As usual, I am way WAY overdue for an update. In fact, I started writing this post in April. It is now the first of July.
Let’s see what I’ve been up to…
TEACHING
I’ve continued teaching workshops and 6-week classes for Armed Services Arts Partnership, including Memoir Writing in February and Poetry, Poetry Everywhere from March-April.
I also flew to DC in January for annual training with ASAP. I’ll be teaching another workshop for them next week, called For the Poetry-Curious: An Overview.
I recently created a handy-dandy menu of my workshops, with prices for organizations, which I’ve added to the website. (I never get bored of Canva!)
JUDGING
I’m not saying I’m judgy, but I have been judging…I was on the selection committee for the Fallen Tree Press annual chapbook contest, I judged Poetry Out Loud for our region of Alaska, and I was a judge for League of Utah Writers again this year.
CONFERENCES
In September, I’ll be presenting at the annual Alaska Writers’ Guild conference again. I’ll be doing an ekhprastic poetry breakout session.
I attended an absolutely fabulous conference in May: The Art of Adaptation, with the Alaska State Council on the Arts.
PUBLISHING
My poem The List was recently included in the anthology Our Best War Stories (2025). Control the Food, Control the War is also soon to appear in an anthology, Turning Poetry into Food, with Poetry X Hunger. I was invited to submit to Cirque Journal, so I’ll submit to their next issue. I haven’t been submitting much these days, so I need to get on that!
READING
I haven’t been doing many open mics since my favorite venue shut down, but I did participate in one for National Poetry Month, hosted by Poetry Parley and 49 Writers.
MENTORING
This year, I did some virtual mentoring of a Maryland student participating in Poetry Out Loud. I was involved in POL in two states!
LOOKING FORWARD
I recently met with Wounded Warrior Project here in Alaska, and we hope to partner them and ASAP for me to deliver two in-person workshops to veterans in Anchorage (location TBD) this fall: Writing War Poetry; and Memoir Writing.
I’ve also been talking with Blue Water Base Camp about hosting a writer’s retreat open to anyone, in 2027! I need to get everything together.
Recently, I returned from a roadtrip up the Dalton Highway. That was insane. I went in the Arctic Ocean! I saw wild muskoxen! I slept in the arctic tundra! I survived an Arctic thunderstorm! I walked in rushing water surrounded by layers of ice! It was the best! I’ve been catching up on posting pics and reels to IG.
Anyway…I’ll be up to stuff, stuff, and more stuff, so stay tuned–something exciting is coming!