bae already advertising

BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS has always come out in November, but everything's different with the new series editor. Today I got a notice that I could preorder this year's. It has a snazzy new cover (after years of identical covers in different colors). The procedure for Notables has become radically less democratic: writers can no longer nominate themselves, in fact you can only be nominated by someone who's already been published in BAE. I'm sure that simplifies the procedure for the editors, and reduces the number of nominations, but it obviously favors writers with connections and perpetuates a certain kind of elite—writers with MFAs and other privileges that many of us don't have. I've had nine Notables and I wonder whether that will be the end of them. I just finished editing "Cross-Stitching" for the book last night. Since it appeared in EPOCH, a very prestigious journal, and they publish lots of extremely well-known essayists, my chances of the magazine nominating "Cross-Stitching" for BAE are reduced. Fingers crossed that it makes a Notable somehow anyway. I really like the essay and haven't published something that substantial since. I'm holding onto my LUNATICS' BALL essays, just working on them for the book. "Cinderella at the Lunatics' Ball" next (similarly substantial, but one I didn't send out). Making slow and steady progress.

Signed a contract for the PAST TEN anthology, and they will have a launch reading at AWP next spring in LA. Steve and I are planning to go, for the first time in ages.

My heart procedure on Tuesday was apparently a success. No blockages found: They say I have "beautiful arteries"! Next up will be a harder one, the ablation, originally scheduled for May 10, then postponed for this and not rescheduled yet.

I wasn't supposed to type after my procedure (in fact the first day my wrist was in a splint; the entry point for the catheter to my heart on my wrist still hasn't healed). Steve took me on a day trip to the coast to keep me away from the computer. The sun came out later, but the gray day was beautiful too.