Happy 2012! I haven’t checked in here for a while. Sorry about that. I’ve been pretty busy lately.

• I wrote seven new poems in the past two months, which (for me anyway) is a lot more than usual. So I’m forgiving myself for only having made five submissions in the same time period.

• I had one acceptance: Juked will publish the first half of my poem “Feast of Excited Insects.” The second half was published three years ago by RHINO, so it’ll be nice that soon the whole thing will be out there—just in two different journals.

• I found out my very short story “When Life Hands You” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

• I finally read my work in front of people, first at one of Brian King’s “Mermaid Sessions” open-mic nights in Gloucester, MA, and then at SOOP (Stories Of Our People) in Roxbury. Both times went better than expected. I’m pretty terrified about reading in front of people, and in fact had not done so in almost twenty years, so it felt good to face down that fear and jump in.

Turns out I made 52 submissions and contest entries in 2011. Can I average more than one per week in 2012? I’ve already sent out the year’s first submission by post to Ireland, so I’m on track to do so. Oooo, the suspense.