A PHOTOGRAPH FROM JON CRISPIN, progress on THE LUNATICS' BALL, our newest flash in craft

Jon Crispin's photograph of Madeline's trunk from the Willard Suitcases project arrived yesterday and it's just beautiful. I'll post the color version here later (once I know what credit line he wants), maybe also with a future Substack post on Madeline, but I'm thrilled to see that the black-and-white version for the book is really compelling. My biggest expense for the book so far (I also paid yesterday to use eleven words from Carole Maso's The Art Lover as an epigraph to "Little Colored Pills"), but worth it. I'd like to do a full-page reproduction in the book if I can.

Still no edited manuscript, but I've finished the illustrations, captions, short titles for the table of contents, short descriptions for the visually impaired, and assembled high resolution versions of all of them. Except for Ellen Gallagher's "Odalisque." I haven't heard from her gallery yet, and I don't know how much it will cost when/if I do hear from them. Maybe I'll cut that essay?  I've finally completed a description of the book (hard, since I know it will be used on the book jacket and marketing materials: how do I describe this peculiar hybrid collection?), and I'm pushing forward on the lengthy marketing questionnaire. Who knew there would be so much advance work involved? I think I'll be done with everything but the manuscript edits by the April 1 deadline, but they are of course crucial.

Work at CRAFT is ramping up,  as we're nearing the time to choose finalists and a long list for the Memoir Excerpt & Essay Contest, always very time-consuming. Just started reading contest submissions again this week, after a welcome respite. We published a flash by Sean Thomas Dougherty this week that I immediately fell in love with when I read it: "The Plough and the Stars." I love every flash we've published, but I'm particularly proud of this one. (I wish I could have written the introduction, but our outgoing editorial assistant Travis Roberson wanted to; I will miss working with him.)