I received some nice news this week. Connotation Press: An Online Artifact, a highly respected online literary journal, chose my personal essay “Lifeguard” as one of the best pieces published by the journal over the previous year. The introduction to…
Submitting, submitting
I’m slowly getting back into the swing of things. I am THISCLOSE to finishing my new fiction short story — I’m doing the final line edits. I also submitted my last short story to two more publications this morning. The…
Thinking about and writing short stories
College semesters seem, at the same time, to pass quickly and last forever. As I’ve caught up on regular life during spring break this week, I’ve taken stock of the fact that the students in my undergraduate class have read,…
Dead Man’s Path
I’ve just started teaching a literature course on “The Short Story,” and short fiction is fast becoming one of my favorite reading choices. Today we read “Dead Man’s Path” by well-known Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. The story describes a young,…
A new fiction story during a turbulent time
It’s been difficult to focus on much during this chaotic period in our country’s history. Every day seems to bring divisive and disturbing news. I’ve found myself retreating from the Internet to a certain extent in order to maintain some…
Women Inspire
A number of weeks ago Meg Tuite, one of the wonderful editors at Connotation Press: An Online Artifact, sent out an invitation for women writers to submit videos about their experience as writers and any advice they have for other…
I write fiction, too!
I recently reviewed the proofs for Red Earth Review‘s July issue, which will contain my short story, “Capture the Moon.” This is how the journal describes itself: Much like the MFA program at Oklahoma City University that shares its name…
When does life get less busy?
The semester ended in early May, but it feels as if I’ve been running ever since. I’ve spent the past couple of weeks developing two new courses for the fall: Intro to Creative Writing, which I’m taking on after the…
Feedback: “It’s so depressing.”
I’ve noticed over the past few months that I’ve had trouble getting back to memoir (or personal essay) writing. I’ve been playing with fiction, because the muse that visited me so often during the years in which I was writing…
Where’s Faye?
I haven’t dropped off the map. Life has been a bit chaotic lately. I’ve also just started a new semester at Lasell College — I’m teaching freshman composition and a literature course titled “Memoir and the Personal Essay,” and I’m…