AngelaYSmith.com

Where do I begin?

The last week+ has been busy, grueling, amazing, brilliant… and more. And I’m tired. The people I met on a Greyhound bus were tragic and beautiful.

• The 72 year old woman who has been a truck driver for the last 25 years. Her last shipment was hit but a careless driver. Her trucking company refused to pay her. She was on her way to live with her daughter with nothing but her Greyhound ticket and a phone that would lose service at midnight.
• The homeless woman that was trying to make a new start. A church bought her a bus ticket so she could get back on her feet at her brother’s house. She was afraid everyone was out to get her. Sadly, in Philly something went wrong with her ticket and she wound up getting put on another bus, I hope.
• The tall Russian immigrant who became my best buddy for about 200 miles. He had just quit his trucking job because of an accident due to how his shipment was packed. The company tried to charge him for damages. He left in search of new horizons. We were split when our driver got ill and the riders were split up with minutes to find the next bus. I could barely understand his English. He was happy to have someone to talk to anyway.
• The girl who just got out of jail for getting caught with an ounce of pot six months ago. She wore oversize men’s clothing the jail gave her, men’s tube socks and shower shoes. All her possessions were in a recycled box that had once held a travel size television. She was leaving the area to make fresh friends. Her cellmate was in for lighting her own baby on fire. The girl on the bus hoped she could make the nightmares go away if she went far enough.

I’m doing a lot of processing mentally. Putting together my scraps of notes, recreating the people I’ve met so I can bring them back to life and preserve them. Ragged faces staring out the window at landscapes swallowed by night…

I’m also doing a lot of processing physically. I came back with many back issues of Space and Time from the the 70s and 80s. We are processing those up now so we can make these historic publications available as digital back issues. We are wrapping up production of the audio version of the magazine. We are setting up a regular open mic event to provide a space for local talent to shine and share. I’m going back to work on the third and last part of Bitter Suites and getting ready to release Altars and Oubliettes. Normal life returns for me.

Finally, I’m processing my blessings. It was a physically taxing trip, but I was on my way to happy things. I got to spend a lot of time with my oldest daughter and her family.

I navigated New York’s busiest streets at rush hour, met up with my publishing predecessors Gordon and Hildy and had a brilliant time on Hour of the Wolf, despite a deep exhaustion that had set in by that point.

Too much partying with the grand-babies, maybe? In case you don’t live in NYC and listen to WBAI 99.5 fm, Free Speech Radio,  you can listen/download that show here. You can also watch the Facebook Live video here.

So now I’m home, buried in notes, tasks and things to do. Emails to catch up, writing assignments piled on high and a sleep debt to pay back… memories to record. I expect to be sealed in my work closet for the next full month.

I have kept this blog going since 2010. My goal has always been to post daily. I’m obviously struggling with that since StokerCon—but all for good reasons.

I came back with two publishers+ interested the complete story arc of Bitter Suites, among other things I can’t share yet. I unpacked and set to work to finish up the second book. After an intense 2-4,000 words a day (or more!) it was done. Then I had to write up a synopsis for the third installment. Also done, and I am excited where the story is going.

My original plan was to publish the story as three separate novellas. Now it looks like it will all be published as a stand alone novel. Although it starts as individual stories, they start to twist together midway through and become one story line. Now I can relax a little and write the third segment, taking breaks for other projects in between.

One of those is finishing up Altars and Oubliettes, the poetry chapbook I’ve been working on for awhile. I can see how my poetry has developed since I started with In Favor of Pain. I’ve been happy with this new work, and I have to credit mentor and friends Marge Simon and Linda D. Addison with help in developing my craft.

I’ve also been asked to do a new project I can’t talk about yet. I can say it’s something in a completely new format, it’s in the Bitter Suites world and I’m a good way into it already.

I have my trip to the East Coast starting this Friday. I’ll be meeting Gordon Linzner and Hildy Silverman, both former publishers of Space and Time magazine.  I’ll be a guest on Jim Freund’s Hour of the Wolf radio talk show in NYC and I’ll get to spend time with my oldest daughter and her family. I hope to see a few more friends, but time is short.

Lots going on locally. As Space and Time, we are working with the local library system to establish an open mic event to promote literacy and performance skills. I’ll be sharing details if that all works out.

The exciting developments have been non-stop. While that’s great, my poor blog here has taken the hit. Hopefully when I get back from this next trip I can settle back into regular blogging. I think I’ll have plenty to talk about.

Final note: I will be posting another call for Exqusite Corpse lines very soon, and this time the finished collaborative poem will be shared at SpaceandTimeMagazine.com.