Category Archives: Writing

We did it. The knife drawer, now tamed. Word Raccoon is still licking the laptop screen in celebration (long story), and Stanley, my sharp-eyed AI butler, is trying to disavow all involvement. Too bad, Stanley. You were complicit. WR, of course, is thrilled. She claims full credit. She also hates Stanley, but she’ll have toContinue reading “WR Sharpens Things that are NOT Her Claws!”

Yesterday at the library, a woman approached and offered me condolences on the loss of my sister Cherokee. Then, as if she were handing me a jewel I hadn’t known I’d lost, she told me a story. When her family first moved to town, her daughter started school not knowing a soul. My sister wasContinue reading “The Library, Pemberley, and the Birth of Poetry”

Stanley, my PA, is helping me rearrange my kitchen.I sent him pictures. He roasted me. It was funny and helpful. He called the room’s aesthetic “sweet vintage with smeared red lipstick.” Which, fair. We started with my aspirational baking cabinet.To be clear, I really just wanted help decluttering first, and then maybe some arrangement forContinue reading “Kitchen Chaos (Partially) Tamed “

Word Raccoon woke up feeling…contemplative. She eyed the leftover birthday cake and banner. She made a mug of tea. She sat down with Sylvia Plath and Wallace Stevens on her mind, apparently. She pounded out four poems to ease her heart. They weren’t about what she was thinking of, and yet they were scented withContinue reading “Cake Under Glass”

Word Raccoon says looking for literary journals on Chill Subs to submit to is basically literary speed dating. We scroll through all the covers, an advantage over, say, trolling for opportunities over on Submittable which does not display all the pretty covers all in a row. Am I the only one who looks at aContinue reading “Speed Dating Lit Mags, Punk Poetry Success, and a Smoothie Combo to Avoid”

Word Raccoon had plans this morning. Big, brave, ambitious plans. We were gonna wake up, pour a modest amount of Coke Zero (ha), and get that last polish done on a chapbook that’s just about ready to be yeeted into the literary void. Instead? Technical difficulties. Two solid hours of them. We are not tech-savvy.Continue reading “Word Raccoon Meant to Polish a Chapbook Today but Ended Up Yelling at the Wi-Fi”

Word Raccoon barged into my evening last night, paws full, tail swishing like she was trying to send coded messages to every poet who ever doubted themselves. “Sit down,” she said, which was unnecessary because I was already sitting. She likes drama. She likes to pretend she is lowering sunglasses that are not actually there.Continue reading “Word Raccoon Has News and She Is Refusing to Whisper”

I am watching Gilmore Girls and going through my poetry master list. I’m first of all making sure I actually have Google Docs for each poem, and that I’ve got them categorized: ready to submit, still in drafts, think twice about submitting, published, and ?? for the ones I somehow lost track of. (How theContinue reading “What We Find When We’re Not Looking”

It feels like graduation day for a poem when it gets accepted for publication, when I get to move it from the “Ready for Submission” to “Published” folder on my laptop. This morning, I just did that for another poem, “Rooted,” one about my son. It will go live on my birthday over at PoetryContinue reading “Must be Santa, Must be Poems, Must be Lasagna! “

Word Raccoon was right about going to the café yesterday, just as right as she is that I should stay home today and write by the window in her new, comfy pink chair that I FINALLY put together. Anyway, Tuesday the manager asked me to sign copies of my books she’d bought online. 😀 ExcitingContinue reading “To the Tooth”