Late in posting this, but I'm pleased to mention that my best essay about a crazed fan who shot a baseball player (yes, it was the inspiration for The Natural), "Silly Honey," appears in MAKE X, an anthology celebrating ten years of the great journal out of Chicago. Pick it up here!

The website Catapult has been running a great series featuring pieces first appearing in now-folded literary journals.

Years ago, I had the privilege of being published by the wonderful journal Quick Fiction, which exclusively focused on flash fiction. The editors were amazingly supportive of their authors, and it was clear that they approached the journal with intelligence and heart.

Marie-Helene Bertino seems to agree, because for her guest-editor-ship, she chose her favorites from Quick Fiction. I was thrilled to hear that the piece I published, "Cats with Pitiful Mystiques," was one of her selections. I was even more thrilled when I saw the illustration that accompanies my story.

I'm so excited to have a story in the new edition of upstreet. This is a journal out of Western Massachusetts that I've long admired, and I'm proud to be a part of it. In addition, I worked on this story a couple years ago with Christine Schutt at the Sewanee Writers Conference, so it means a lot that it now has a home.

Copies of upstreet number eleven can be ordered here.

I'm so thrilled to have an essay in the latest issue of MAKE. "Silly Honey" is the story of Ruth Ann Steinhagen, her crush on the baseball player Eddie Waikus, and its tragic outcome. The theme for this issue is "Misfits," and they've managed to collect some great writers, including my friend Emily Kendal Frey. Buy it here!

I'm so thrilled to be reading on Friday, January 31 with some of my favorite poets and prose writers: Abby Beckel, Jennifer Olsen, Kathleen Rooney, and Chris Tonelli.  Berl's Poetry Shop in Brooklyn at 7:00!

A few days ago I returned from two weeks at the Sewanee Writers Conference.  And now I'm sitting, trying to figure out how to capture what those two weeks were like.  They were exhausting and exhilarating and terrifying and wonderful.  I made some amazing writer friends, whom I'm very worried I won't see again.  And I learned so, so much about writing from my peers and my workshop leaders, Christine Schutt and Tim O'Brien.

I went to the writing conference at Bread Loaf a few years ago, and it was definitely impressive, but Sewanee was a much more positive experience for me, both professionally and personally.  I'm a bit overeager to have that feeling, to capture those two weeks, again.  But I have to remind myself that it wasn't real life.  In real life, there's just writing.

I'm very fortunate to be spending the next several weeks writing, reading, and finding peace at a Ragdale residency in Lake Forest, IL.

I've never attended a residency before, and the advice I received was to keep working expectations low and just enjoy the experience, so that's what I'm trying to do: Put writing time in but not stress about page counts, and feel grateful for every moment I get to spend here.  So far, so good!

I have quite the writerly summer shaping up here!  I'll be spending the second half of June working, working, working during a residency at Ragdale.

Then, in July I'll be heading south to Tennessee to attend my first ever Sewanee Writers' Conference.  Can't wait!

I was thrilled to be interviewed by The Short Form about writing, teaching comedy, and little girls who smoke cigarettes.  Check it out here.