I like to reflect on my writing, the drafts that did and didn’t make it to finals, publishing, and what’s next. I plan my reading at this time. For some reason, many writers don’t make a habit of reading for their writing. If you plan to write poetry, you need to read poems, for instance.

I read closely whatever it is I’m in the process of writing. If I want to write haiku, I will read the Haiku Journal or Acorn, as both publish many haiku. If I’m writing fiction, I read novels. And I read with purpose as I want to study how other writers handle the problems I am having. So, I recently read a young adult narrative, The Poet X by ElizabethAcevedo, to study narrative poetry.https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33294200-the-poet-x.

I also read for pleasure and sometimes find mentor texts there as well. So, I recently read Kathryn Holzman’s, Real Estate https://www.propertiuspress.com/our-bookstore/Fiction-c18653063 for pleasure. This writer, who set her novel in the beginning of Silicon Valley, writes historical fiction. It helped me figure out how to write a historical poem.

I have a new collection of poetry coming out in early 2026 from Shanti Arts entitled Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Earth. It’s a collaboration with the Norwegian artist Irene Christensen about women at the heart of the environmental crisis. This collection is largely ekphrastic poetry, or responses to Irene’s paintings.

I am taking the month of March off to travel. I will blog about the writing process and the progress of my new book from Shanti Arts Press when I return in April.