Welcome to your new reality, where you will hum “Do the Twist” constantly and never stop, you’re welcome.

Scattered notes from the day:

The weather here keeps jumping and dipping – 45 in the morning, 75 by noon. I know that this variance is no comfort to those of you experiencing the current winter storm, but it’s a little odd; I wake up and bundle into sweaters & heating pads (possibility: part of the problem is with me and not the world outside?) and then throw open the door a few hours later to let the dog bark his heart out at the birds.

Awhile ago my dear friend Molly Backes asked me to draw her a coatimundi and now I have complied, and you can see I am happy to fill requests if they are fun ones.

Emily Nemens, who is the prose editor of The Southern Review, an excellent writer, and also my friend, did this interview with the journal Draft (scroll over to the part that’s clearly marked “Interview with Emily Nemens”) about her process selecting and editing submissions for TSR. It’s super interesting & worth a read.

My friend Sam Martone just published a ridiculously fun interactive chapbook with Cartridge Lit, and you can read it for free, so, um, do.

And finally, I forgot to hype this awhile ago, but I wanted to let everyone know (if you don’t already) that VIDA: Women in the Literary Arts has added a Women of Color Count to our 2014 numbers, and I am really excited to be part of this work.