writer and teacher
First: I’m moving to Hawai’i! Specifically, to Honolulu, to teach creative writing and literature at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. You can see my shiny official page on the UHM website. I am tremendously excited about this new position, not just because it’s tenure-track but because it will give me loads of opportunities to…
Wiscon was great fun, especially the meals with friends, our reading on Saturday, and the Genderfloomp dance party Sunday night. I also really enjoyed our panel discussion on heteronormativity in YA dystopian novels, though I think I actually explained my ideas better to Malinda Lo, our moderator, the night before! More on that soon; Julia…
Year one of full-time teaching: complete! I taught five courses (three of which were new preps) and supervised four senior Independent Study projects. It was tiring, but I had a great time and got to read some really wonderful student writing. In the fall, I’ll be teaching my first year seminar “Coming of Age at…
That was a busy week! Two cross-half-the-country trips, both overnight, and I somehow managed to avoid the worst snarls of weather-related travel drama. But I’m very glad to be back in Austin, where it’s supposed to hit 70 this weekend. Texas, sometimes I love you a lot. I keep tagging things to post here and…
Today, an interesting essay by one of the Mailer fellows from the inaugural year of the Writers Colony — the same year I went to a week-long workshop there, on scholarship. I will admit that I didn’t feel at all overawed by Mailer’s house, or by any ghost of his presence, though I also didn’t…
Wiscon! I went, I met a bunch of wonderful people, I had a seven-day-long migraine. Thank god for marathons of Law & Order on hotel cable when one isn’t up to anything more strenuous than lying down with an ice pack. (Ice machines: also a thing to be thankful for.) When there are gaps of…
What is it about half-weeks before a trip that makes them so odd, even when you’re not missing school or work to travel? I’m not leaving for Wiscon until Thursday morning, but I still feel rushed. Partly this is self-induced dissertation pressure; it’s weird to realize that Wiscon will consume the last few days of…
Let me show you it! (Wiscon is the annual women’s SF convention held in Madison, Wisconsin. This is the first year I’m attending, and I’m really excited about it; my writing tends more toward the mainstream end of the fantasy spectrum, but my love for SFF is deep and true.) What’s the Future of the…
My brain is full of dissertation at the moment; well, dissertation, the sunny-seventies weather Austin’s been having this week, and a million little administrative things that I have to keep track of and sort out in the new few months. But next week I get to do more Alcestis stuff: I’ll be reading at Bloomsbury…
Today’s my birthday! I’m officially 28 — I say officially because my brain decided I was 28 about four months ago, and I kept having to remind myself that I was, in fact, still 27. But no longer! So far it’s been a nice relaxing morning, though now I really need to get back to…