On Friday University of Texas at Austin contacted us: accepted! Whoohoo! They will provide at least $24k a year, plus $500 moving expenses, and they nominated Wesley to receive $30k/year. Wow! Austin's cost of living is 30% less than here (which is pretty astounding) most of that in housing. They're flying Wesley out at the end of February to peruse the school and professors. We haven't made any final decisions--I didn't anticipate hearing from any school until March!--but we're happy. Texas is in the top ten and we fell good about it. Phew. And again, phew!
Also this week, Joni Tevis came to BYU. I coordinated her visit and I think (hope!) it went well. We had a large crowd at her reading (almost 200) and I spent three days gleaning from her strategies. She earned an MFA with a double thesis--one in poetry the other essay--and then a Ph.D. in poetry while finishing her book The Wet Collection. She's great. We had a busy busy few days--Wesley and Levi came a long for much of it--but wonderful. It's neat to meet someone whose writing you really admire. I worried that I would feel as I have in the past--and not like her writing as much after our meeting, but I like it more because I've seen how she works. She's given me the belief that I can keep writing. Plus: her book pushed my thesis forward. Thank you Joni! Look for her work, it's lovely.
Here I admit that I've been pondering the positive predicament of being a woman writer--particularly a mother writer...it takes some coordination. One of my awesome male professors encouraged us all to write daily. I wanted to say, "Hey! I've been writing every day for over a decade. I can testify to this, but will you tell me how to make the small moments I have now most effective, I'm a mom!" I'm learning. Let me know if you have ideas, though. Oh! The organization of time.
Yay! Tell Wesley congrats for me. And when you go to Austin, say hi to Kate.
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