Tag Archives: writer’s life

I used to write so much

Every semester I try to do the assignments along with my students partly as a way for me to keep up my own writing practice (I write things I turn in for my classes sometimes), and partly to experience for myself what my students experience when I walk them through a multi-stage writing prompt, or set draft deadlines at certain intervals.

#weekendcoffeeshare: Oversharing, underperforming

If we were having coffee, I’d probably oscillate between nervous laughter and tight-lipped silence. Right now, I’m a writer-in-residence at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, a field research station operated by the Iowa Regents Universities. Like many things, this was something I was chosen for last year, but was delayed due to COVID. This year, I wasContinue reading “#weekendcoffeeshare: Oversharing, underperforming”

New poems

Inspiration during a pandemic elicits conflicted feelings. Nonetheless, I try to create mindfully, with good intentions, and share the best of what I can do. Three new poems in two publications recently. They show you where my mind has been. I’m grateful to these publications that are sharing timely work. I hope that the messagesContinue reading “New poems”

What is within my control

I’ve talked about drawing circles and writing down what’s within my control before. It’s an exercise I did at the start of the academic year, and I haven’t revisited recently because I feel like I’ve either been caught up in taking steps towards my goals, or I’ve been having to rapidly adapt to the newContinue reading “What is within my control”

Things will be different

Yesterday was a hard day. I spent a chunk of the evening going into an anxiety spiral. (I’m lucky and grateful to have a partner who helps me out of that.) Today, I spent most of the day doing my best to pick up the pieces from that fallout and continue on. And now, I’mContinue reading “Things will be different”

Chasing after an idea

Last night, right before falling asleep, I had a moment when I realized that I was about to lose an idea for a poem. As I was falling asleep, a line came to me so clearly that I tried to repeat it to myself so that I didn’t lose it. But based on past performance,Continue reading “Chasing after an idea”

To-do list

I had a poem published yesterday in Backchannels Journal‘s Pandemic Issue, an instant publishing opportunity. I’ve been trying to write a poem every day in April, and the poem published was the one I wrote on April 1st. The poem is sort of a to-do list, or it contains to-do lists that are a littleContinue reading “To-do list”