer travel, I ask my mother, "When I graduate this spring (with an MFA), will family members send me money?"

She looks at me like I'm crazy (not unusual), says, "Well, your cousin Russ never even sent out announcements and he graduated from law school."

The good and the bad

GOOD

Congrats to my NEOMFA friends who graduated, especially my homegirl Sara Tracey. She gave a great reading on Friday. I am thankful to have had the chance to get to know her through the NEOMFA program and look forward to a lifetime of friendship.

In other good news, I got word last week that two of my poems have been picked up for publication. One is a van Gogh poem so that makes me thrilled. I worry about the van Gogh poems being too dependent on one another. The other poem is one of only three poems I have ever written about Ireland. As much as I think about Ireland, I am incapable of writing much about it. It's almost unreachable. Everything comes out in cliche, usually green cliche.

BAD

After celebrating my friend Kelly's birthday last night, she slept on my couch...and so did my sweet Telemachus. He ditched me for my friend. This has never happened before. I guess my boy is all grown up. I hate it. As I type this sorrowful news, Telemachus is attempting to snuggle close to me, but I am not giving in just yet. He is only trying to get close to me because Kelly is gone. I'm on to his tricks.

Travel Fever

Usually my travel mania doesn’t set in until March or so. It’s early this year. I am ridiculous. I imagine that one of these nights I will get the backpack out and stare at it, maybe even search the compartments for old bus tickets.

The only holiday music I have been able to subject myself to is my “Irish Christmas” CD.

I wish I could find my tin whistle but I think someone hid it from me. I can’t imagine why????

It's that time again...

...when I can actually get away with dressing Telemachus.

Writing Space Ramble

This is a picture of one of my favorite writing spaces I have ever inhabited. I wrote at this spot for nearly a week this past July when I had the opportunity to travel to Bisbee, Arizona, and work with other writers while being spoiled by the Wick family. It was stunning and I wish that I were there right now.

Writing space is important to me. I normally write at my desk in my writing room/bedroom which overlooks my charming creek/sewer. But this morning I am sitting at my very small, very tall IKEA table, working on my laptop. I don't like to use my laptop much. I never feel like I have as much control over it. But, I am closer to the coffee machine right now.

It's not quite 9 am on Saturday morning and I am taking a short break from working on my manuscript (I have been up since 6). Right now, I love the third section so much. And it's driving me crazy. I want to love all three sections close to the same, or at least love them all a whole lot but for different reasons. I wonder if everyone feels like this when assembling a manuscript. It's only natural to have a favorite, right? Yet I have read books where every single section is just as moving as the previous. I guess this just makes me have to rethink things for the 587th time. I am trying to get a "close to ready" draft by January 1st so that the other two professors on my thesis committee can give me some helpful feedback. I am really excited to be working with three of my favorite writers/professors.

Okay, back to the future book.