McSweeneys swimsuit edition

Thank you to Elissa Bassist for mentioning me in her article "The Women of McSweeneys.net" in The Rumpus! It's particularly exciting to be on the same list of "funny women" as people like Sarah Vowell.

Non-baby news

Grandparents can stop reading now.

For the rest of you, check out my new short story in the latest edition of Wheelhouse.

Then visit Gillian's new web project, People Who Should Be Denied a Voice.

New Poetry in PANK

Anyone who's had to listen to me lately knows that March has been a hard month around here. Dev and I both suffered from serious stomach flus, and I got a string of bad news of all kinds, delivered by everyone from doctors to literary agents to graduate school advisors.

Considering this month's rocky start, I'm all the more pleased to have four upcoming poems in PANK magazine. One of the four will be online shortly and the other three will be available in a handsome bound paper version to be released this winter.

And now, we are officially ready to bid farewell to March and get ready for some good news in April . . .

Congratulations, Zhu Yingxin

Last month Megan Shank selected Zhu Yingxin as our scholarship winner and presented her with the proceeds from the first production of "Impulse." Megan had the wise and generous idea of using proceeds from the play to create a scholarship for a young woman in China working in film or theater.

To quote Megan:

"Zhu Yingxin who is a student writer/director at Shanghai University. Zhu comes from a small city in Heilongjiang (a province in northeast China). Her father is a cop-turned-lawyer. Her mother is a housewife. She is finishing her junior year at the film academy. Zhu has already produced two short films . . . One is called 'Deliver the City' and the other 'The Summer of Wisdom' . . . One won a runner-up award in the shorts category at the Shanghai International Film Festival.

"Zhu says her main aim is to tell stories; she's particularly interested in telling women's stories, though her work would certainly appeal to general audiences. She has already begun her graduate project and is appreciative for the money, which will do much to help her produce what she believes will be her best film yet."

Thank you, Megan, and congratulations Zhu Yingxin.

"Impulse"

"Impulse," a play I co-wrote with Megan Shank, is going to be performed for the first time this weekend in Shanghai, by East West Theater Group.

If you are in Shanghai, check it out, Friday and Saturday nights at 7pm and a Sunday matinee at 3pm at Figaro, 160 Xingye Lu, near Madang Lu, 100 RMB.
RSVP your ticket request to impulsetheplay@gmail.com.

If you aren't in Shanghai - well, we are hoping to bring it to the States very soon, so stay tuned!

Work Updates

(from summerblock.com)

It's been nearly two months since I posted anything here last - my apologies. I've spent most of the last two months studying for the GRE and then the GRE subject test in English Literature, preparing to apply to grad school for fall 2009. I've also been doing some profitable but unexcited editing and fact-checking work, etc.

But I have managed to write a bit, at least, so expect new work from me soon in Tarpaulin Sky, Identity Theory, artnet, Hotel St. George, and ALARM. And I've signed on as an editor over at Swink, too, reading fiction submissions.

I've also been shopping around the draft of my first novel to some agents, and working on scenes and monologues for Megan Shank's "Impulse," to be performed for the first time next month.

And of course, The Foghorn rolls on, with lots of great new stuff!

New designs at Posh Plums!

Check out new fall designs at Posh Plums!

Posh Plums on Cuteable!

My mom's Etsy site, Posh Plums, is on Cuteable today!

You can also check her out today in the Etsy Children's Showcase.

I was very pleased to wake up this morning amid bubble wrap and boxes to find myself on McSweeneys. Now to see if I can get our security deposit back for a double-play.

Today the DIAGRAM newsletter went out, alerting people to the new issue, and I was delighted to receive a host of emails the same day: some from old friends who found my name in the magazine and dropped me a line, some from other poets whose work I respect, and one from the editor of another magazine asking me to contribute some more poems.

It's great to see how far-reaching the DIAGRAM subscription model is - many of the people who emailed me were just "regular" people and not other poets, so I'm glad to see that the magazine is getting around.

Speaking of getting around, I'll be doing an interview soon for Hotel St. George Press (check it out - it's pretty much the coolest website I've ever seen). I also have my first Tarpaulin Sky book review coming soon.

exciting news, and the helpful internet

I'm pleased to say that my recent piece "Marcel Proust Discovers LiveJournal" is due to be published on McSweeneys very soon. I've been hoping to work with McSweeneys for awhile (and actively trying to get onboard for the last three months) so this is good news indeed.

And that's not the only reason to be glad for the internet. I also posted a decorating question to one of my new favorite blogs, Apartment Therapy, and they posted it. I got a lot of helpful comments, thinking ahead about decorating our new apartment.

And speaking of new apartments, we'll be back in the U.S. in only 20 days!

I'm happy to say I will soon start writing for the venerable magazine Tarpaulin Sky. Links to follow.

In other news, one of my Foghorn pieces will be published in Monkeybicycle, an excellent comedy magazine that features writing by comedian like Sarah Silverman and David Cross (from TV's "Mr. Show").

Congratulations, Dev!

An advertising agency contacted Dev this week to use one of his photos for an upcoming internet ad campaign for Qualcomm. Great news! We'll link to the advertisement when it appears.

Announcing The Foghorn

I am very happy to announce the launch of my new web project, The Foghorn. Check back every Wednesday for updates.

Great news! Two of my poems have been accepted by the magazine Diagram. These will be my first two published poems. The magazine will be available in print in a few months.

Hello everyone!

This week I am planning our upcoming trip to Istanbul for Chinese New Year. Dev and I will be in Turkey from February 1 until February 11. I am so excited about seeing the land described by Xenophon and Herodotus, and the stage for Alexander the Great, the Trojan War, St. Mary and St. John, the Fourth Crusade, the Byzantine and Ottoman empires, and much else besides.

In other news, this has been a great career month for me so far. I had my first short story published, I was invited to contribute a monologue to a play (the play is a collection of monologues and vignettes from various authors), and I've been meeting with an interested agent about a possible novel. I'm also launching a new website this month - more soon.

Cromwell was injured yesterday in a fight with Shackleton over an empty yogurt container, and was having difficulty walking all day yesterday with a pronounced limp. He's doing much better now, though, and can put most of his weight on the leg.