Yes, believe it or not, I do still read outside of contest submissions, manuscripts I am evaluating, and texts I am editing/promoting/creating. I read as we all do, for pleasure, to improve my own writing, and to inform myself.

I just finished Prayers of an Accidental Nature by  Debra Di Blasi and Art in America by my childhood neighbor, Ron McLarty.

I am reading the latest Poets & Writers, which contains a phenomenal interview with Mary Gaitskill. I was so impressed that I borrowed Veronica, which now sits on my bedside table. I also got a real kick out of the article by Amy Shearn, “Revenge of the Nerds: Where Are the Badly Behaved Writers?” Almost made me want to take up scotch rocks and cigars.

I am reading Linda Kavelin Popov’s The Family Virtues Guide, again. I am also reading a little ditty called Help for the Hyperactive Child. Yes. I need help.

I am reading the latest Writer’s Chronicle and the latest issue of The Denver Quarterly, which contains “Beekeeping” by Kate Lorenz and “The Museum” by Alexandra Polsky:

“That was the day I started chain smoking. I sat on benches all day and watched faces. People looked at me as my lips curled around the stale smoke and watched as I read a book from right to left, flipping the pages the wrong way. I scrawled my words in the blank pages in the back of a book of poetry, the pages that the publisher leaves there, empty, to make the number of sheets even.

I wrote in the past tense even though things were happening in the present.”

I also get some journals on-line, including “The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism.” This latest issue is all about narrative, and I found two of the pieces to be quite thought provoking. You can read one of them here: Virtual People-fictional-characters-through-the-frames-of-reality.

When I think about it, it’s really a wonder my eyes haven’t fallen out.