To be published by Cornerstone Press at the University of Wisconsin, and Bailey Moore is including my essay on my heart, "January 10, 2014." I sort of dashed that one off between sleep and worry and doctors' visits, but I like it and I'm glad to see it get new life. They're going to showcase the anthology with a reading at the next AWP. Probably won't be there, but who knows.

Partly because of my health, but not only, my writing has really slowed down. Dinner in Berkeley last night with Lynn Mundell and her husband inspired me to think about ways to jump start it (she does short DIY retreats in hotels on the coast and gets a lot written). So today when Grant Faulkner mentioned an accountability group through Left Margin LIT in his Sunday newsletter, I impulsively joined. Two hours every M and W evening, writing to a prompt or on your own project (I'm thinking the latter). Like the daily 25-minute walk I'm doing for my heart, it's not very long but in fact it's a lot longer than I've been doing most days.

Small Press Distribution (SPD) has suddenly closed its doors, affecting hundreds of small presses who relied on them to handle distribution of their books and royalties. BLACK LAWRENCE PRESS, who published my chapbook The. Missing Girl and who has long been one of my favorite presses, is taking a blow it may not recover from: on their GoFundMe, they estimate a loss of over $17,000 for the books SPD has and the royalties SPD owes them. Give if you can.

Kathy Fish, flash guru—a brilliant flash writer and brilliant flash teacher—told me that she's teaching my microflash "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" in her 3-in-90 Workshop today! I'm so honored and touched.

I'm reading proofs for the reprint of "Doorbells" today, and noticed in my slender pending pubs file that I had an interview with WOW (Women on Writing) forthcoming. Turns out they published the interview last November and I missed it. 

I missed "Shoplifting" when it came out last week in Current. Really a nice place for it, since it emphasizes a political context that might be lost in a flash zine.

Within minutes twitter flagged the post for "sensitive content." Why? I have no idea.  The warnings apply to "nudity, sensitive content, violence, gore, or hateful symbols." I don't think stealing clothes years ago at age 18 really applies.

DOUBLEBACK REVIEW (Sundress Publications) wants to reprint my long-ago essay "Doorbells"! I've always loved that essay, which was published in South Loop Review and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. At the time, South Loop Review was my dream publication, and I was so disappointed when they went defunct a couple of issues later. "Doorbells" will be out on April 15.

I've been very hard at work reading 80 finalists for the CRAFT Memoir Excerpt/Essay Contest, developing a short list for the judge, a long list, and a list of honorable mentions list with my associate editor Shara Kronmal. This is the first year I've had an associate editor and it's a great relief.

The title of a William Carlos Williams' book that I particularly like and probably haven't read since grad school. Not a lot to report here. Lots of heavy rain has the yard so green that the weeds look gorgeous along with the plants and flowering trees. Dinner last night with an old friend was followed by a late night trip to the ER that lasted all night. I'm off the new medication for now, calling two specialists on Monday. Steve and I fell into bed at 8am and slept until 11:30am, when I woke to find an invitation from Hannah Grieco to visit her class via Zoom for a CNF editors' panel and a note from CURRENT with edits on "Shoplifting," which I haven't looked at yet. Finished up edits on a group of micros on teachers' pets yesterday  that I think might be ready to send out. Need to do more research on Virginia Woolf but I think I have the outlines of the chapter/essay/flash completed. Courtney sent me Helene Hanff's 84, CHARING CROSS ROAD and it was perfect reading for the ER. I hope I never have to go there again. Exercising 25 minutes a day on instructions from the new cardiologist. It's surprisingly hard to fit in just 25 minutes, but invigorating. Steve and I have been walking at Lake Chabot. I've been listening to music on the exercise bike the last couple of days because it's been raining. Here's Lake Chabot.