flashquake

I'm very excited to let you all know that I have joined the flashquake editorial team! The reading period for the Spring issue is now open, so send us your stories and poems.

Knit

Thinking of You

It's been ages since I wrote much on this blog. Life gets going and before you know it, six months has passed in a flash. Somehow it's easier to toss up a Facebook status update than write something a little longer, a paragraph or two, a couple of photos, and post them here. I'm hoping to rectify that. Is anyone still out there reading this?

Here's a rundown of the latest news from my corner of the world:

– I've been in the hospital since Sunday. Just got discharged yesterday and it feels good to be home. I had my biggest kidney stone ever, which got stuck on its way down and out. They had to put me under and use sound waves to break it up. I'm hoping that never happens again.

– I haven't been writing. It's sad but true. There's so much going on with the girls these days - music lessons, Girl Scouts, gymnastics, swimming, school. It's always my 'me time' that gets pushed to the very back. I'd like to change that. Don't know if I can.

– I haven't submitted much lately, either, but have had a few acceptances nevertheless. Upcoming publications include fourW twenty, Fifth Wednesday Review, Big Muddy, Carousel, and The Interpreter's House.

– The whole family has been sick over the past 3 weeks. Kate's had a sinus infection. I had a cold which became a sinus infection (still working on that). Dennis had a cold/sinus infection. Emma had the flu. We're hoping for better health soon, but in the meantime, we've been taking good care of each other.

– We bought a new car! Thanks to substantial help from my folks, we were able to buy the Toyota Sienna we've been dreaming about for the past few years. I do miss my PT Cruiser, but I'm loving the van with all its space, smooth and quiet ride, and new car smell.

What have you been up to? If you're still reading my little blog, won't you leave a comment and let me know how things are in your corner of the world...

Night Train

My poem "Ode to a Haymaker" is in the new issue of Night Train!

Look Around

You're bound to find me somewhere these days.

Like Merge Poetry, where I have three poems in the current issue: A Firsthand Account of Leaving the Womb; When We Hold Hands; Sutures.

The Pedestal Magazine, where you can read my poem On the Ward.

Or maybe get your hands on a copy of the fourth issue of Feathertale and see how Mr. Roboto copes with loss in my poem "Domo Arigato."

Knit!

Hanging with the Coyote

My flash Back Cast is featured at David Coyote's Den where I'm guest author for the summer.

If you like fly fishing, check it out!

Fifty

Last month my parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary!!

Flash

Wow, it's been busy around here. I'm so glad school is almost done for the year. I'm looking forward to a relaxed summer and a chance for the girls to just hang out and play all day.

I'm still writing poems, but boy has this round of 30/30 been tough. Only a few more days to go!

You may have forgotten, but I also write flash fiction. My latest publications:

Wigleaf recently included my flash kawaii, a short meditation on Hello Kitty. They also invited me to send in a Dear Wigleaf postcard (look below the story for the link).

The latest issue of Press 1 just went live, with my take on the Pinocchio tale, If Truth Be Told.

Enjoy!

So Long, April. Hello, May!

National Poetry Month is over. Well, for some of us it's never over. Witness my beginning a 23rd round of 30 poems in 30 days.

Here's the list of titles for round 22:
1. Made a Wrong Turn
2. The Business of Losing
3. Death of the American Dream
4. In Picasso's Pocket
5. Brief Note to the Gentleman in 12B
6. How Can You Say I am Not Your Number
7. haiku
8. Requiem for Connectivity
9. Spring Fever
10. All About Love
11. haiku
12. Not Every Grave Can Be Found in the Cemetery
13. Katharine Hepburn Falls onto the Surface of Mars
14. We Can Lick Gravity
15. To a Daughter Turning Nine
16. Egg of the Phoenix
17. Maybe We Mean Different Things
18. Nothing More than Anticipating
19. Words Which Sever Hearts
20. jubilations (after Lucille Clifton)
21. words you use too much
22. Ode to Boise, Idaho
23. It's All in the Delivery
24. Going Nowhere, Going Everywhere
25. 7th Grade Locker Room, Redux
26. This is Not a Poem about Flowers
27. The Gentleman Said
28. Slowest Moon
29. Good
30. An Ill-Defined Dying

A Fine Day for Flight

Bicentennial

Do you remember the year 1976? I do.

Get a glimpse of what it looked like in my poem Photo from 1976 in the latest issue of Orange Room Review.

Make a Kid Happy, Save a Lit Mag

One of my favorite lit mags happens to be for kids.



Stunning artwork, engagingly strange fiction, and a dark sense of humor all make this a magazine worth reading to yourself and your kids. But now, Crow Toes Quarterly needs your help!!

Like so many literary magazines, this one is funded from the editor's pocket. We all know times are tough. Don't let another good publication disappear - follow the link above to order an issue. Today's kids don't need another compilation of fluff and dumbed-down writing. They need something that will fire their imaginations and take them in different directions. Support Crow Toes Quarterly so we don't lose this special magazine!

Eating Her Wedding Dress

Eating Her Wedding Dress

The Number 30

Today is brought to you by the number 30, as in I've just completed my 21st round of 30 poems in 30 days.

Titles:

1. A Cloud Takes All Away

2. A Child that Knows Poems

3. Belated Love Song for Dinosaurs

4. Building Absence

5. Leonardo Improves the Story

6. Dear W–

7. The Obloquy of Crows

8. Nearer the Goal

9. Through a Glass, Darkly

10. With One Piece of Your Heart

11. We Cannot Conceive of an Undreamt Thing

12. No Remedy for Love

13. wall me up alive in my own body

14. Irrational Obligations

15. Heracles Pauses on the Road to Delphi

16. Ode to a Haymaker

17. Desire of Dead Things

18. Survey Report before Demolition

19. With a Heart for Any Fate

20. He doctors his accounts. It takes him days (sonnenizio on a line from Juster)

21. Breakup with Fishbowl and Unlight

22. A Certain Semblance of Shadow

23. Like God after the Flood

24. Hardware Store (found poem)

25. In This Town I Can't Get Arrested

26. Song for the Artist

27. Captain Von Trapp Exorcises the Past

28. Prayer for the Blank Page

29. mise en scene

30. I Go Running Down Your Street

You Spin Me Right Round

With Spring Break here, I was finally able to get up to Hood River and visit Foothills Yarn & Fiber for the lesson that came with my spinning wheel.

Wool.

My first skein.

I made yarn!

After setting the twist.

Ready to knit.

Stitches.

Swatch.

An apron for Audrey.

P.S. Did I mention that Girl Scout cookie sales are finally done. Hooray!!

February Sweaters

Hey, look, I've been knitting! Actually, I've been knitting all along, but this is the first chance I've had to take pictures of anything. These were Valentine's Day presents. Hello Kitty is Emma's friend, and Kate's bunny is named Flopsy.





There was Christmas knitting, too, but since most of it was given away, I don't have pictures. I made 10 Pocket Creatures and stuffed them with sachets of lavender from Hood River. They are great stocking stuffers!

I also knit toy horses for the girls, then made dresses and shawls from the same yarn for their Groovy Girls. They love it when things match.

Right now I'm working on more adorable animals from the same yarn (Emma and Kate have decided that the Groovy Girls are running a zoo) and an Easter surprise. Oh, and Dennis is hoping I'll get around to finishing his second Sailor's Rib sock, too.

Knit on!

In the Mailbox

I've gotten some good mail in the past week. First, Issue 15 of Quarter After Eight arrived. This is a journal that focuses on publishing flash fiction and short prose/poem pieces. I have two stories in this issue - "How Thunder Stepped into the Sky" and "John Wesley Powell and the Colorado River Blues." I'm thrilled to be sharing pages with fellow Zoetropers Elizabeth Ellen and Stefani Nellen.



I also received my copy of the Arabic anthology "American Stories Dialogues" which includes three of my previously published flashes. This anthology was put together by Saleh Razzouk and I am honored to have been included in the company of so many fine contemporary American writers.


Finally, I had a letter from River Styx informing me that, while I did not win the 2009 River Styx Schlafly Microfiction contest, I was one of 20 finalists chosen from over 500 submissions. Close, but no cigar. Guess I better start sharpening my pencil for next year!

New and Not-So-New Poetry

My poem "She Always Wears Blue" is up now in the new issue of Paradigm.

I also have five poems in the Winter issue of The Linnet's Wings which came out last month.

Doggy Danger

Emma got bit by a dog on Thursday night while we were delivering Girl Scout cookies. I never knew it was so dangerous taking cookies door to door.

She's okay. It's not a serious bite, but bad enough. Five punctures to her leg and lots of bruising.

It seems everyone has a dog bite story. My own involves a mother dog with puppies, a 10 year old (me) doing something really stupid, and my nose. Luckily it wasn't as bad as it could have been, and I learned several very important lessons about dogs and friendship.

I'm very busy

...delivering Girl Scout cookies (over 300 boxes!), volunteering at my kids' school, leading a Daisy troop, and generally having a life. Writing has been on the back burner for a couple of months, but I'm gearing up for a new 30/30 come March 1.

What have you been up to?

Blood Lotus

Issue #11 of Blood Lotus is now live and includes my poem "Annie Oakley Seeks a Restraining Order Against Buffalo Bill."

Defined

Sharon Hurlbut --

[noun]: A hard-core grave robber

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Wow, is that strange or what? I suppose that's one way of looking at archaeology/physical anthropology.

riverbabble

You'll find me Posing the Dead in the new issue of riverbabble. Check it out for lots of great stories and poems on the theme of death and decay. It's not as morbid as it sounds. Really.

Poem

Check out the new issue of Perigee which includes my poem "Lookout on Perdition Ridge."

Pink

I'm in the pink over at Rumble!

Sadly, the same cannot be said for real life, where I spent yesterday morning at the ER with a kidney stone. I've had so many, usually I can tough these babies out at home, but this one was too much even for me. Cross your fingers for it to pass quickly.

Twenty Times the Fun

That's right, I finished my 20th round of 30 poems in 30 days. That's a few poems. I had a couple of series in this go-round, including a set of poems I wrote after seeing the Lucy's Legacy exhibit, and some visits with a new friend, Millie. Here's the latest batch of titles:

1. Australopithecus afarensis
2. Lucy
3. Homo sapiens takes home an I LOVE LUCY (the world's most famous fossil) bumper sticker
4. Sacred Like the Sky
5. All the Glory
6. Oh Ethiopia, We Sing, We Sing
7. Dating Lucy
8. Shoes
9. Millie Breaks It Down
10. Blackdamp
11. The Gossips Have their Say
12. Millie Goes to the Picture Show
13. Dust Was In Our Eyes
14. Night Hike
15. blowing over snow (haiku)
16. Sonnenizio on a line from Brooke
17. Ode to a Seattle Fishmonger
18. Freezing Point Depression
19. Disburden
20. Snowy Day Suite in 2/3 Time
21. Winter Fells the Neighborhood
22. In the News Report, I am Nameless
23. Letter from a 21 Day Snowstorm
24. Lucy Sees Snow for the First Time
25. Journey of the Magi
26. Ghazal for the Left Hand
27. Ode to a Christmas Tree
28. If I Told the Truth
29. After the Fire at Madame Tussaud's
30. Billie Holiday Sings in the Shower

Travelling

Don't look now, but I've gone Off the Map in Farrago's Wainscot.