Being taught

I think particularly because I was a professor for so many years, and taught contemporary lit classes, among others, and creative nonfiction workshops and flash workshops, among others, I am always thrilled to death to hear that my work is being taught in classrooms. William Woolfitt at Lee University, whose work I admire no end, just said on Twitter that he's teaching "The Madwoman on BART" this semester in his class on "Creating Memorable Characters," where he will ask his students to write micros. 

Just got page proofs for my  essay forthcoming in THE PINCH, which makes me feel productive, even though I'm not producing new writing at the moment. I wrote "Dear Mary Todd Lincoln" last summer in Ojai, when I'd left all the research at home that was weighing me down. THE LUNATICS' BALL requires so much research, and it's so hard to know how to include it, and to find a voice that's not just academic. Maybe that's a practice I should continue—going away somewhere without my notes.