The Work Ahead

It has been awhile since I have posted anything. Perhaps due to the holiday season; perhaps because I've been home watching the children; perhaps because we have been buried in snow for the past week.

Since my last post, I have learned that Press 53 (www.press53.com) has picked up my collection of short stories, Best Road Yet. I am elated with the news, and I am also treading in unknown waters. As I look forward, I realize there is much work to be done on the book. This is a bit daunting, no doubt, especially with the continuation of work on the "something longer" mentioned in an early post (more on that in a moment), but I am ready for the challenge. I believe in the press and in its editor. I also believe in myself. Put all of that together, and I know the final product will be excellent. I look forward to the work.

As for the "something longer," I have found it exceedingly difficult to get much work done over the course of the last few weeks. The holidays present interesting challenges to the writer with a family. Speaking of that, I will have to do a post on the writer who "takes time off" to raise a family at some point.

The writing has been going about as slow as this snow seems to be melting. A refocus is certainly required, and with a number of other commitments this semester, including the prep for the new book coming out in October, an endowed chair project to administer, two conferences to attend and one to assist in the planning of, seven classes to teach, and a book to not only prep and edit but to market as well, I see the coming months as hectic at best. However, I find it necessary to force time in to write. A former teacher and friend of mine, Mary Troy, implored the graduates of the M.F.A. program to keep their own work in perspective. "Your work comes first," she used to say. "Everything else is peripheral." There's some truth to that, of course, but ultimately a certain balance must be achieved.

In light of this, I plan on applying for residencies with my eyes on a few that are truly of interest to me. I have found the Ucross Foundation, located in Wyoming, particularly attractive and hope to be accepted in order to work on the "something longer."

All of that said, life has taken an excellent turn at this point. I am grateful for all that has transpired over the last several weeks and throughout this past year and look forward to a productive and vigorous 2010.