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 ...

I am blessed, that's really all I can say. This summer, I am teaching creative writing for the first time, which is, of course, something I've always wanted to do, although I admit that I've felt a little overwhelmed with the task of piecing together a curriculum that actually encourages and fosters creativity in college students. On my first day of class, I entered the classroom thinking, Oh my goodness what the heck did I get myself into?!?! These students, unlike the freshmen I typically work with, wanted to get something out of the class, something more than a grade. They had expectations. I couldn't let them down. Well, after a few days in class, I received a curious Facebook message from Jan Seale, the 2012 Texas poet laureate, asking me to call her. Now, I've been to a few of Jan's readings, we've exchanged polite conversation, and she's a bit of a literary celebrity. I called her right away, wondering why SHE would want to talk to ME. She i...

So... Yeah. I know. I've been a punk lately. I've been blogging, yes, just not here. Booo me. Today marks the beginning of my vacation state of mind. It also marks the beginning of delving back into my crazies and thinking of myself as a writer again. Gone are the burdens of wearing pants three days out of the week! I have a month off from work, and I'm determined to make headway on my novel. I know, I know, eyes are a'rollin' -- you always say you're going to work on your novel, Katie! But you know what? Since I've last blogged, I've cranked out a first draft of my first novel X-D That's right, that's right, that's right. My plans are to revise it for the next six or so months, so by the time summer rolls around, I'll have another submittable manuscript in my hands. It's an entirely new project, and I'm a little excited about it.  It feels eerily strange to have time to myself now, to not have a slough of student e...

Hmm... I've had a glorious last few months. I know, I keep saying that, but it's true. I've let my brain become focused on poetry -- I've read poetry, thought about poetry, shared poetry, critiqued poetry, and yes, of course, wrote poetry. Last week, though, my university had a guest lecturer come by to talk to writing faculty about second language acquisition, and of course, I was there, and my brain started thinking, again, of my pedagogy. It's been a shifting of gears, so to speak, and this morning, instead being awoken by a sudden need to write, I woke up to thoughts about re-sequencing my readings to accommodate for L2 learners. Good, important and productive thoughts, yes, but as I poured myself a cup of coffee and began my "work" for the day, I couldn't help but think, ugh. And here I go again, teaching taking over my entire brainspace. I love teaching, I really, really do. I think I'm a fantastic teacher. In fact, I THINK I'm a...

Soooo... my classes were canceled. Enrollment was bleh. Today would have been my first day back at work, but instead, I have another month and a half of vacation! Ahhhhh... what am I going to DO with myself? :D But I guess it's ok. In fact, this past week, I've hit a new vein in my writing. I'm back to writing my cowgirl Ovid poems, which I needed to work on because, well, I need to finish up this series. These poems are actually my favorite ones to write, so it's been a pretty wild week so far, writing wise. Wild, hah. I spend most of my times in my bathrobe and I'm lucky to actually get off my duff and leave the house once a day :-P Ok, not so wild after all. In other news, it looks like once I get back to work, I'm hitting the ground running. I'm planning to present at the upcoming Texas Association of Creative Writing Teachers Conference in Fort Worth, in addition to serving as a guest lecturer for the Writers Live series at the University of Texas a...

Wondering why I have a picture of me and a tiny kitten? Ok, I'll start off by explaining that bit. The neighbors' cat had kittens on my patio. After an unfortunate accident involving their dog, the mom decided to abandon the brood. Low and behold, Bruno and I have taken them in. It's summer; I need a project, aside from finishing my second full manuscript of course. So for the next four weeks or so, I'll be raising two rambunctious and ridiculously cute kittens. Hopefully, by the time they're old enough to be adopted, I'll be able to let them go. Since, like, I already have five cats and am one Bruno away from becoming THAT crazy cat lady at the end of the street... I digress. This summer, I'll be teaching the second summer session. So I'm going to be busy from mid July to the end of August. But! I do have now until mid July off, so, aside from successfully raising (and letting go of) these kittens, my plans include: 1. Finish 2nd full poetry ...

Happy November! Yes, yes, ten days late. But whatever -- I've been busy. There are a few things I LOVE about November, this time of the year. First, it means the year is winding down. We've only two months left of 2012, and that tends to get a fire under my butt to reach my annual goals. This month has been no exception. I've only got two months left to get rejection letters, and I'm currently short by 13! Ah! I need to send some submissions off to some quickie publications. On that note, I did send off a submission today :) One with a low acceptance rate, which means a high chance of rejection. Yay. I HAVE been getting a few acceptance lately, too! A nice side effect of my rejection mission is that sometimes, sometimes, things work out. Three in the past month. Booya. What else do I love about November? It also means the semester is fixing to finish. My first semester as a full-time instructor has been great, but I'm so looking forward to a break. I...

Howdy folks: I know, I know... no blog posts in awhile. I've been adjusting to my new schedule, trying to find a way to fit everything important into my life again. You see, this whole teaching a million students thing is going wonderful, but it's kind of consuming me (and my brain). It happens, right? My very first year teaching I think I wrote like, one poem. My SEMESTER as a prof (albeit adjunct) my writing slowed to a virtual halt as well. And now? as a full time lecturer with overload courses? yeah, you can guess the time I'm having. I'm enjoying myself, but I'm having a hard time making "brain space" for anything not teaching related. Does that make sense? I have time, yes, time at home where I'm in my bathrobe by noon, but it's time to do other things: plan projects, dig deep into readings, give my students meaningful feedback, catch up on my class' blogs, etc... And poetry? It's... well, getting dusty. I don't know...

It's been a good long while since I've felt this exhausted, but it's a good exhausted. Adjusting to my new job as a full time prof and the new schedule's a bit of a challenge, but I'm managing (well, I think so anyway!). Today was really wonderful. I got my own set of keys to MY office, so I finally feel at home. It's starting to sink in that I belong in this department now, that I'm a part of the university, and that I have a place/purpose here. All good feelings indeed. This is where the goddess writes, or errr... here's my office. And there's nothing like being in the classroom. I always feel so alive when I'm teaching. There's really no feeling like it. My teaching load is pretty extreme, but it's kind of nice, in a way. The only thing I'm worried about is making the time to continue working on my own writing projects, not getting absorbed into my students' writing. I've been pretty good for the past few years jugg...