Where To Begin?

As the year begins, I'm not sure where my writing is. I'm writing now from my hotel room before I work on a new short story---my first night in florida, strong images of Geauga Lake crept into my mind and so we'll see where that goes.

I'm working on too many projects--Ramona, the museum poems, the memorizer poems, other poems, WWPH Press stuff, setting up readings for the why and later.

I'm really excited to have a panel at AWP and I will be trying to really promote this so here's the basics:

Speaking Through Silence: Women respond to Rape and Assault
Friday, February 1, 2008
12:00-1:15PM
Panelists: Molly Fisk, Julia Kasdorf, Alice Anderson, and Harriet Levin

Too often rape and assault silences women, making them afraid to trust, afraid of their own bodies, afraid to name what has happened and what continues to happen. In a way, the writing of these poems becomes a way of healing. However, this can often be a challenging process---turning personal trauma into art. In this panel, female poets will discuss their poems from the anthology, the why and later. The panelists will speak to the process of writing these difficult poems, publishing these poems, and how they view their role as a writer writing about rape and sexual assault.


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I've been pinching myself b/c it's hard to believe that a book I've been working on for seven years will be released this month. And having a project that will hopefully raise much awareness and money for victims of rape and sexual assault is something that I have wanted to do for a long time. There are also crazy readings and t shirts in the works!

I was asked why I picked this topic at a holiday party and even now, it's still hard for me to say it. I think the dedication of the book says it the way I want: for all of us.

This book is not just for people whose lives have been touched by the subject matter, but for all of us as we struggle through our worlds, both internal and external.

Part of why we write and need to read is because we are part of a community. We need to communicate with others about our world. Kathi Wolfe says this in a great post here.

And so begins the year, a new book, and a chance to do something more with writing. It's been getting dark early and I think that makes me focus more inside, but the light is coming, it's after the solstice and as Maj once wrote to me: Shine! Shine! Shine!

Which is also what Tyra Banks said as I was watching America's Next Top Model on the elliptical trainer. You have to Shine even when other people are putting you down.

Tonight, it's shimmery eye shadow. I am on vacation, after all!