This post is the annual update of my writing career, such as it is.

I am exhausted. After a couple years of waiting in limbo, the doors of opportunity opened. 2022 was the year of small business development, poetry, travel, and caregiving. Throw in my day job and there’s my whole life.

Poetry

I attended the Minnesota Northwoods Writers Conference at Bemidji State University on June 20-26, 2022. This is an excellent writing retreat on the shores of beautiful Lake Bemidji. As an attendee of one of the writing workshops, it was full immersion in the craft from 7am to 9pm for a full week. I never wanted to come home.

I was honored to emcee the League of Minnesota Poets Fall Conference awards gala at Arrowwood Resort in Alexandria, MN on November 4-6, 2022. My balcony faced Lake Darling and I watched a flock of ducks lift off in the lake in the thin colors before sunrise my last morning there.

Four of my poems were published before life got ahold of me and I paused submissions:

4/10/22- 1st grade report card note: “Too much daydreaming” with Lyricality.org

04/27/22- Let Us Consider was one of six winners of the Environmental (In)justice in Mni Sóta Maḳoce Storytelling Contest, sponsored by Saint Paul Almanac and University of St. Thomas Sustainable Communities Partnership.

6/28/22 Lace & Half-Naked in the Depths of Winter with Spring Thaw, Itasca Community College

You can say that I should make time, make submitting my work for publication a priority and you’d be right. But it turns out traveling, running a small business, being a caregiver, having a career, and actually writing takes a whole lot of time.

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