Update

I woke up this morning and realized it’s been over a year since the “big move” to the burbs in New Jersey and all the miniscule details that went into making it possible. One whole year? Am I remembering this correctly? If you asked me earlier in the week I would have hesitated, made a snide “father time sleeping on the job” kind of joke, and told you it felt like 3 months versus the one whole calendar year that has actually passed.

My first step toward being a graduate student after a hefty decade long academic break has been luxurious. I follow the beat of my own drum, and I’m nothing if not unconventional. That being said - thank you for sticking around and a warm welcome to new readers. I promise you have not been forgotten or that my posts are invisible.

I’m slowly working through my first creative project proposal for short fiction. Something in the realm of magical realism and speculative fiction. Details will be ironed out during the peer review portion of the course soon, and a friendly chat with my instructor. All of this is incredibly novel and fun for me, especially after writing in a vacuum for years. I frequently daydream about one day meeting and teaming up with my ideal editor— someone who will “just get me” and be the other pea in my peapod. If wishes were fishes we’d all cast nets…

Lastly, I have a personal essay I’ve been slogging through at a snail’s pace. It’s my soft launch into politics, reminiscing about the 90’s, and not feeling sure about which topic I’m more nervous about - dating myself as someone old enough to have clear memories of the 90’s or the realization that women’s issues isn’t just something I casually kibitz with female friends anymore. It’s pertinent and always in the back of my mind. It niggles when I look at my daughter and fear what will happen in the next 10 years for her. My words are gradually queuing up into something that resembles coherence of thought.

As always, boldly reach out for the small shiny things in life and squawk into the void. You never know when either of those silly things will become transformative until you try.