Oh, what a long April!

I’m usually extended about as far as I can go, but April was a case of over-extension. For some foolish reason, I wouldn’t let go of NaPoWriMo, which I completed successfully, writing 31 poems in 31 days (yeah, I began a day early). Some days I definitely mailed it in, but I did something new each day, and while I didn’t get much worth keeping, I am proud of about seven of the drafts and may even have one complete poem out of the whole thing. My writing partner in this whole confounded exercise ended up with about 20 (!!) good drafts, and she totally showed me up. If it hadn’t been for her, I would have quit, but we definitely kept each other going. She also did one-a-day for the entire month.

While doing that, stepping it up at work, and dealing with the deluge of drafts from students in their final month of class, I put several things on hold. Press activity for Bull City was minimal, though I did manage to keep orders current and get a little bit of promotional materials out. I also saw Philip’s mock-up of the next book’s cover, which is stellar. I am super-excited, and have a meeting with someone on Thursday to talk about shaping up some of the press’s core business. I also have a line on a new intern, but given how the last few interns have worked out, I’m not going to get real excited about that.

Kitchen Press has a new book out– considering how much I’ve enjoyed their stuff thus far, I’m excited about it. I also got a big package from Big Game Books mid-month, and everything in it was beautiful. Maureen Thorson knows a thing or two about making a chapbook! (One of my students hand-stitched a chapbook, and I was completely delighted.)