So it goes...

10 Quotes from the land of COVID-19 in late February 1. "Why am I so tired tonight?" 2. "I'm doing laundry, do you need your masks washed?" 3. "You know how I was going to try and stop drinking during the week? Yeah, no." 4. "I went to the coffee shop today and there was a group of women holding an unmasked book study. Maniacs!" 5. "It might be a frozen pizza night!" (Sometimes twice a week.) 6. "You should put your pajamas on and be done with it." (Quoting my wife at 5:30 PM) 7. If I have to sit through another Zoom meeting, I'm going to scream."" 8. "Your mic is muted!" 9. "How can you be 11 months into a pandemic and claim you don't have a web cam. C'mon, man!" 10. "I'm going to share my screen now. Hopefully this will work okay." (It always does. This is not a new technology. C'mon, man!) The list goes on and on. I'd like to say we've turned the corner

 I'd like to believe we're on the downside of winter, but I'm afraid to for fear of more snow. It has been a brutal last 6 weeks after a fairly mild, almost snowless December. There were some things to appreciate about this season, starting with that snowless December. January had a lot of days near 30 degrees which made for good cross country skiing and decent walking weather to maintain some semblance of fitness. Then Late January and early February rolled around and as often happens, things got ugly. Lots of significant snowfalls, usually followed by the predictable cold temps that seem to follow most storms.  Throw into that fun, the last 10 days of what I'm calling a Polar Vortex, (I don't know if the meteorologists are, but I am)  and it has most of us thinking spring can't come soon enough. Temps are creeping into the thirties in the next few days so, I'm running with that victory. After my walk in 17 degree weather (and daylight, bonus!) yesterday, I

 So life in publication land goes on despite COVID-19. I continue to market and promote Cretin Boy and my other books albeit mostly virtually or through emails and social media. It's been kind of a cool week from a feedback standpoint so I thought I'd share a few of the bright spots. I heard from my cousin Judy today who gave the book to her husband as a surprise Christmas gift. She snuck a picture of him reading my book. He was a grad from 1970, and she thought he's enjoy recalling some of his days at Cretin. He said that many of the teachers I mentioned were there when he was, so that was convenient. The book has helped me connect with a few family members who I don't hear from often, so that's a nice intangible benefit, I guess. A friend and writing colleague posted a picture of the book and mentioned how she was looking forward to it. She is a poet and a great source of light and inspiration to not only me, but to all writers and poets in Wisconsin. We've b