Dreams Under Glass at Elliott Bay Book Company; Daughters of the Air, a staff pick at Left Bank Books,; practicing my smize; the traditional book haul on hotel bed picture; signing books at the Lanternfish Press table.

Coming back to Seattle for AWP after having moved away nearly four years ago stirred up all kinds of feelings. I’m glad I decided to make a very specific plan to keep feelings of overwhelm in check. Bright and early on Thursday morning, I started with a panel on medical memoir as I think ahead to expanding my pieces in Newsweek, Healthline, and Catapult into a book (though to be clear, that book would be far in the future).

Health and Illness Narratives: Harnessing Medical Memoir to Impact a Broken System

Featuring: Mary Pan, Emily Maloney, Rana Awdish, Emily Silverman, Suzanne Koven

Each of the panelists at this discussion are both writers and health care practitioners, and each read briefly before the discussion began. Emily Silverman, who runs The Nocturnists, a storytelling community for healthcare workers, read an uplifiting piece from JAMA titled “Comic Relief,” about meeting her idol Kate McKinnon. Emily Maloney read a tense excerpt from her essay collection The Cost of Living, about being a 23-year-old ER tech working at a hospital under the cloud of an enormous debt while carrying her own medical debt from an attempted suicide at age 19. Rana Awdish read a troubling excerpt from her memoir In Shock, about a terrible abdominal surgery done partly without anesthesia and being accused of being a drug addict. Suzanne Koven, author of Letter to a Young Female Physician read “The Doctor’s New Dilemma,” about struggling to ration out her time and emotional energy. Mary Pan read a harrowing memoir of her husband trying to get psychiatric help for paranoia and suicidal ideation and being told he’d have to wait at least a week—until she got on the phone and used her knowledge of the healthcare system to get him an appointment the next day—I still remember the image of him drawing the tip of a pair of scissors on his arm after she returned from nursing their eight-month-old child. What an image.

The panelists talked about the importance of storytelling. Awdish said that during the pandemic, the disbelief in science would have made her less compassionate toward patients who didn’t mask or get vaccinated, if she hadn’t also maintained a practice of storytelling and writing. Koven said the healthcare system dehumanizes patients, caretakers, and families but storytelling rehumanizes them; Easy Beauty is a memoir that helped show physicians they had no training for caring for patients with disabilities. Maloney said that helping healthcare workers tell their stories will help them advocate for improving the healthcare system. Awdish added that flipping between the point of view of patient and physician helped show her systemic problems in the healthcare system. I loved this quote from Suzanne Koven, who wasn’t sure if she read it somewhere or just came up with it: A doctor’s account of illness is a Victorian novel spanning many years but a patient’s account is a Virginia Woolf novel where every moment matters.

They also talked about voices that need to be included in the canon of illness narratives, which seem to be dominated by male physicians. We need to hear more from female physicians, patients, care givers, family members, cafeteria workers, medical helicopter pilots, and so on. An audience member asked about the ethics of patient memoir and whether that is self-exploitative. Maloney, who has a background in bioethics, said there really isn’t the same restriction as with a healthcare practitioner writing about patients; just write something honest and true that supports your experience, and don’t think about whether it is “too much” until after you’ve written. Suzanne Koven quoted Anne Lamott: “Tell the story, we’ll call the lawyers later.” A comment from the audience also brought up medical apartheid; the audience member said she’d been writing poetry but was considering switching to essays to find a broader audience; the panelists recommended Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on Health in America and Take My Hand a novel by Dolen Perkins-Valdez about the forced sterilization of African-American women. I hope that member of the audience gets their stories out.

This was an excellent panel and I’m glad it was early on in the conference before I got too tired!

The Lyric Essay as Resistance: A Reading and Celebration

Featuring Chloe Garcia Roberts, Chelsea Biondolillo, Molly McCully Brown, Hea-Ream Lee, Michael Torres

This reading celebrated the anthology The Lyric Essay as Resistance from Wayne State University Press. As I could have anticipated, I was already tired and did not take as many notes though it was very lovely to listen to each of the readers. I appreciated the panelists defining “resistance” in a number of ways. Lee called it resisting against forms, focusing on images and moving fluidly among timelines. Torres talked about arranging memories non-linearly. Brown asked: what shapes, architectures, bodies are you not seeing on the page—keep the lyric essay wild. Lee mentioned that expansiveness of form allows for invention. This was all reassuring as I bumble around in my lyric essay collection figuring out what feels right for each piece. Onward!

A Very Important Karaoke Party

During the day on Friday, I had a lovely time signing books at the Lanternfish Press table (some pictures above) and it was so nice to meet people who’d read the book or were eager to. Then that night I went to A Very Important Karaoke Party, a night of parody songs around the theme of the writing life at Hugo House. Paulette Perhach organized the event and I was delighted to help write a song based on “Under Pressure” called “Little Green Monster,” all about envy (and forgiving yourself and trying to overcome it). It was fun to see someone else belt it out with a fake Freddie Mercury mustache and very cathartic to sing along with all the songs in the back of the room where no one could hear my individual voice (the only way I will do karaoke!).

I am sure there are many more things I could have mentioned here about trip, but dang if I go on & on. It was great to reconnect with so many folks from my life in Seattle and I hope we can get back sooner than in four years. And I can’t wait to dive into the delicious books we acquired at the book fair (pictured above). If you went to the conference, feel free to share some highlights in the comments!

Paintings helped me grope through the dark of my first draft of Daughters of the Air. I wrote a guest blog post about that process on Lisa Romeo's blog. Here's how the piece begins:

When I was just starting to write seriously, I fetishized notebooks—and, like an eight-year-old—stickers.  I preferred black, hard-backed notebooks with graph paper that forced my writing into small, neat boxes.  My favorite treat was popping into a stationary store in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, to buy a cheap book of Dover Art Stickers depicting famous paintings by Michelangelo, Kahlo, Goya, and the like. I was trying to write the first draft of my first novel, Daughters of the Air, using Hemingway’s supposed model of 300 words a day, no more, no less, stopping mid-sentence and all that jazz.continue reading

Years later, still enraptured with the process, I ended up teaching several classes on writing from art for Hugo House at the Henry Art Gallery (you can see my students' work alongside the art that inspired them in these e-booklets the Henry made here and here) as well as several blog posts for Ploughshares, including this one on writing from abstract art. And, my next novel features an artist. And, many of my essays engage with art in one way or another, like this one on Goya, in the Los Angeles Review of Books. All this writing about writing—it's time for me to get back to a gallery and refill the well!

I'm back from a family trip to Orcas Island. Waiting for the ferry in Anacortes, we spotted skittering kingfishers and a great blue heron in flight--its path strangely loping. Then, in Orcas, there were the requisite cows, sheep, and horses; a buck crunching on dead leaves; and sweet doe eating dandelions. We went to the old strawberry barreling plant in the hamlet of Olga, where there are no longer any strawberry fields. And M & I baked our bones in a sauna that may have been close to 200° F. How refreshing!Now I'm in back-to-school mode. A few tidbits of note:

• On Sunday, September 18, I'm teaching a free one-day class on contemporary fairy tales at the Capitol Hill branch of the Seattle Public Library.
• On Saturday, October 22, I will be one of 40+ featured artists at Artist Trust's 30th Birthday Party. Tickets are $25 and proceeds support this amazing organization and all the hard work it does in Washington State. I have felt their impact profoundly as a recipient of their inaugural Gar LaSalle Storyteller Award. But they have been a helpful resource for me long before that; I attended a number of their grant writing workshops and compiled some of my notes in a post here.
• Finally, I'm pleased to be offering one-on-one writing coaching via Hugo House's new manuscript consultation program. You can learn all about here.

In other news, I have a few pieces forthcoming--a collage essay about a fruit (in the meantime here's a post I wrote about nectarines), a short story inspired by my recent trip to the Netherlands, and two short-short fairy tales. I'll be sure to post links to these pieces as they become available.

There are just five spots left in Memory and Imagination, my one-day generative class at Hugo House. Join me for a Saturday afternoon of writing from memory and the senses! Wisdom from Rikki Ducornet, Jorge Borges, and Vladimir Nabakov will offer insight in the process. And here's Umberto Eco on the subject, in The Name of the Rose:"This, in fact, is the power of imagination, which, combining the memory of gold with that of the mountain, can compose the idea of a golden mountain."Class meets Saturday, August 13, 1-4 pm. You can register here.

This spring, I'm teaching a six-week class on contemporary fairy tales at Hugo House. We'll read Angela Carter and Margaret Atwood and Sarah Shun-lien Bynum and Alissa Nutting, among other fantastic writers. We'll talk about some of my favorite techniques, like everyday magic and intuitive magic. And we'll try our hands at writing our own fairy tales. Class meets Wednesday nights 7-9 pm from May 25-June 29. Registration is currently open for Hugo House members; general registration opens March 22. Scholarships are available and applications are due on March 25.I'm also teaching a 75-minute webinar on Saturday, April 16 called Powerful Objects via Inked Voices. We'll talk about one of my favorite topics: how objects create a special kind of magic in fiction and how useful they are in developing character, plot, and emotional resonance. It's a lecture-based class that will include writing prompts and a Q&A. The class will meet at 12 pm EST / 9 am PST and is just $25. We'll talk about Cynthia Ozick's story "The Shawl," so please read that in advance. You can register here.Speaking of fairy tales, right now at the Henry Art Gallery, you can see Paul McCarthy's White Snow, a wildly whimsical and subversive take on Snow White. A few years ago, I saw his gonzo installation WS at the Park Avenue Armory in New York, a similarly subversive spin on Snow White but somehow less rich than the wood sculptures on view at the Henry. White Snow seems more artful, crafted, and thoughtful, whereas WS was a big raunchy frat party. The Henry is now free on Sundays (huzzah!), so go check it out. Perhaps it will inspire you!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of chatting with Steve Barker for the 76th edition of Ordinary Madness, his Arts & Entertainment podcast. We talked about novel writing, rejection, The Furnace, the effects of winning awards, and a bit about my time at McGill University in Montreal. I also read two short-short stories, one of which is quite new. Fun!

There are still some spots in my 30-minute, $10 online class Powerful Objects, meeting December 9 at 7 pm.  This micro-class is via OneRoom, an online platform designed specifically for creative writing classes allowing real-time interaction via video. The format of the micro-class is a great way to sneak in some writing in this busy time of year, if I do say so myself. Here is the class description:

Italo Calvino wrote that “the moment an object appears in a narrative, it is charged with a special force and becomes like the pole of a magnetic field, a knot in the network of invisible relationships.” We’ll read Kate Bernheimer’s short-short story “Pink Horse” to see how she uses imagery and detail to bring out the psychic power of a particular object. Then we’ll do a writing exercise exploring a character’s relationship with an object. Register here.

In 2016, I'm teaching 1000 Words a Week, a six-week class in which--you guessed it--we will write 1000 words a week. It's like NaNoWriMo but at a more merciful pace. Class meets Thursdays 7-9 pm, starting January 14. General registration opens December 8; if you're a Hugo House member you can register today. Scholarships are available! Apply by December 14. Class description here:

Each week we’ll write 1000 words using big-picture and fine-grain prompts. In class, we’ll lightly workshop pieces, focusing on questions like “What creates energy in this story?” and “What do you want to know more about?” Stories may be part of a larger work or stand alone. We’ll also discuss writers’ thoughts on writing, from classics like Anne Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts” to newer essays like Rikki Ducornet’s “The Deep Zoo.” Students will leave class with 5000 new words. Register here.

Finally, I am teaching a mini-lesson called The Priceless Detail at Hugo House's Write-O-Rama, this Saturday at 12 pm & 1 pm.  Here is the class description:

Good liars know that selective detail, not a pile of facts, make a more convincing story. In discussing Chekhov's exceptional use of detail, Francine Prose notes that we live in detail, remember in detail, identify, recognize, and recreate in detail. But finding the right detail in fiction takes a lot of sifting. We'll look to excerpts from Chekhov for inspiration, then immerse ourselves in an exercise drawing on keen observations of our own experiences. Register here.

Wishing you a writing-full season & 2016!

In 2014, I focused my blogging attentions to 16 posts on writing prompts for Ploughshares. Now that the series is done (though stay tuned--I have plans for them), here's a little update on what I've got on deck for 2015.

• I'm slowly submitting Novel #1 to small presses.
• I'm almost done with a third draft of Novel #2, workshopping a chapter a month with my writing group. In early December 2015, I will have a public reading thanks to a grant from 4Culture. More on this novel soon.
• I'm in the planning stages of Novel #3 (!)
• My story "Raven in a Jar" will appear in the March/April issue of CICADA; in the fall, my story "I Loved You in New York" will be released as a chapbook in Alice Blue Books' Shotgun Wedding series.
• My New Year's resolution is to get more into food writing, since food is all over my fiction. So far I've brainstormed 16 articles to pitch. I want to pitch somewhere between two articles a day and two articles a week (this will depend on some other news hanging in the balance). I can't control whether an article will be accepted, but I can certainly control how often I send out work. I believe this is called a "SMART goal". Wish me luck! Here's a helpful tumblr with examples of successful pitches.
• I'm teaching several classes at Hugo House, most immediately Intro to Fiction: Writing the Short Story and Hugo at the Henry: The Senses in Reading and Writing.

What are your plans for 2015?

  On March 21, I'm teaching a special one-day Hugo House class at the Henry Art Gallery. As I mentioned in a recent Ploughshares blog post, I've been helping out with the literary component of Ann Hamilton: the common S E N S E, the exhibit that has taken over all of the Henry from October to April. The show explores the sense of touch and our relationship to nature as well as being touched--emotionally, intellectually--through the private act of reading.The exhibit has filled the galleries with scanned images of taxidermy animals from the Burke Museum of Natural History, with children's ABC primers and bestiaries from the University of Washington's Libraries Special Collections, and with clothing made from animal products both from the Burke and from the Henry's collections. Throughout the galleries, at different times, chorale singers sing to the objects. And, reader/scribes read aloud to objects of their choice, like a bedtime story, from a common text that will change over the course of the show--the first is J.A. Baker's The Peregrine, a beautiful book. These reader/scribes, when particularly moved by a passage in the text, record that passage into a log book. These log books will accumulate over time, becoming a record of a collective reading experience.There are a number of ways to participate in this rich exhibit:

• Submit a fragment from your own reading that deals with the sense of touch (literally or intellectually) to this tumblr site; your submissions may be included in the exhibit!
• Volunteer to be a reader/scribe. I've done it four times so far; it's a powerful experience, and I'm writing about it now and hope to share it with you soon. Perks: free admission, a free pass to return to the exhibit, and an invitation to participate in a discussion of the experience with other reader/scribes and facilitated by a member of the literary community (including me!).
• Take my Hugo House class Senses at the Henry on Saturday, March 21, 12-3 pm. We'll do the reader/scribe activity, contributing to the exhibit itself (exciting!), discuss the experience, and then dive into creative writing in response to the show. Member registration begins on December 9 and general registration opens on December 16.

Hope to see you around the Henry in the coming months!

This winter, I'm teaching Intro to Fiction: Writing the Short Story, a six-week class at Hugo House laying out crucial elements of story. Here's the course description:

This class will zero in on the three-part backbone of story: character, plot, and landscape. Who is your main character? What do they want? What keeps them from getting what they want? Readings and discussions will include canonical and contemporary stories from James Joyce, Anton Chekhov, Mavis Gallant, Jamaica Kincaid, Louise Erdrich, and others. Writing exercises will focus on crucial craft elements as well as generative exercises to get started.

I'm also teaching a special one-day class at the Henry Art Gallery in conjunction with Ann Hamilton's show the common S E N S E, which I'll write more about in a separate post. Registration for Hugo House members begins on December 9 and for the general public on December 16. Hope to see you there!

Over on the Hugo House blog, my Classy Talk interview sheds a bit more light on my upcoming  fiction workshop. Take a look, sign up, and help me spread the word about it! Class meets Wednesday nights, 7-9 pm, starting October 29. I'm already excited about the story we'll read on the first day,  a short-short by Angela Carter, which will be atmospheric and  fairy tale-ish and spooky.

I normally think of August as a sleepy month for zoning out and wandering into enormous spider webs, but this year, in Seattle, there are quite a few things happening, all of which are free. Here's where I'll be if you'd like to join:*Thursday, August 7, 6 pm: ekFRANTICS, a reading of literature about imaginary art, with David Lasky and Arlo Smith at the Greg Kucera Gallery. This is being put on by the local press Babel/Salvage and coincides with the Pioneer Square Art Walk, one of my favorite art events in town. I'm reading selections from my novel-in-progress, Paralegal, about a 25-year-old visual artist who takes a job as a paralegal just before the economic crisis of 2008.*Thursday, August 14, 7 pm: My Body is a Book of Rules launch at Richard Hugo House. My dear friend Elissa Washuta launches her debut memoir, which I happily pre-ordered yesterday. I can't wait to get my hands on it and celebrate with her.*Thursday, August 21, 7 pm: The Furnace Presents Chelsea Werner Jatzke at Hollow Earth Radio. Corinne Manning and I are launching the third (!) season of our quarterly reading series featuring one writer, reading one entire story, "with vigor." Chelsea's story is inspired by the Velvet Underground. Come see it live; it's gonna be rad.*Monday, August 25, 7 pm: Seattle Fiction Federation #1 at Richard Hugo House: Corinne is reading at this new series featuring fiction only. I'm excited for this new venue.*Tuesday, August 26, 8 pm: Old Growth Northwest Reading & Opening Mic at the Jewel Box Theater: I'm a featured reader alongside Matthew Simmons and Melody Moberg. We're all reading new work in response to the prompt "My first day on the job was much like my last," plus something else of our choosing. Fun!Then after a week in California for my best & oldest friend's wedding, I've got one more very fun reading called Seattle Wage Slaves: Tales from the Grind, which features stories about work. I'm reading alongside Steve Barker, Sonora Jha, Michael Spence, and Wilson Diehl. That's on Thursday, September 11 at 6:30 at Office Nomads. There will be spiked coffee and free donuts!

I'm excited to be offering a six-week fiction workshop at Richard Hugo House this fall. The class meets Wednesday nights 7-9 pm, October 29-December 10 (with no class November 26). Here's the course description:

Many students of fiction say they learn more by workshopping others than when their own work is up for critique. If you have some drafts you don't know what to do with and want to learn by giving others helpful feedback, this class is for you. We’ll touch on forming neutral questions and focus on helping the writer achieve his or her intentions. All students will workshop one story up to 5,000 words, getting feedback from their peers and the instructor. Time permitting, students may workshop a second story.

Scholarships are available and applications are due August 19. Member registration opens August 12 and general registration opens August 19. Hope to see you there!

My student Jenelle Birnbaum's lovely story "The Bodhisattva of the Sea," inspired by Katinka Bock's abstract sculptures, is up on the Henry Art Gallery's blog. The exhibit runs until May 4, and I think I need to squeeze in another visit before then, as there was a "Profane Fireplace" that surely had a fairy tale in it.

There's a lot of advice floating around for dealing with AWP  (I love Kelli Russell Agodon's). And while AWP may be overwhelming, eating in Seattle doesn't have to be. Four years into moving here from Brooklyn, I still marvel at the happy hours truly being happy, and while sometimes the food seems more expensive than food in New York (strange, I know), there's plenty to enjoy on a tight budget. My suggestions are somewhat geographically biased, seeing as I never learned to drive. Without further ado, some suggestions for your eating and drinking pleasure.Update: I've been chided for omitting a few very delicious establishments, two of which are close to my heart (Ezell's, Rancho Bravo) and one of which gives me heart burn (Dick's). Consider the guide amended!The Pike/Pine AreaBest coffee, light, and glossy French magazines: Cafe PresseMost decent slice of pizza: Big Mario'sBest place to look hip and eat any meal of the day: Odd Fellows (bonus: proximity to literary mothership Richard Hugo House and book sanctuary Elliott Bay Books; nb. entrees not so cheap, but deviled eggs & $5 cocktails at happy hour are pretty wonderful)Best (only?) 24-hour diner: Lost Lake (bonus: proximity to Hugo House & Elliott Bay Books; nb. the service is slow; not recommended if you're in a hurry)Tastiest tacos & tamales: Rancho Bravo (bonus: way cheaper than Odd Fellows or Lost Lake AND a smidgen closer to Hugo House)Best Italian food in an old-timey setting: Machiavelli (bonus: this place is super close to the Convention Center; extra bonus: chicken liver lasagne!)Capitol HillBest drinking chocolate/ drinking goop: the ciocco breve, 72% dark, at Dilettante (ask for it extra goopy!)Coziest cafe with a great view of the historic Harvard Exit movie theater: Joe BarTastiest, prettiest lattes: VivaceBest "don't judge me" happy hour: Coastal Kitchen (a longtime local seafood joint with a rotating menu)Best-smelling, "life-changing" burger: Dick's (get the Deluxe!)First HillBest happy hour spot to feel like a '70s porn star: Vito'sClassiest hotel bar: The Sorrento's Fireside LoungeClosest thing I've found to the delis of my youth: George's (only open M-F, 9-5 & Sat 10-3)BelltownBest Bang-For-Your-Buck Sushi Happy Hour: WannChillest French bistro: Le PichetDowntownBest happy hour for throwing your elbows out and getting $1 oysters: The Brooklyn (nb. get there promptly at 4 pm if your elbows aren't pointy)Central DistrictTastiest spot for pho, frog legs, karaoke, and monkey bread, all in one place: Ba BarBest bordello-themed bar: The Neighbor LadyMost extensive selection of microbrews plus ice cream and gummi bears: Chuck's Hop ShopMost life-changing fried chicken: Ezell's (Johnny Horton says, "I recommend the spicy three piece.")MadronaHave a car? Fancy a long walk up a steep hill? Best place to enjoy a cozy brunch (and have a Portlandia moment, waiting in line for brunch): The Hi Spot******Best places to get someone else to pay: I recently tried and loved Rione XIII; people also seem to love Tom Douglas's restaurants.

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In the spring, I'm teaching a new class at Richard Hugo House, Intro to the Fiction Workshop. Exciting! This 10-week class will lay out a solid foundation for students interested in workshopping their stories but who have never taken a workshop or who want to brush up on giving constructive criticism. Workshops can be intimidating at any level; this one will be both welcoming and rigorous.  And fun! The class runs Thursday nights, 7:10-9:10 from 3/20-5-22. Registration opens 2/11 for Hugo House Members, and 2/18 for the general public. Scholarship applications are due 2/18.

This year, I get to go to AWP in my hometown for the second time. The first time was also my first time at AWP ever, in NYC. That was where I decided to apply for MFA programs because, as the nice woman I met there said, "You're helping no one by hating your job." Since that fateful, overwhelming experience, I went to the conference in D.C., bunking up with my MFA classmates in a fancy hotel room, and then to the one in Chicago, staying with my lovely mother-in-law and kvelling over the downtown Jewish deli she took M and I to, Manny's.Last spring, I went to a panel on proposing AWP panels at Richard Hugo House right after folks came back from the Boston AWP (which I skipped because a woman and her wallet needs a break). I proposed a panel that did not get accepted, but I also was fortunate enough to be on a panel that *did* (thank you, Maya Sonenberg!). So I am on my very first AWP panel. And to top it all off, I put together an off-site event to celebrate the release of my friend Andrew Ladd's debut novel, What Ends.

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO: WHAT I'M DOING DURING AWP

Official panel description on AWP site

Facebook Invite (why not?)

Facebook Invite

Of course, there's so much more I'm doing, but these events are what I'm directly involved in. If you're curious about what other Hugo House instructors are up to, I compiled a list of panels for Hugo House's blog.And here's a few panels I'm most definitely excited to attend:

Like Sand to the Beach: Bringing Your Book to Market

Magic and the Intellect

 A Reading and Conversation with Chris Abani and Chang-rae Le

Are you going to AWP this year? What are you most excited to see and do?Stay tuned for my highly idiosyncratic gustatory guide to Seattle, for all your cheap food and drink needs.

I did a little interview on the Hugo House blog about my upcoming class co-presented with the Henry Art Gallery and about what I've been reading and writing lately. You can register for the class here and see previous students' work from the class here and here. Join me Thursday nights 6-8 pm starting January 30. Happy new year!

I'm pleased to offer a third iteration of my writing with visual art class for Richard Hugo House at the Henry Art Gallery, now snappily-titled Visual Inspiration. Here's the course description:

This class, which meets at the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington, will use visual art as a springboard for diving into prose writing. We’ll mine the inspiration of images to unearth new prose or add unexpected meaning and direction to works in progress. Students can search the Henry’s digital archive and request works from the permanent collection not currently on view. For even more creative percolation, we’ll read published works inspired by visual art. Exercises, readings, and discussions will cover the writing process, character, story, landscape (internal and external), and style. Students will have the option to workshop one short-short story or essay. Co-Presented with the Henry Art Gallery.

Class meets Thursday evenings 6-8 pm, January 30-March 13 (with no class on February 27 due to the AWP conference). General registration begins December 10, and the scholarship deadline is December 24. I'm excited to see what students do with "Sanctum," the interactive installation now outside the Henry that draws on social media and surveillance technology, and I'm curious as always to see what gets pulled from the permanent collection and what new creative works spiral out from that.

This post is extra linky! I'm looking forward to reading at the second annual Seattle Lit Crawl as a part of Dark Coast Press: Works in Progress. I'll be reading during Phase Two of the crawl (7-7:45 pm) at Sam's Tavern (1024 E Pike St.) with Jarret Middleton and John Hamilton.  As the name of the event implies, I'll be reading new/unpublished work.There will be tons of readings that night (about 60+ authors in 19 venues all about town). Before my reading, during Phase One of the crawl (6-6:45 pm), I plan to be at Three Jennys Walk into a Bar, also at Sam's Tavern, and featuring Jennifer D. Munro, Jenny Hayes, and Jenny Forester, with host Jenny Neill; they'll be telling tales of lust, loneliness, and the American West. After my reading, I'll saunter down the street for Phase Three (8-8:45 pm) to Lobby Bar (916 E Pike St.) to see my Furnace reading series co-conspirator Corinne Manning and my fellow Made at Hugo House fellow Irene Keliher read alongside Cole Arden Peake and Jeremy Halinen, with host Jaimee Garbacik in A Big Ol’-Fashioned Queer Bash.Then it's off to the mother ship--Richard Hugo House-- for the after party!