Good News: Forthcoming Book

My third full length collection has been accepted for publication by Vine Leaves Press! The book comes out this fall. The official release date is September 15th, 2020.

Before I found out, when I would see announcements about other people's books coming out in 2020, I would always think to myself that 2020 is a cool year for a book to be published.

Finding out that my third book was accepted for publication made me feel kind of old in kind of a good way.

It was nice to find out before Christmas and be able to be super relaxed for holiday stuff. I watched Frozen with my nephew a couple of days ago. It was actually my first time seeing it. Obviously, I'm an Elsa, not an Anna. I'm sure I'll end up seeing Frozen 2 as well because of my nephew. I still have a lot of Christmas shopping to do. Anyway...

The title of the new book is...

Without: Body, Name, Country

The book is a collection of poetry and flash nonfiction pieces. There are a lot of individual poems and nonfiction pieces which are grouped into two larger sections, I: Vaudeville and II: Diagnosis.

From mid-2015 until somewhat recently, I kept saying that my third book wouldn't be finished until The Jetsons era. I just realized George Jetson and Donald Trump have a similar vibe, so maybe it is The Jetsons era.

Happy Holidays!

Current Reading List (& Middle School Memories)

Last night I finished reading Margaret Atwood's The Testaments. I think everyone should read the writing of Margaret Atwood. If it's been many years since you've read The Handmaid's Tale, you'll be fine. The second time I read The Handmaid's Tale was about five years ago. You could probably even read The Testaments first and then The Handmaid's Tale (even with a big gap between reading the books), but you should definitely read both for the full impact.

I had disturbing dreams while reading The Testaments, but I also had disturbing dreams while recently watching the Netflix documentary series The Family. And of course, it's the Trump era... A completely crazy, corrupt Gilead style of life feels much more possible now than any other time before. At least in my lifetime. (The end of The Family is connected to the Trump era and brings to mind every dystopian novel and short story I've ever read.)

I read The Handmaid's Tale for the first time when I was in seventh grade. One of my teachers saw me with the book and said, "That's a scary book, kiddo." I didn't say anything, but I decided if she brought it up again (she didn't), I would tell her my mom gave it to me. (Which was true.)

I remember that in seventh grade I also read The Thorn Birds (don't judge me, I was thirteen), and the autobiography of Bill T. Jones called Last Night on Earth. I cried so much during the section about Arnie Zane's death. Luckily, I was at home when I read that part so I didn't sob in public. This is the cover of Last Night on Earth:

In seventh grade we had a free reading period. The guy who sat next to me (who I ended up dating part of my junior year of high school) said to me, "You're only reading that because he has his shirt off." I looked at him, probably smugly, and said "He's gay." He looked shocked and said nothing to me for the rest of the day.

Anyway... Next up I'm going to read Bully Love by Patricia Colleen Murphy. I really like her writing and I really like Press 53 so I'm really curious about it. Also on my reading list is Lara Vapnyar's Divide Me By Zero, Sonny Brewer's A Sound Like Thunder, and Mary Biddinger's Partial Genius.

Fortitude (Video by Vine Leaves Press)

Two New Videos from Vine Leaves Press

"A warning to the men of Trump's America."

New Videos: The Crimes of Clara Turlington

Vine Leaves Press