Well, I don't know about you, but I'm still here. Truckin' along as always, learning by falling and picking myself up. Summer came and went, bringing with it birthdays and a small bit of adventure. River turned two and officially graduated into little-manhood. He's happy, talking up a storm, sharpening his memory, vocabulary, and preferences, daily. He is pretty much the best thing ever.

I also had the great pleasure of returning to Bread Loaf in August where I worked in the back office. Let me just say that making copies and answering questions trumps waitering. Pretty easily. It was still a lot of work and immense fun, but I felt a better balance this time around. I returned home with a fire under me and have been working hard since—revising the full-length and, most exciting, starting, with gusto and surprise, a second book with a vision. I'm writing about boats and tools and making things. About shaping and being shaped. The approaches are direct and obtuse, earnest and ironic, conversational and mythic. It's exciting as I really haven't felt the project impulse before, especially in anticipation of creating work.

In other news, I finished Boat School and feel like an accomplished beginner. I think I will feel that for years, but I guess it's good. Still so much to learn. Looking for work in the Yard while finishing another boat project. I'll say more when there's more to say.

And this: the NEA just updated its Writers' Corner, including a poem by yours truly. Hope you like what you see. Sometimes I think I am too earnest. Anyhow, I'd like to be here more often. We'll see what life allows.