September Writing News

Yes, I already have more writing news, and it is very exciting (at least for me)!  I just learned that one of my poems, “Bat Bridge,” has been accepted by an anthology of poems on the sacred to be published by Mutabilis Press in December.  For the first time in nearly ten years, someone will actually publish my poetry, so this is BIG news for me.  Watch for news about the anthology publication in a future post and on the My Publications page.

I wrote “Bat Bridge” a number of years ago, but revised it earlier this year while working on the manuscript Fronteras.  This poem is about my only visit to Austin’s famous urban bat colony, the Congress Avenue Bridge.  A big thank you goes out to my friend Alice for taking me to see the bats as they emerged for the night.

A few weeks ago, I was invited to participate in a reading sponsored by the Smithsonian Latino Virtual Museum as part of their Hispanic Heritage Month programming.  This reading will happen live inworld for the Second Life virtual environment of the museum.  This means any of you could attend as members of the audience!  You will need to set up an avatar account to attend, but once you do, you can also participate in the museum’s other virtual programs.  

You can learn about the museum’s exhibits at the link above and see the calendar of events here.  You can set up your avatar here.

My reading will take place Friday, October 14, 2011 from 7:30 to 9:30 CDT.  Other readers include ire'ne lara silva, Laura Cesarco Eglin, Juan Manuel Portillo, Cassandra Love, Nancy Lorenza Green, Amalio Madueno, Katherine Hoerth, and Daniel Chacon.  Thank you to Maria M. for inviting me to read with this group.

This will be my first exploration of a virtual environment, so I am looking forward to trying out new technology and sharing my poems with more than a locally gathered audience.  I hope to see you inworld at my reading!  Read about my virtual experience here.

I am still working on making time for writing; it’s really tough to write for even a few minutes most days, but I will persist.  Good news about publication is always a motivator to write and put together submissions; yesterday I revised one of the poems mentioned in my last writing update.  It is now titled “Poets are Impossible and Poetry is Dead.”  I don’t know if it will be ready to read at next month’s event, but maybe I'll read it at one of the other readings listed on the Upcoming Events page.