Hi friends,

I’ve missed you so much. But with fall comes (I hope) an increase in writing and podcasting activity. Much to tell you — been a VERY busy few months. Until then, I want to share the latest episode of my and Barry’s podcast, MFA Payday, with you.

Chella Courington returns to our podcast to share her latest release, a dynamic volume of poetry called “Hearts Forged in Resistance,” pre-order price guaranteed until September 8, 2023. The book will be released by Finishing Line Press on November 10, 2023.

Listen to us speak with Chella about her hauntingly vivid poems and hear her read on this episode. You don’t want to miss her beautiful use of language and her evocative images, flowers of words, all. I tell you, talking with her made me want to go on a poetry reading jag. (I just finished a thrilling volume by another friend of mine, but though I was able to leave her a quick Amazon review, I haven’t had time to spend with it over here the way I intend to in a month or so. It’s so gorgeous and it deserves all of my attention.)

(Anyway, you can hear Chella’s husband, Ted, say hello in the background now and again. If you listened to our episode with them a few months ago, you’ll remember him. It was fun interviewing another writing couple. )

Learn more about Chella on her website. (Below is a photo of her, as well as the image used on her book cover.)

And here’s a quick tidbit: Barry and I are writing a book to go along with our podcast! It’s going to be at least a year down the road, but it’s really neat to see what you think and know about a topic when you sit down and try to capture it.

We’re working on this project not only to do something as a couple, but because we want to help writers, especially MFA grads, our peers, get their work out there, build their careers, and leave the legacy they want.

We’re in the REALLY early stages of it, and we’re hoping to take it to the beach soon and hash out just what we want it to look like when it grows up.

I’m bringing up my third novel along with this newest project, but I’ve learned how to be patient with my writing. You might remember that I said this novel is a literary mystery. It still is, though it’s also a campus novel. So can a literary mystery be a campus novel, or did I just invent something? 🙂

It might appear that I’m going backwards, because I trimmed it back to 30K words, which is 116 pages. And I have barely touched the mystery portion. I fear this is going to be a LONG one!

One thing that was really cool today is I remembered a line from a poem I wrote nearly twenty years ago but never used. (I don’t write much poetry; the stuff scares and awes me too much.) I have (for now) put the line in my novel.

Enough about me.

Tell me how your summer has been. Tell me what you’re reading. Tell me what you’re writing, if you write. Tell me everything.

Drēma