Anti Valentine's Day

In today's Jen's World, I tell Valentine's Day horror stories, like this one:

“The last Valentine’s Day before our wedding, my husband and I hit up the lake house for a romantic, fireplace kind of weekend,” says Suzanne. “We turned on the water and the pipes burst, causing a gigantic and freezing flood. Since we had to turn the water off again, we were without working bathrooms, and since the septic system had frozen, muck was spit back into the unflushable toilets and undrainable showers. I still gag.”

More like this in today's Post-Bulletin. I'll link to the full article when it hits the web. :)

Why I've Fallen in Love with The Rumpus

This is an excerpt from today's "Daily Rumpus" e-mail -- which I've signed up to have delivered to my inbox. (You can, too, here: http://therumpus.net/)

Stephen Elliott's writing is fast becoming a favorite of mine.

--
I was thinking yesterday how people are vulnerable and the things that are troubling us sometimes rise, like from a volcano. Or how the people around us are mirrors, so we can't really know ourselves without seeing ourselves in someone else's eyes. I think I broke up with my fiance because I saw myself in her and didn't like what I saw. And I was thinking about how we take blame for things, and how sometimes that's mature and other times it's enabling. You can, perhaps, realize the role you've played in a conflict with someone, but that doesn't mean you can have a healthy relationship with them. You can recognize a problem without solving it.

Then I was thinking about this guy who was dating a prostitute. This is mostly true. She was married and he loved her and she loved him but neither of them was really capable of love. They were capable of passion. His friends robbed a jewelry truck, Tiffany's or something like that, an armored car. They stole over a million dollars worth of merchandise. It was on the front page of the newspaper. The crime was never solved and one day his friend gave him a ring from the robbery and he gave the ring to the girl. But the girl didn't want the ring. She said, So you're a client now? She thought he was trying to pay her. She didn't know she was holding the key to a famous crime. There was so much she didn't want to know. There was her husband, her boyfriend, her clients. Her clients flew her to places like Nashville, and Tokyo. She had a knack for giving people hope. She loved men briefly and they felt that if they waited long enough she would love them again. They didn't realize what she really wanted was to be desired.

So their relationship didn't work out, and the crime was never solved. And years passed and he kept thinking he saw her, a girl with black hair waiting in line, running on a treadmill, standing behind a table, boarding a bus. But he never did see her again.

**

xoxo

stephen

Live in Rochester?

The Friends of the Library winter book sale is still going on until 3 p.m. today. Tons of books available for $1 and $2. How can you resist???

Jenny Rand Rocks

(aka Last Week in Jen's World...)


http://postbulletin.com/news/stories/display.php?id=1443756

A New Day

* * * For the best advice I'll give all week, read all the way to the bottom * * *

Here I sit at the Max & Emma's restaurant at Dulles, about to begin this post by apologizing for my long absence... but then realized what an utterly girl thing that is to do.

So instead, I'm going to share a few of the fantastically inspirational or interesting things I heard at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference the last few days. (So many writers! So much wisdom! So much wine!)

In no particular order:

"Good work finds its home." -- overheard

"I'd like to find the courage NOT to tell my stories." -- attributed to Ander Monson

"In every situation, the reader is the most important person." -- Stephen Elliott

"If you're afraid of hurting a reader, you're not being honest." -- Stephen Elliott

"It's not about what happened to you. It's about how you perceive what happened to you." -- Nick Flynn

"The interiors of our head are the most accessible infinities around." -- Ander Monson

Biggest message: Persevere.

Biggest tip: Go to The Rumpus' and sign up for Stephen Elliott's daily e-mail.

El Yunque!

And here is why graduating in Puerto Rico kind of rocks:



We're in Part 2 of the residency, in the El Yunque rainforest.

Seriously cool.

Graduating!

Seems like last month I was lining my applications across the living room floor, worried I wouldn't get accepted into my dream MFA program. Or any program.

And, now, tomorrow I leave for my final residency in my dream MFA program. My graduate residency. In Puerto Rico, no less. (I know. Pinch me.)

I'll be staying in Old San Juan for part of the trip, and in the El Yunque Rainforest (here) for the remainder of the trip. I'll be delivering my lecture on "Crafting Rural Characters" here. Because, apparently, my life is a dream.

And then -- and THEN -- as if it couldn't get any better, my hubby and kids are going to help me celebrate graduation in style by popping down to the island after the residency for a week.

We'll do some hiking. Some swimming. Some waterfall diving. And then it'll be back to the real world. Which, really, I'm just as excited about. I'm anxious to start my life as an honest-to-god-MFA, leading workshops and teaching some classes and crossing "Get MFA" off my "50 Things to Do While I'm Still Able" list.

Rock on.