The Scrapper Poet

I, for one, am sincerely happy that 2013 is over.  So many of my friends and family members had a rough year that it seemed that everyday I had bad news.  Sure, there was good news, too — but perhaps I got too overwhelmed in all the Apocalypse madness that I only seemed to focus on the bad.

On the writing front, after a great 2012, I had a slow publishing year.  I sent out a lot of submissions but also got a lot of rejections.  Most of my major accomplishments came out at the start of the year, so I had a long dry spell where my work just didn’t seem grace any journals. I have been actively writing and publishing for about 10 years now, and most of the time I brush rejection notes off the table (or out of the inbox!) But when I get a whole slew of them, I start to have doubts about my talent as a writer.

But 2014 is already showing promise.  To celebrate that promise, I have moved to a real website. Yep, Karen is ready to join the new year.  Besides incorporating links and my general information, I will have a blog on this website.  I do plan to keep The Scrapper Poet up for a while, at least to share links, but for now, you can find me at http://www.karenjweyant.com/

(Keep in mind that this is a work in progress.  I know there are dead links and other snafus — but building a website has actually taken me longer than I thought it would!)

Two days ago we had almost a foot of snow on the ground.  As of this morning, it’s all gone, except for a few patches of crusty, dirty snow nestled in the shadows. It’s warm out — and windy. Our backyard is one big puddle of water. We are under Flood warnings instead of Winter Weather advisories, which is what we usually see this time of year.

With the possibility of a White Christmas dwindling, Anthony and I have been busy doing last-minute shopping and baking. (True confession: I do most of the shopping, he does most of the baking.) I am off until the first full week of January, so I am trying to make the best of my free time — catching up on correspondence, cleaning out my files, and reading the stack — no box of books — I have purchased in the last few months including some great poetry collections.  I know that 2014 is just around the corner, and I have some important decisions to make in this upcoming year, but right now, I’m living in the moment.

I will return after Christmas to post my best poetry picks of the year. For now, Anthony and I wish you all a safe and happy holiday season!

…in two more days! As soon as I get my final grades posted, I will take the world’s longest nap inside away from the cold weather and snow.  (In this picture, Ally looks like an Angel, and she is an Angel — when she is sleeping.)

Poet Aimee Nezhukumatathil, (and my neighbor to the north) is co-sponsoring a fundraiser to help the victims of Typhoon Haiyan.  Take a look at the website here, and read how you can not only help the victims, but also help support two young (and excited!) artists.  (In fact, I just looked at the site and the donations are rolling in so quickly that these two young artists are going to be very, very busy in the next few weeks!)

So here it is, right on schedule: my yearly Autumn cold.  This past week, we suffered through a heat wave before we experienced a sudden shift to cooler…no cold…temperatures.  In other words, one moment it was very hot and then the next moment, it was not.  I don’t react well to sudden changes in temperatures, so I woke up Thursday morning absolutely exhausted, and then as day progressed, my throat got sore and my nose started to feel stuffy.  Needless to say, I have spent most the weekend curled up in bed, not getting any school work done and certainly not working on my own writing.   I haven’t even answered the pile of emails that have stacked up in my inbox in the last few days.

The good news is that I’m feeling a bit better today, so hopefully I can tackle all the grading, corresponding, and revising of my own work that is piling up around me!

Okay, so the English Professor in me wants to see The Great Gatsby (in spite of the lukewarm reviews).  But, the trekkie in me also wants to see the newest Star Trek movie.  (My brothers raised me on the originals — I watched the reruns over and over again while I growing up.  Today, the shows are on Netflix and when I watch certain episodes, I can quote many lines by heart.) And to make the issue more complicated, the comic book geek I live with wants to see the newest Iron Man movie. 

Who knows?  It’s the first week of summer vacation and I need a break — maybe we can catch all three!  (If anyone has a recommendation, please let me know.)

Update: The new Star Trek movie won out, and it was a good choice — even better than the first movie (no spoilers here).