No spin zone

If you like hearing the rest of the story, check out zReportage. It's a site dedicated to "telling stories that need to be told."

Workshop, Miles the Dog and Ash Canyon Review

Brewery Arts Center, home of Ash Canyon Poets
The writer's workshop went very well today. We decided we have to do it again soon. Krista's going to lead next time. Some good poetry came out today's session. A couple of poems were nearly ready for submission in the first draft.

The workshop was scheduled for the Comma but the place was closed today due to illness so we trundled over to the Brewery Arts Center (where we meet on Friday nights). There were some interesting people outside the Comma when I first got there though, travelers doing a road trip documentary with their very cool Black Lab, Miles. It's a kind of Travels with Charley thing. They are searching out what there is of non-corporate America and were very surprised to find Carson City is in such a groove. They gave me their card with their URL, but I can't find the damn thing. If you guys happen to read this, send me your address again. I'd like to follow your trip. Thanks.

Ash Canyon Review, draft cover
Also, a quick update on the Review. Susan and I did the (nearly) final draft last night. Rita is proofing it again then, after some last minute corrections to Breakfast with Gothic Girl, we're about ready for the printer. It looks good. If you want a copy, lemme know. We're only doing a tiny run.

Home again

I've spent the last couple of days at the Reno Hilton. Lee's mom was in town and got us a room there so we could visit more easily. It was fun, but nice to be home. I refueled the bird feeders, tossed Minerva some peanuts and now I'm off again for an evening with some Ash Canyon poets. Saturday is our copy editors meeting for the Review and Sunday I do the writing workshop. It's almost like having a life.

Tuesday's amendment following "Blew" Monday

Crap . . . I'm guilty once again of sniveling and this time I even have to make an amends to someone else because of it. This is embarrassing....give me a minute....tickticktick...tock. Deep breath as Minerva lands for her daily popcorn. I owe my daughter an amends. In yesterday's post "I said she said" she didn't. And she called me on it. No door mat this girl and I'm glad of it. I put words in her mouth for dramatic effect. Not ok.

Note to K.: I'm very sorry for the dirty little trick. I tried dragging you into my web-o-lies. Bad mama. Thanks for calling me on it.






Variation on "skeery" house based on a fine drawing from Elizabeth Massie.

Questions without right answers

In response to a question, my daughter said to me the other day, "Why not do it, mom? After all, what are you doing besides blogging about the birds that visit your backyard and tweaking the hyperlinks on your basically dead website? I raised that girl to tell the truth. But is it the "whole" truth? No, if you don't know the background of the question. If you do, she's right. I have a writing project I'm not working on. The new project I'm considering would take time away from that...something I'm not doing. It would take from the time I am currently lavishing on pointless bird stories and web graphics. I say this with a glance to Minerva the crow who is outside at the moment, finishing up her popcorn breakfast. These days she doesn't fly off every time I move in my chair and that delights me. It's the small things. Anyway, I have a decision to make and to be that most obnoxious person who quotes herself, "It's noon at my place on earth."

Surprise yourself

I'm facilitating a writer's workshop next Sunday. By accident. Some people argue there are no accidents but if that is the case then this was happenstance. No doubt about it. Judge for yourself. Ash Canyon was planning to host a workshop/book signing for a UNR professor/poet sometime this month so I called Comma Coffee to see if the 22nd was available. As it turned out, the workshop was cancelled but a writer's workshop was added to the calendar anyway. The cafe print calendar went out with my name on it so what the hell? I'll do it. Come if you can.

Mid night ramblings

Couldn't sleep. Too many ideas running around my head. So I got up, made a cup of cinnamon tea and dinked around on the synthesizer for a while. That was comforting. Now it's just me, the keyboard and candle and, beyond the window, black night . . . edge of the starry, lapping sea. Listen closely. Words cannot go past this point.

Minerva in the rain

Minerva is one suet loving crow. She's been back every day since she discovered it last week.

I know it's her because of the pale feathers on her right wing. And now, of course, a couple of other big birds have caught on to the goodies and she is pissed. There was a brief but interesting mid-air battle which M. won.

She has been keeping me amused today as I worked on the Ash Canyon Review. It's coming along nicely. I've got all the poems formatted and pasted-up. It looks good.

Oregon Lit Fellowships

Here's something for my Oregon writer friends. Do yourself a favor and apply for one or both of these literary fellowships. The deadline is June 24th. There's no entry fee so what the hell? Leap before you look. After all, they want to give money to some Oregon writers. Why not one of you? At the very least you'll get a little more focused. This is an annual event so remember what the spider said, if at first you don't succeed, keep at it.
Touch
Fellowships ranging from $500 to $3,000 each are given annually to Oregon writers to initiate, develop, or complete literary projects in poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction. In addition, a Women Writers Fellowship of $1,000 will be given annually to an Oregon woman writer of poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction whose work explores experiences of race, class, physical disability, or sexual orientation. Submit 15 pages of poetry or 25 pages of fiction or creative nonfiction with an application by June 24. There is no entry fee. Send an SASE or visit the Web site for an application and complete guidelines.

Literary Arts, Literary Fellowships, 224 N.W. 13th Avenue, Suite 306, Portland, OR 97209. (503) 227-2583. Kristy Athens, Program Coordinator. www.literary-arts.org

Deadlines

What's the most important thing for a writer? Gary Short had a two word answer for that question recently. A deadline. That's certainly true at around here. Today is the submissions deadline for the first issue of Ash Canyon Review and we've got a fine magazine lined up. Gary and Bill (Cowee) reviewed the final picks yesterday. They are the editors. I did a mock up of the issue and gave it to Cowee last night at the Brewery. He's ecstatic. My god, he's fun to work with. His enthusiasm for this project is boundless. Everyone's excited. And he's right. It's going to be a great issue!

Bush hides from cloud

Poetic Justice by Joey T.

The following was reported by Julian Borger of The Guardian today:

"President George Bush was bundled into an underground bunker, Dick Cheney was evacuated to an "undisclosed location" and heavily armed secret servicemen took up defensive positions when a fast-moving cloud scudded towards the White House, it was reported yesterday. Such false alarms are common, triggered by clouds, flocks of birds or private aircraft wandering off course, but the White House confirmed yesterday that this was not the first time since September 11, 2001 that the president has taken refuge in the hi-tech bunker beneath the building, the Presidential Emergency Operations Centre. It was not clear yesterday what it was about Wednesday morning's cloud that created such havoc. It was moving at about the speed of a helicopter, disappearing and then appearing again on the radar screen, but the same could be said of many clouds."

Ya gotta love it. President Bush, the arm chair psychopath who fancies himself God's Personal Warlord, and Vice-President Cheney, the brains of the smarmy operation, scuttled to their bunkers today to protect themselves from what proved to be a cloud. There is poetic justice in that.