Tuesday, August 26, 2008

notes from the Dentonground

I wanted to thank Darien Cavanaugh and the editors of Yemassee who just published my short story, "Lake Effect." The story is the lead fiction piece in their newest issue which landed at my doorstep moments ago. Darien worked patiently with me to get the most from one of my weirder protagonists and I'm very happy with the final version, delighted with their new issue, and grateful for the guidance and encouragment.

I also wanted to thank Leslie McMurtry, ficiton editor for Swansea Review in Wales, for the kind words posted about my essay "Put on the Petty," which appeared in the spring 2008 issue of The Missouri Review.

I'm back teaching now, juggling four classes as a Lecturer at the University of North Texas. For somebody with my C.V., it's a great job and I'm grateful to have it. Four classes is a heavy load but I should be able to continue progress on the book and other small projects. I'm writing the last chapter of Remedy Wheel now. When I'm done with that I have to write a new opening then stash the manuscript out of sight a while before starting revisions. No more guesses as to when I'll finish. When it's done, I guess.

In the grocery store this weekend I noticed a boy sitting in one of those child-pod plastic nose-cones attached to the front of a shopping cart. The kid's mother was pushing the cart and heading straight for me as she scanned items on a shelf to her left. The child looked eager for her to keep moving, leaning forward in his seat as if he knew a collision was in the works but that he was safe in the Big Wheel plastic of his conveyence. He was out for blood.

I don't think these child-pods are a great idea. Shouldn't a nation with obese children at least require they walk around the grocery store? And no, the kid didn't get his wish. I stepped out of the way before his mother catapalted me into the taco sauce.