Update

*Shortly after my last entry, I sent out an e-mail to some scholarly colleagues and/or writing fanatics and/or poetry-appreciating artists inviting them to offer comments and feedback on my own creative writing. I was intimidated to do so, because the list contained some pretty heavy hitters. (Yikes.) So far, though, the feedback has been streaming in and has given me *a lot* to think about. If you are interested in offering any comments or thoughts, please visit www.stroutinator.blogspot.com.

*On February 13, we hosted another teen acoustic open mic night at the local library. It was very successful and quite well-attended! One of my former students (who used to attend the open mic when she was in high school) is now a reporter for one of our local papers. She came to the event, with ANOTHER former student who is a photographer! They covered the event beautifully and provided us with some great exposure!

*This past week, I contacted all the local high schools about this year's Work in Progress writing conference. I feel as though I was able to streamline the process a bit from last year. Instead of sending back paper applications, interested parties can simply e-mail me a few key pieces of information. I have not heard back yet from anyone, but I sent the e-mail later on in the week - and we did all have the HSPA to contend with. (Can anyone say, "STRESSED OUT"?!) I also contacted nine potential presenters. So far, I have heard back from four of them, all in the affirmative. WooHOO! :)

*Let's see... what else? Oh yeah! My supervisor and I were finally able to talk to our Business Administrator about WIP funding. There is some money available and now I know what I need to do in terms of tax exempt forms and the like. (Note: I am truly awful with this sort of stuff. In an ideal world, I would be given a wad of small bills and be sent off on my own to stretch it as far as possible. And stretch it, I would. In the words of a friend, "I'm so cheap, I don't even like spending other people's money." :) Heh, heh...

These are all steps in the right direction, but there is still so much more to do. I still need to look into poetry exposure for April. And my bulletin board still looks like it did two months ago. *Sigh.* Oh well - onward and upward, right?

Over and out...