Let's go down to the Mermaid Cafe and I will buy you a bottle of wine...

...not really, but I'm writing you from Madison's fine Mermaid Cafe. I am currently the only patron here, and I like that. I bought the bottomless coffee, but I'm still on my first cup. Drinking slowly as I flit between tasks.

My big news is that I have finished my third poetry manuscript, COLONY COLLAPSE, and have begun sending it off to contests and presses. I'm excited about this book, which I've been working on since the end of 2007, come to think of it. I kept thinking of things to add, but, in the words of Belle & Sebastian, "this song has got to end some time." If you have suggestions for places to send it, please do feel free to let me know.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying a quite mild Wisconsin winter. Short sleeves mild. Heck, sleeveless mild. And sunshine! The worst part of WI winters for me is usually the darkness, not the cold, but there is rampant sunshine, so that helps my spirits greatly.

Also, for any literary sorts who might read this, I'm very likely going to be making my AWP debut this year. (Not as a reader or anything; just going.) It's close enough that I feel like I should finally see what all the fuss is about if I can get the logistics to come together. Who else out there is going?