happening now
Post-master’s certificate in
writing enrichment
On June 27, 2022, I returned to the literary home where I earned my MFA in Writing: Spalding University, in Louisville, Kentucky. At The Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing, I enrolled in the Post-Master’s Certificate in Writing Enrichment program. Studies included a ten-day summer residency in Paris, France.
the paris residency
A huge bonus to my certificate studies was the nine-day residency in Paris, France. My studies focused on poetry, but the residency covered all genres. In addition to the program’s literary agenda (workshops, panel discussions, craft lectures, faculty/student readings, et cetera), many cultural events kept us in motion around Paris and into France. Dinner cruise on the Seine, concert at Sainte Chapelle, walking tour in and around Luxembourg Garden, tour of Giverny and Monet’s house, and Auvers-sur-Oise, Van Gogh’s resting place: choosing a favorite is impossible!
THE RESIDENCY POETRY WORKSHOP
When I earned my MFA in Writing, fiction was my genre; CNF and technical writing have been my day jobs. So, poetry seemed like the obvious choice for the certificate work. Studying a new genre was…humbling. Most days in Paris, six of us met and workshopped each other’s work. I know I received much more than I gave, but/and everyone was generous with their comments and feedback. Plus, our workshop leader was the fantastic and talented Poet Maggie Smith. Maggie is a program mentor and author of six books: You Could Make This Place Beautiful, Good Bones, The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison, Lamp of the Body, Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change, and Goldenrod.
the semester work WRAPS UP!
And poof: the residency was over, and I awoke in my Mount Juliet, Tennessee home office. From July, 2022 to March, 2023, I wrote 25 poems…and they are not all stinkers. ;-) At the time of this website update, I have revised half of the poems and submitted them to various journals and contests.
My mentor was the Poet Greg Pape. He has been a mentor at Spalding’s MFA in Writing program since the beginning. I remember attending his faculty readings and lectures way back “in the day.” Among so many other things, Greg’s the author of ten books, including Four Swans, Border Crossings, Black Branches, Storm Pattern, Sunflower Facing the Sun (winner of the Edwin Ford Piper Prize, now called the Iowa Prize), and American Flamingo (winner of a Crab Orchard Open Competition Award).
fiction: the e-postle
l started the first draft of the first chapter of my novel, the e-postle, in 2000. Based upon those words, The Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing admitted me into its MFA in Writing program. Two decades later, I returned to this story during the Covid lockdown—rewriting the manuscript and preparing for a literary agent search.
Christmas Day, 2022: I completed the last chapter. Three hundred pages, 86,669 words.
Since March 2020, I’ve been rewriting and re-envisioning the manuscript with the guidance of fellow Spalding MFAer, Charlotte Rains-Dixon (The Bonne Chance Bakery, Emma Jean's Bad Behavior).
Before this, I was one of 15 competitively-chosen writers to participate in WKU’s Winter Writing Workshop. Novelist Silas House (Lark Ascending, Southernmost) instructed the writers on dialogue, point of view, setting, et cetera. In the workshop, Silas gave me valuable advice that impacted the manuscript.
And not long before the WKU workshop, I removed 20,000 words in reaction to a novel writing workshop at The Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing. Students read one another's manuscripts during the semester and spent two hours on each novel during a residency.
These past couple of years have seen a lot of…time travel. I’ve been rereading the packet cover letters from my MFA mentors, especially by my two mentors who worked with me so closely on the manuscript’s creation: Julie Brickman (What Birds Can Only Whisper, Two Deserts: Stories) and Roy Hoffman (The Promise of the Pelican, Come Landfall).
london, england
The story is split between two locations: London, England and Nashville, Tennessee. In addition to the London locales that readers might expect, a couple chapters are set in the North London community of Swiss Cottage. And while Nashville is a major setting, key parts of the story take place in a small suburb east of Music City.
nashville, tn., usa
This story unfolds over three days in December, 2006. Nashville is having a significant snow storm at the time. The weather, and Christmas, are essential ingredients to the story.
As of mid-May, 2023, the query letter and synopsis are complete. I’m applying brushstrokes to the manuscript with the goal of sending out the first batch of queries before the end of May.