Thank you to everyone who came out to Strangelove’s on Friday! Thank you to the bartender who sweetly gave my kid a Shirley Temple on the house! And thank you to the other readers, who were amazing and you should check out all their work:

• Dan Sanders

• Alice Kaltman

• Kellie M. Rankey

• Erika Dreifus

• Josie Tolin

• Emily Behnke

• Stephanie Austin

• Robert Vaughan

• Meg Tuite

• And our generous host, Sara Lippmann

Reading in front of a crowd again felt like a dream (a dream in which I am a little rusty at reading in front of a crowd). I’m still not positive it happened, or that anything at AWP happened.

But wait! I have evidence.

I read a story called Bear that was published in Okay Donkey in 2018. I dusted this one off because it’s short and sweet and kind of funny, and also because I recently found out it’s going to be featured on Art of the Short, a “literary installation and podcast” where the two hosts talk about a story, make art inspired by it (!!!), and invite listeners to submit their art. So if you read Bear and it makes you want to draw a bear, now you have somewhere to send it.

Still digesting the weekend. Will report back with — hopefully — novel progress next week.