Good morning! I have been promised heavy UV today by the weather app.

Rainy Day Beach Bookstore Blues

Finished grading, so I picked up Kari Gunter-Seymour's Dirt Songs off my to-read list. Such a beautiful collection. Appalachian feminism at its finest. It immerses you in the love and heartbreak inherent in rurality.

Found a wonderful prose chapbook at the coffee shop. Loved reading this.

Jake Barnes, River Dog, will never be tamed

I've started a challenge for myself at the beginning of each year where I attempt to write a flash nonfiction essay. This year's essay has been accepted for publication by the Pinch, a journal I greatly admire.

Thanks to a fellowship with Erie Arts and Culture, I had the opportunity to update my author photos. So, I put on my favorite Dolly Parton shirt and went to the Art Museum. Here are some of my favorites from this set, taken by the extremely talented @alexbconklin.

One more Pennsnowlvania. *hopeful face emoji* (I'm not sure which emoji this is, so I typed it).

Having feelings about something, so I drove out to Preque Isle to watch the waves rolling on Lake Erie. I love this place.

Good morning. The sun rises like fire today.

I may have been stuck in my office until 5:20 today, but at least it is gorgeous outside.

Poetry revisions.

Finally made it to the Mattress Factory.

At Randyland

In case you were wondering about Pittsburgh Jesus.

From my reading with Third Coast Literary Magazine last night. My outfit matched the lighting.

Tonight in Baltimore!!!

In my eternal quest to become a middle-class white woman, I picked up a new hobby. Baking didn't work out (I think it contributed to my diabetes). Here are three notebooks I finished this week. They aren't perfect, and I am still learning, but I like how these turned out.

The first batch of new author photos.

I accidentally left my emotional support mouse pad at work yesterday. I felt awkward writing without it, letting my mouse scape naked against the table at the coffee shop.

I want to start a band called The Subzero Wind Chills.

Some morning tea to write with.

Pennsnowlvania Thursday Morning Blues.

Day 1 of the semester pt.2 (aka Tuesday/Thursday classes) began on such a gorgeous note.

First moments of the Spring semester.

Hi! I wrote a short little lyric essay about snow, Texas, and running away from home for Hippocampus. www.hippocampusmagazine.com/2026/01/to-t...

Getting my oil changed and tires rotated in a Pennsnowlvania snowstorm and the power went out.

Jake Barnes, River Dog, wants to know what you are celebrating from 2025.

Gadget Daddy day. Gadget Daddy night.

Jake Barnes, River Dog, demands we all pay attention to him this morning. He's a narcissist.

Good morning, Pennsnowlvania!

I just got my copies of Black Lily in the mail. I love the Goth protest vibe here. Thank you to Beth Gilstrap for including my story "Black Boots in the Rain." It's a Queer, Goth, Antifascist protest story that means a lot to me. And it's so cool to see my name with so many talented writers.

I have a review of Brian Trapp's fantastic Range of Motion (Acre, 2025) out in this issue of New Ohio Review. Also, check out this cover art by Ashura Lewis. And the writers and work in this issue are just brilliant. Dave Wanczyk knows how to put together a journal.

Hi! The students in my Editing and Publishing class are currently soliciting work for their student journal projects. We have journals focused on creative work, Feminist Film Critique, Business Technology, and Science. The deadline is November 7th. gannon.submittable.com/submit/33848...

In case you need a reminder. *found at work

My wonderful partner, Apoorva Bradshaw-Mittal interviewed Souvankham Thammavongsa for Electric Lit. electricliterature.com/a-novel-expl...

Nothing leads me to break my diet faster than whimsy and novelty.

For the Erie, PA folx: I'll at the Lake Erie LitFest on Saturday with the Gannon English Dept. tent. I'll be hosting a fiction workshop at 1 PM. Also, Gannon students will be reading their work at 4:15. Please come support them. Hope to see you there!

Somebody left the projector on in a classroom. It looked cool.

So close again. My story collection was a finalist for the Eastover Prize for a Debut Story Collection. Congrats to Kathleen McNamara. Also, it's cool knowing Manual Muñoz read my work.

Did some art museum things. Erie is such a literary and artsy place. Hard to believe the Moon Mammoths sometimes play a block over.

Jake Barnes, River Dog, says goodnight.

My story collection was a semifinalist for the Orison Prize in Fiction. Congrats to the winners in Fiction and Poetry, Lance Tukell and Craig Beaven. lnkd.in/e6MezUta

Hi! Welcome to the birth of my 40s, which is also the 1st day of Fall classes. I give you an awkward bisexual, nonbinary bathroom selfie. This year I remembered the obligatory finger guns after last year's social media uproar over the failure of their inclusion. My 30s are dead. Long live my 40s.