Confession Tuesday

Happy Confession Tuesday! Have you been naughty or nice? Naughty, I hope. Share a little of yourself with us and we promise to do the same.


I love taking the kids to see Santa! At the risk of being cheesy, I am so very thankful for Alex and Ella. How lucky am I that my day starts and ends with them?

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This time last year, I felt I was making the best of the situation. The launch party for Underlife and my divorce proceedings happened about the same time. My greatest success as a writer was coupled with the most intense pain I have ever felt. I put on a brave face, but I was pretty miserable at the end of 2009.

This holiday season is markedly different. And while I don't feel "healed" (don't know if I'll ever really heal from the divorce), I feel hopeful. Though it all, I've known exactly who I am and my place in this world--raising those two silver linings.

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You can't build your happiness on the unhappiness of others.

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This weekend, I am going with a few poet friends to Writing Your Way Home: A Poetry Weekend Intensive. It's held at a retreat house on 93 acres of wooded land in New Jersey. I'm looking forward to nurturing my creative spirit with fellow poets, talking about craft, and writing a few drafts. Woo hoo!

It will be nice to be still for once. That's what I'm looking forward to the most.

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Still tweaking the "Misery Islands" long poem from my second manuscript. Ugh. The endless tweaking is driving me insane.

This poem is in 10 sections (expanded from the original eight). The opening needs a bit of finessing ... maybe. I'm having it looked at by others who are slightly more objective than me. And I'm looking for the right word in one of the later sections that will swing the poem in a different direction. Still haven't found what I'm looking for. Drat!

I really would like to submit it to a few places before year's end.

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Tonight, I'm spending time with the Salem Writers Group. Sometimes it's helpful for me to listen to others read short stories and poems when I'm at an impasse with my own work.