We woke to snow and ice this morning, so no school for the kids. As I write this, we are all still in our pajamas. I’m considering more coffee. The brownies just came out of the oven. Paul and Josie are engineering various marble run configurations on the living room floor and Rudy is working on his eye-hand coordination playing on the tablet.

In other words, we’re being lazy and kind of loving it.

Well, “lazy” is not entirely accurate. I did do a bunch of work for my class this morning, and I will do more later this evening. And I’m rather preoccupied with writing at the moment. Which is also work. I realized, finally, today that I am not going to be able to make the AWP conference in Boston in March. I’m sad about this, but it’s just not financially doable. I’ll miss seeing old friends and miss meeting so many new ones I’ve made this year through  online spaces. But I’ll raise a toast from my couch and honestly be (more than) a little relieved not to have to navigate the book fair.

So there’s that. And there’s also this: I’ve started writing a new poetry collection! I actually conceived of it a full year ago, but other projects got in the way (in good ways), and I was never able to get it begun. But now I have, and the poems I’m writing feel interesting to me. Preoccupying. I’m thinking about poetry all the time. It’s wonderful.

Part of why it’s wonderful is the newness, of course, but another wonder is how it distracts me from the worry of publishing the other collection and the memoir and all the poems and essays that still need homes. I’m not abandoning those efforts, but I am glad for another way to direct my energies.

And speaking of calming writerly worries, more wisdom from Roxane Gay, here. 

Now, who wants to join me for coffee and a brownie?