There are just six copies left of my chapbook "I Loved You in New York" (alice blue books, 2015). Since alice blue shut its doors in 2016, I've been selling them at readings and on Etsy. (UPDATE: Only one left! Snatch it up!) An excerpt:

On Valentine's Day, she's feeling a little sick, so they stay in and watch part of Cronenberg's Crash and eat Stouffer's chocolates while on the screen a bloodied couple screws each other in a car wreck.

Get it in time for Valentine's Day!Did you already read and enjoy? Please leave a review on Goodreads. My ego thanks you.

Behold, Seattle's gloriously long spring, stretching from February to late June. In my youth, the colors of my birthday month featured gray slush and the unnatural blue icing on Carvel ice cream cakes. Now, there is a profusion of pink in all the azaleas, rhododendrons, early cherry blossoms, meaty camellias.Speaking of meat, I'm reading at a"Moveable Feast" themed reading on Saturday, March 5 at 7 pm, alongside my fellow Jack Straw'ster Bernard Grant and Emily Holt. They're promising a themed cocktail and open mic to follow, so come have a drink and bring food-themed work to share. This will be at a private home in Madrona on 34th and Columbia, as a part of the roving Makeshift Reading Series. Incidentally, this is also the second time I'm reading at a private home, which is just a lovely experience. A few weeks ago, I read at a party Artist Trust threw for me (!), hosted by Gar LaSalle. It was surreal and delightful and an honor. Pictures here!Then on Wednesday, April 6 at 7 pm, I'm reading at the third anniversary edition of Lit Fix at Chop Suey, alongside Anastacia Tolbert, Michelle Peñaloza, Sean Beaudoin, Gint Aras, and acoustic solo project The Wild. I'll be reading nonfiction, a genre I've been diving deeper into in the last year or so, and which I've never performed before.Lastly, on Wednesday, April 13, I'm returning to Castalia, the University of Washington MFA program's monthly series at Hugo House. Details on the line up to come!I'll have copies of my chapbook I Loved You in New York on hand at each of these readings, for $5. You can also get them from alice blue books at the APRIL book expo on March 20, at AWP in Los Angeles March 31-April 2, or via Etsy.

My short story "I Loved You in New York" is being released as a chapbook in alice blue books' fantastic series SHOTGUN WEDDING. It's a story about cities (New York, Montreal, D.C.), bodies, relationships, history. It glances fleetingly at Coney Island, George Grosz, James Brown, and, uh, Marquis de Sade. This is the fourth volume of the SHOTGUN series, a special double issue which includes my dear friend and excellent poet Janie Elizabeth Miller, as well as Dennis James Sweeney, Lillian Ruth Nickerson, Amy Ratto Parks, Brian Cooney, Stephen Danos, Sarah Gallien, Will Gallien, Evelyn Hampton, Graham Isaac, and Ashley Benson.I'll be reading an excerpt from the story at Vermilion on October 22 at 6 pm as part of the Seattle Lit Crawl--our event is called Quick & Dirty. The chapbooks will be available at Fred's Wildlife Refuge during the after party's mini-book fair. You can also pick up a copy at the Seattle Center during Short Run, a small press and comix expo, on October 31 11-6. I expect the Seattle Center on Halloween to be super fun! Finally, you can also snag a copy via Etsy.Many thanks to Amber Nelson for giving this story from my in-progress collection MORE LIKE HOME THAN HOME a home.

Autumn, that busy literary season, starts a bit early for me, with three readings coming up this month, and more to follow September through December. As I promised on King 5's New Day Northwest (!!!), I will channel a young Jack Nicholson in at least one reading this year. AUGUST

• Wednesday August 19, 7:30 pm: Family Affair is a family-themed cabaret at the Rendezvous in Belltown. Jack Straw fellows Clare Johnson, Matthew Schnirman, Bernard Grant, Ross McMeekin, Jeanine Walker, and I will regale you with all things family.
• Thursday, August 27, 7 pm: Dock Street Salon at Phinney Books in Phinney Ridge/Greenwood. I'm reading alongside Angela Fountas. Prepare for a dark fairy tale.
• Friday, August 28, 7 pm: Jack Straw at the University Bookstore. Ross, Matthew, and I take on the U-District. After party on frat house row not included.

SEPTEMBER

• Thursday, September 10, 6 pm: An extra special Jack Straw event at the It's About Time Reading Series in Ballard, themed around Jack Straw, a leader of the English Peasant Revolt of 1381. These insurgent peasants traveled throughout southern England, gathering followers, opening prisons, killing lawyers and telling stories. As I'll be reading an excerpt from my novel-in-progress Paralegal, I've been tasked with covering the "killing lawyers" portion of the evening. Martha Kreiner will give a craft talk on opening prisons. L.J. Morin and Clare Johnson will gather all the followers and tell all the stories.

OCTOBER

• Thursday, October 22: Lit Crawl Seattle. Bazillions of writers take over the city. I'm excited to read at Alice Blue Books' Shotgun Wedding event. Details TBA.

NOVEMBER

• Saturday, November 2, 2 pm: Jack Straw at the Central Library downtown. All 12 Jack Straw Super Stars read poetry and fiction nuggets of gold.

DECEMBER

• Thursday, December 3, 7 pm: Pay Dirt at the Rendezvous in Belltown. To celebrate my 4Culture grant, I'll be reading from my novel Paralegal alongside fellow Jack Straws Emily Bedard, Matthew Schnirman, Bernard Grant, and Martha Kreiner. We'll dig up the dirt on art, money, desire, and making a living.

(No, I didn't shamelessly tag a zillion things in this post...Okay, yes I did.)

In 2014, I focused my blogging attentions to 16 posts on writing prompts for Ploughshares. Now that the series is done (though stay tuned--I have plans for them), here's a little update on what I've got on deck for 2015.

• I'm slowly submitting Novel #1 to small presses.
• I'm almost done with a third draft of Novel #2, workshopping a chapter a month with my writing group. In early December 2015, I will have a public reading thanks to a grant from 4Culture. More on this novel soon.
• I'm in the planning stages of Novel #3 (!)
• My story "Raven in a Jar" will appear in the March/April issue of CICADA; in the fall, my story "I Loved You in New York" will be released as a chapbook in Alice Blue Books' Shotgun Wedding series.
• My New Year's resolution is to get more into food writing, since food is all over my fiction. So far I've brainstormed 16 articles to pitch. I want to pitch somewhere between two articles a day and two articles a week (this will depend on some other news hanging in the balance). I can't control whether an article will be accepted, but I can certainly control how often I send out work. I believe this is called a "SMART goal". Wish me luck! Here's a helpful tumblr with examples of successful pitches.
• I'm teaching several classes at Hugo House, most immediately Intro to Fiction: Writing the Short Story and Hugo at the Henry: The Senses in Reading and Writing.

What are your plans for 2015?

Last night, I had a lovely time reading in Chelsea Kurnick's YouTube-based reading series The Casserole. I read from my novel Dirty alongside Andrew Ladd, whose novel What Ends won the 2012 AWP award and will be published in January 2014 by New Issues Press and in August 2014 by Oneworld in the UK. As you'll hear in the reading, Andrew's writing is beautiful and the scope of his novel impressive and compelling. I'm looking forward to reading with him in person at our off-site event during the AWP conference in Seattle: Thursday, February 27, at 8 pm, at Eltana. Why Eltana? Well, Andrew and I met in a writing group in Montreal when we both attended McGill University. It's nice to have a bit of Montreal in Seattle via the Montreal-style bagels of Eltana. Also, the space is lovely.

But, back to The Casserole. What a neat idea! Chelsea has also featured two other writer friends and co-conspirators of mine, Corinne Manning and Kristen Young. Corinne read a hilarious short story, "Professor M," from her wonderful collection-in-progress. Watch for her forthcoming chapbook from Alice Blue Books' Shotgun Wedding Series, out later this fall, and read her gut-punching-beautiful novel excerpt in Drunken Boat. Kristen read an excerpt from her ambitious, layered novel Subduction, which is ultimately about "wanting more than we have, longing to belong, and choosing, only to lament our choices." Watch for an excerpt in the December issue of City Arts Magazine.

Here's the video from my reading with Andrew:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RiqSDmNNNM