Here for summer

I sent my book to my editor, plus pots

It’s been a minute. Sorry about that.

I’ve been busy. I sent my draft to my editor. It’s still a mess, I think, but it is 74,000 words, and has most? some? of the components there. I couldn’t look at it anymore, and that’s how I decided to ship it. Is it really done? No. Is it good? Also no. But do I feel good about it? Absolutely not. It is a thing. It is so complicated, my feelings, the book, what it’s really about. How to make it look like I want in my head. The book that comes after this one is a different sort of animal, and that’s my current focus, while book two is with editor. I included a letter to my editor so she can see what I am thinking, even if the current iteration of the book doesn’t match up with that.

The new book is a novel. I seem to be accumulating pages, so that’s exciting?

I’m also applying for grants, fellowships, some jobs. I’m officially going on the job market this fall; my artist-in-residence gig at UCO is just a short-term thing. I would like to be tenure-track or get something longer-term, generally, more permanent. We are open to location, honestly. More just trying to find the right community, and ideally the opportunity to get a house. We have loved it here, in many respects, but there is no permanent opportunity or path forward. Long story short, the department tried to recruit a nonfiction writer, but required a PhD (I do not have one, just my trusty MFA), and then the line was eliminated altogether, along with several other lines. I suppose this is common now: we are starting the tail end of reductions in staffing as the enrollment cliff approaches, though enrollments are up in English here. That said, I’m really grateful to the small but mighty group of colleagues and students who went to bat for me in an effort to get me hired long-term here. You know who you are, and I am so grateful for you.

learning to throw again on a Shimpo wheel, rather than my Brent (still in storage) as this one has a switch to go righty or lefty (I am throwing righty, trimming lefty. It’s a long story).

Something else I’ve been doing, for the past week or so, is starting to make pots again, this time at the Oklahoma Contemporary Studio School. It’s been over a year since I’ve thrown, since I dropped a kiln on my hand while moving and had to get surgery in December to repair my ulnar collateral ligament. It’s like I have a brand-new thumb, I keep telling people, though most days it feels stiff and weird, and I’m still trying to break down the scar tissue inside my hand. I brought some aged English Grolleg over there and have been throwing most days, now starting to trim and finish, plus a box or two of older midrange porcelain that I’ve been dragging around. The photo is the midrange stuff. It’s not quite thixotropic, so it won’t be super translucent like the other stuff is, but it is easier to work with, and with my thumb, perhaps this is useful. Sometimes I wedge this clay with the thixotropic porcelain, to improve workability and preserve the translucency. Hopefully will have a sale soonish. Will post here. Have been faster. Pots will be more affordable as I’m using some new techniques to decorate, so stay tuned? Also, they have both gas and soda kilns in addition to electric, plus the occasional raku firing and a rocket kiln (wood), so I’m excited to get to play in atmospheric firings again. I’m hoping to enter a few cup shows if I can.

Ori has also been accompanying me to the studio most days, to wedge clay and hang out, to clean tools and assist. It’s been hugely helpful. I feel like I only have a limited ability to work before I run out of hand and being able to have him help is great. He also has some ideas he wants to put into clay, and so I am working with him on those too. More about our weird upcoming collaboration soon?

More stuff:

I interviewed Joseph Osmundson about their new book, Spawning Season. It’s really good. It’s a food memoir and a queer fertility memoir and also about the environment and also about a fish named Fry. You should read it.

The Rumpus has returned! Making things! Doing things! I am so excited.

Monster of A Land, Lauren Hough’s new book, is out now, and it’s amazing.

Currently reading and digging What I Made For Dinner, by Krys Malcolm Belc.

Tayari Jones’s Kin unfolds in the gorgeous, hypnotic way you can expect from her novels.