September has come and hit me full in the face, and I sincerely cannot believe the shit I’ve gotten myself into. Where do I even start?

Rabbit Heart Poetry Film Festival is rolling along smoothly, at least. We’re coming up on the last little bit of judging this week, and then it’s on to let the finalists know that their films are moving on. Which is probably the most exciting part of this, outside of the actual festival dates – really, is there anything finer than handing out good news?

In the meanwhile, there are the details: tickets go on sale tomorrow, there’s a final judging party on Tuesday, the shows need to be curated and the program printed, posters need to be made, the trophies need to be constructed… And Sunday Rabbit Heart is the spotlight feature at the 7Hills Poetry reading with Angelique Palmer, so today and tomorrow are going to be a story of mad scrambling to put gear together. Next year we hire an intern, hello. #somanydetails

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Apple Batiks will be at StART on the Street on the 20th. I picked up a sweet red-topped tent, and I have a bunch of inventory, which is great. As soon as I have my number and time to set up, it, hopefully, will be on rails.

And I’m writing like the wind in the middle of all of this.

Free Pirate Radio is complete (for the time being*) and queries are being sent out to agents.** I’ve managed to convince myself that since Dune was rejected 80 times, that the closer I get to 80 rejections, the closer I get to acceptance. Not that I think this is a Dune-like composition, but I’m pretty proud of it, if I may say so. Anyway, I’ve had two queries declined so far, and ten more out in the wind. #madambition

So while that’s simmering on the stove, I decided that I need to keep the writing muscle limber. These last few months I’ve been writing hard – about 750-1500 words a day between the rest of the stuff that gets done – and I don’t really want to lose that. So I started a new project, with a goal of at least 750 words a day. It’s the story of magicians and the raccoon they reanimate to become a familiar.*** It’s over on Wattpad if you want to check it out. I’m doing my best to update it daily.

Also, I like to sleep. So I’ve been attempting to get some sleep. Which has yielded some exciting results: sometimes I dream that I’m one of the characters in my writing, only I’m attempting to run a film festival in a country where I do not speak the language. Goodtimes.

But here’s the thing: as much pressure as there is in all of it, I absolutely love the the payoff. Rabbit Heart yields the opportunity to see poems on film and celebrate the hell out of them, StART is always a blast, and it’s an honor to have been picked as a vendor. And the writing is the best head space I could hope for. So it’s sugar and stress, and it’s tight, but it’s good.

***

*Heaven knows that my final draft is not a publisher’s final draft. I’ll deal with that as it comes. May it come after October 12th (and before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving planning always kicks the stuffing – har de har – out of me a little bit).
**This is a terrifying process, in case you were wondering.
***A la Installing Linux on a Dead Badger