Words About Words

It has been a while, so here goes an update on all things writing related.

• I will be appearing with fellow AllWriters' author, Julie Beekman and Constance Malloy at Books and Company in Oconomowoc on September 12th at 7:00. This will be a panel event featuring a book overview, interviews, Q & A and a signing to follow. Julie is coming all the way from Colorado and her book, Two Trees, is worth checking out! Click here for more details.

• I have been soliciting signed poetry books as part of my outreach as Poet Laureate for the Village of Wales for a few months now. I am getting books in at a good pace lately and am approaching forty books from nearly twenty different authors. My goal is to raise 50 books and donate them to Kettle Moraine High School's library. It will get local poets into the hands of young people and that's a win-win.

• I am about 60,000 words into my Work In Progress (WIP), a memoir about my high school experience at an all-male, Christian, military academy in the '70s. It will be a book about the school but also about what it was like growing up as a teenager in the late '70s. There will be lots of humor, as usual, but some great moments of teen stupidity as well. My goal would be to have it done by next year's 40th high school reunion, but that might be a bit ambitious. (I'm writing as fast as I can, here!)

• The Southeast Wisconsin Festival of Books will see me in three different roles.
• I will be co presenting with author Colleen Glatzel at Waukesha South High School on Friday, November 2nd. This should be a panel like discussion featuring a brief overview of out writing experiences followed by a Q&A session. I really enjoyed doing this venue last year.
• Author Bob Goswitz who just released his first book, Dragon Soldier's Good Fortune, loosely based on his Vietnam war experience will be interviewed by me. Bob's book was a great read and I look forward to hearing more about his writing experience.
• I will be giving a 45 minute workshop titled "I never intended to write a book!" I will be talking about how I went from writing stories about my family to publishing my first memoir, Dirty Shirt. This should be a lot of fun and it is followed by a book signing immediately following.

• My completed chapbook of poems about my father is currently out to about 12 publishers. I am extremely hopeful about this collection and am keeping my fingers crossed. 

• My forthcoming chapbook, On a Road, is in the galley review stage. We are waiting for a publishing date from the printer, but the planned release date is October 21st, the anniversary of Jack Kerouac's death. The book documents a trip I took to California with 2 friends in 1984 and is styled after the Kerouac novel On The Road. The cover reveal will be happening sometime in late September. I love how it turned out. 

• My poem, "Talking Around The Problem" was recently accepted for publication in Rising Phoenix Press' Disarm publication themed around the recent upsurge in mass shootings.

• I continue to be a part of the Mama D's monthly poetry night. The event has a featured poet and is followed by an open mic for anyone who might want to read.

• Am looking to get into the Untitled Town Book Festival in Green Bay with a panel of two other authors. That happens in April. We will see what happens with our pitch. 

• I have a dozen other poems and/or short memoir pieces out there right now awaiting review. These are the things that keep me going.

So, I've got a few plates spinning and am working on getting a few more going as well. I think I do best when I've got a lot going on, so I plan on keeping at it. It's all good and I am lucky to be able to be a part of it all.

Blogging off...