Some Wishes

Found out that Meredith probably won't have any work coming in from the English department either. This is mostly due to the fact that she had found out that she had been replaced after the various departments already had their 2009-2010 academic schedules in place. The only thing we can hope for now is that someone who teaches linguistics suddenly gets a grant and plans on taking some leave, or if some other non-tenure-track faculty member winds up carrying to large of a load.

I'm still pissed, but we'll manage.

Thank you all for your words of sympathy, encouragement, and support.

***

I and my creative writing colleagues will be meeting with lots of students to talk about MFA/PhD programs this afternoon. So much to tell them.

I've got handouts at the ready.

***
I've been blessed with a sudden burst of productivity these past two years. Summer brings me back to the writing desk more regularly, and I have a number of projects I'll be hunkering down to deal with.

First of all, I've come to some realizations about my manuscript, tentatively titled In Defense of Small Towns. I'm going to make some big cuts this summer. Additionally, the cuts I make will, more than likely, make it into another manuscript I've been working on. The tentative title of that second manuscript is Dumbstruck Luck.

And then there's this business of the "Dear Empire" poems. I don't think I can sustain a whole manuscript like that. I need to think about relationships in that manuscript . . . how I want to produce a narrative--a whole that's greater than the sum of its parts, so to speak.

Finally, I've shelved a project about Filipino migrant workers for a time, because . . . well, because I fell ill, had a child, and couldn't do the research. I might be ready to return to that project.

Anyway, the past two summers had me writing exclusively in August. I'm going to try to maintain productivity from June to September. We'll see what happens.

***

Current Spin:

The Pixies. Yes, old school.