Katie's Blog

Why hello there, dear readers. No, I haven't died. Actually, to the contrary! These past few months have been wonderful for both my body and spirit. I am doing well, dare I say, thriving? Anyway, I've had "priorities" to attend to. Work? Writing? Taking care of myself? All of that. So blogging fell a little bit to the wayside. But never fear, I'm alive, well, and in good spirits. Can't you tell from my picture? That's me, last Thursday, celebrating some wonderful news that I can't wait to share with you (soon!), and, also, the beginning of my vacation. Life's been pretty good. Right now, I'm thoroughly enjoying my spring break, which is my calm before the storm. Today consisted of chatting with my good friend and fellow poet, Linda , about all things writing, meeting for sushi with the awesome gals from Devilfish Review , and an online poetry critique session via Skpe with two new friends. Today has pretty much been perfection. I'...

I know I'm a little late, but I figured it was still more than worthwhile to reflect on what 2014 was for me as a writer. It was a very, well, let's just call it "eventful" year. One of my writer friends, David Bowles, shared a picture of his writing achievements on his facebook page on NYE, and I decided to copy him and do the same :-) So there, pictured above, is my 2014! Books, magazines and journals I either had something published in, edited, or wrote entirely myself.  First from the left, we have Edward Vidaurre's book, Insomnia, which I had the pleasure of writing the introduction to. It was the first time I'd ever written an introduction to, well, anything really, so it was a bit intimating. I really love the idea, though, of helping others celebrate their successes. And that's exactly what Edward's book was, a success. Here were are at this release party! Next to Edward's book, is RiverSedge, the new literary journal of UTPA that ...

So, Katiekins, what are you up to for NaPoWriMo? Well I'm glad that you've asked. 1. I'm excited to announce that this year, I've been invited to be a featured poet for the Valley International Poetry Month! This is particularly special for me. I've been involved with VIPF since 2009, and it's been this constant in my development as a poet. For those of y'all who don't know what VIPF is, here's the website It's essentially THE local poetry event of the year where members of our community and beyond get together for four crazy days of poetry readings over the entire Rio Grande Valley (including Mexico!). We put out an anthology, offer workshops, read our work all over the community, and it all ends in this enormous pachanga where 50 + poets take the stage and do their thang. So yay. There's that. As a featured poet, I'll be giving a workshop, signing books, and of course, sharing my work. I'm nervous (as always) and excited, ...

Another whirlwind of a year comes to a close! And I'm just catching my breath from it all. I'd venture to say this was the best VIPF yet. Sure, we had our ups and downs, and sure, I'm really, really exhausted, but this year, I had the opportunity to take an active role in organizing, editing, and participating in the festival. And wow, what a rewarding experience it was! A super big thanks to all the other organizers: Brenda Riojas, Edward Vidaurre, Ileana Garcia-Spitz, and most especially, the head honcho of the whole shebang, Daniel Garcia Ordaz. I'll detail the experience day by day, Thursday - Saturday. I skipped out on Sunday's events because, well, I'm lazy. Thursday, April  25: The Kick-off Yes, that's my name on the byline! So in real VIPF tradition, Thursday is the night we celebrate the release of our anthology, Boundless. This event was really wonderful -- I felt really honored to be a part of it this year, not as a poet, but as an edi...

A new logo! I both love and hate this month. I love it because poetry is, once again, a part of our national conversation (or at least more of one than it usually is). I love it because my facebook feed is filled with poets who are talking about their work, encouraging each other, arguing about poetry. I love it because people argue whether or not poetry is dead, when in fact, we all know it's not. I love this month because of NaPoWriMo. I love it because of the public readings. I love it because at the end of the month comes the grand-daddy event of them all, the Valley International Poetry Festival, which I always see as an opportunity to meet poets, learn something new, travel the valley, showcase my year's worth of work, get inspired. I also hate national poetry month. I always intend to do great things and end up feeling insignificant, not serious enough, stupid, uninspired, the like. Case in point, this year, I fully intended to do NaPoWriMo, but on April 1st, I ...