A new job for Amy!

Well, I have been offered a job at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, and I've accepted the job. Steve and I are planning to move to Oregon at the end of July . . . and I start work in mid-September. Oh my God.

I have been doing a stinky, stinky job of writing . . . and I have to catch up a bit. However, let me start by saying that I am SO thrilled to be moving out west again! And, it's gorgeous around Roseburg. sigh.

I do love my life right now, even though I do NOT want to have to pack my books and my art supplies. I'm not sure which is gonna be the bigger nightmare.

OOH! New Job Prospects!

I am not sure I mentioned--my letter of resignation was accepted by JCC, so I'm not returning in fall, regardless of what happens with my interviews in Washington and Oregon.

I also have an interview on May 15 in Roseburg, Oregon, which is only an hour outside of Eugene. This would be a fabulous thing, too. There are real advantages to the position in Aberdeen, but the location of the Roseburg job would put us SO close to Steve's mom. That would be fabulous.

We have to try to get hold of my mom-in-law to see if she'll be able to put me up for a night or two in Eugene when I fly in for the interview. She'll have JUST returned from a 12-day trip to Hawaii, on the SAME DAY I'd arrive, so I'm not sure how stoked she's going to be to feel as if she has to entertain me. heh.

I need to be writing more poetry. I'm embarrassed with my lack of motivation.

A little catching up to do . . .

So I've been sick. I missed the last month of the semester at JCC. This has made for an interesting paradox, in that I have much more time to be blogging, but also I have far less desire to blog.

I did not win the Gerald Cable Award from Silverfish, and I did not win the Center for Book Arts' 2008 Chapbook contest. I was, however, a semi-finalist for the chapbook contest, which is really neat. Next year's judge is Kim Addonizio, so I will certainly reapply. Somehow, I think that she'll love my work just because I love hers. heh.

Bread Loaf letters aren't mailed until the end of May . . . so I don't know about it yet. I have a few chapbook contests to which I need to submit, but I've been horrible at submissions lately, too.

I did place my short poem "Stew" at JuiceBox, a little & new online journal. Their design is really great . . . I'll be in the second issue. I think their first issue has some good writing and some marginal writing, but I'm overall pleased. When I submitted to the journal, there wasn't a first issue yet, so it was really a blind submission. http://www.squeezetheuniverse.com/juice/

I'm currently, for the rest of today, in Ocean Shores, Washington. I came out on Sunday to interview today at Grays Harbor College in Aberdeen. That was this morning. I had a horrible time of things . . . left my curling iron at home, melted a Tahari skirt this morning with a clothing steamer, and couldn't give an example of a misplaced modifier in the interview. sigh. I was nervous, but the school is really fabulous--well funded, fantastic resources for students, a beautiful campus . . . we'll see if they decide they really want to hire a flakey, tattooed English teacher who wears a black cotton eyelet skirt to an interview. [thank goodness i'd packed an additional skirt at all, or i'd have been screwed.]

Aberdeen is about 2 hours from Seattle's airport, and only 45 minutes from the Washington coast. I'm not sure Steve will like it here if I get the job, but he's game to give it a shot. He may be a house-husband for a while, too, because there isn't really a lot of fine dining around here. Ah, well. With the beach so close, I'm sure he'll manage.

I'm tired. I'll post again this week--I'm sure I'll think of more.