2014, Literarily

2014 has been such an amazing year — one of the most exciting and surprising of my life. In it, I finished up my first term in UNLV’s MFA program & started my second, traveled my ass off, and got a few stories/essays published, too.

January: Published the essay “in an effort to resist leaving every piece ‘untitled'” in Gravel Magazine and the story “Love Letter to Lady Lazarus” in the Winter Issue of Five [Quarterly]. Road-tripped with Ms. FILA to Los Angeles, California to read at Five [Quarterly]‘s Winter Issue launch party. Saw the Pacific Ocean for the first time.

February: Published the story “When the Animals Turned on You” in the “Monsters” special issue of Gesture Literary Journal and read at the Fort Collins, Colorado issue launch party digitally via Skype.

March: Visited the Pacific Northwest for the first time to attend AWP in Seattle, Washington. Road-tripped to present a creative reading at the University of Nevada, Reno’s interdisciplinary conference on the material implications of risk. Visited Lake Tahoe while in Reno.

April: Presented a creative reading at the Far West Popular Culture Association’s conference in Las Vegas.

May – June: Traveled to Spain! After being awarded the University of Memphis’ Talbot International Scholarship, I spent over a month writing in Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, and Alicante, Spain.

Also in June: Won Five [Quarterly]‘s second-annual E-Chapbook competition with my short collection of stories, See & Be Seen & Be Scene. Was interviewed by the Las Vegas affiliate of NPR, KNPR news, regarding the contest & publication.

July: The essay “Coronation of Mrs. Presley” was published in the print journal Soundings Review.

August – September: Visited the Grand Canyon for the first time! Also, started my second term at UNLV.

October: Published the essay “Still Writing About Grief” in The Doctor T.J. Eckleburg Review and completed their “Selfie Interview.”

November: Friendsgiving, finals, FILA.

December: Published “Chimp” in Tahoma Literary Review, in print and online, in addition to a digital reading of the work.

Giddyup & Go: Conferences, Seattle & Reno

___

The past month has been the Month of Conferences. First, there was UNLV’s Far West Popular Culture conference. Then so much traveling: five days in Seattle for AWP, followed by a 7-hour road trip (with three poets, no less) to Reno for UNR’s On the Brink conference. Y’all know I love to see things I ain’t never seen. Highlights include Seattle’s Space Needle & Chihuly Glass Gardens, the drive down the Loneliest Road in America, and Lake Tahoe.

___

1 – The view from the Space Needle

2 – Chihuly Glass Gardens

3 – Walker Lake on the drive from Vegas to Reno

4 – Lake Tahoe

5 & 6 – Goldfield, Nevada; a nearly-deserted almost-ghost town on the way to Reno

Heartbreakin’ Cross State Lines

Cowboys don’t feel shame no matter how many gowns they rip.

John Wayne’s Honda Civic got gallup to it

and cracked headlights that don’t feel shame, neither.

The folks a man meets:

Women and men and poets and artists;

Sorceresses and thieves.

Cowboys write about tumbleweeds and necrophilia;

Got dirty teeth;

are Phillip Morris friendly.

John Wayne has nightmares:

hotel rooms, hotel rooms,

giant swimming beasts.

Road Trippin

1- Driving into Estes Park, Colorado
2-5- Driving out of (& almost dying in) the Rockies
6- Glenwood Canyon (still Colorado)
7- Colorado’s mesas
8-12- On the Strip
13-17- Fremont lights
18- What bitches
19-22- Nevada’s Red Rock Canyon
23- Lake Mead in Arizona
24- Driving through Oklahoma

tumblr_mlhefsomni1qb8nz3o4_1280 tumblr_mlhefsomni1qb8nz3o5_1280 tumblr_mlhefsomni1qb8nz3o1_500 tumblr_mlhefsomni1qb8nz3o2_1280 tumblr_mlhefsomni1qb8nz3o3_1280 tumblr_mlhfq7gdxK1qb8nz3o8_1280 tumblr_mlhfq7gdxK1qb8nz3o6_1280 tumblr_mlhfq7gdxK1qb8nz3o7_250 tumblr_mlhfq7gdxK1qb8nz3o4_250 tumblr_mlhfq7gdxK1qb8nz3o1_500 tumblr_mlhfq7gdxK1qb8nz3o3_250 tumblr_mlhfq7gdxK1qb8nz3o2_250 tumblr_mlhg13rOoR1qb8nz3o1_500 tumblr_mlhg13rOoR1qb8nz3o2_250 tumblr_mlhg13rOoR1qb8nz3o3_250 tumblr_mlhg13rOoR1qb8nz3o4_250 tumblr_mlhg13rOoR1qb8nz3o7_250