Motor City's M.L. Liebler returns to the wilds of Wyoming March 1

M.L. Liebler of Detroit

Jackalope of Wyoming

Our Detroit pal, M.L. Liebler, will be returning to Wyoming in March. His last stop in WYO was last June in Casper. Here's the info:

March 1, Friday at 7:00 pm M. L. Liebler with Grammy-winning Eminem producer and musician Steve King at Western Wyoming Rock Springs Community College in Rock Springs, WY. Free & open to all. We've warned M.L. to watch out for the Jackalopes on the highways to the gig as it's roundup time. Contact Professor Rick Kempa at RKEMPA@wwcc.wy.edu or go to http://www.wwcc.cc.wy.us/

THE Sweet Potato Queen drops in on the Jackson Hole Writers Conference

News from the 2013 Jackson Hole Writers Conference, June 27-29 at the Center for the Arts in Jackson:

Multiple #1 New York Times Bestselling Author, Jill Conner Browne, THE Sweet Potato Queen™, has created a global phenomenon — 6,300 chapter groups in 37 countries — based upon her philosophy and world-view as recounted through her rollicking, raucous and riotously funny essays. Women and smart men understand that the bawdy, sassy, down-to-earth humor is simply the vehicle by which the greater message is conveyed — that is, one of self-reliance and empowerment, inspiring all to do what makes their hearts sing.

FMI: http://www.sweetpotatoqueens.com/

LarCoPubLib launches NaNoWriMo on Nov. 1

Get ready with your laptops, pens and paper (or even quills and parchment!) for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)! Participants begin writing on November 1 and must finish their novel on or before November 30. The Laramie County Library will host several events for adults and teens.

The kick-off will be Thursday, November 1, from 6:00-7:30 pm in the Willow Room. We’ll have plenty of food and drink available as you buckle down and get writing for this annual challenge. Bring everything you need to make this a successful hour and a half and get started on your 50,000 words!

Next, on Saturday, November 10, 10:00am-4:00pm in the Cottonwood Room, participate in a one-day workshop designed to help you navigate the next steps toward publication of your novel. Paths to Publication will have you joining seven Wyoming authors for a day of workshops filled with insights into the journey from “the end” to publication. These workshops are designed for teen and adult novelists at all levels.

Have some crazy fun on Thursday, November 15 from 6:00-7:30pm in the Willow Room, where you’ll be designing your own book cover. Now’s your chance in this hands-on workshop to create your own cover for a blank book that could be used as a journal, sketchbook, recipe anthology, or even the first draft of your novel! We provide all the supplies needed – just bring your imagination.  Sign up required for this – call 307.634.3561, or visit the library.

The final event for NaNoWriMo will be the wrap-up party on Sunday, December 2, 3:00-4:00pm in the Willow Room. Prizes will be given to everyone who finishes their 50,000 words on time!

Laramie County Library is located at 2200 Pioneer Avenue, Cheyenne. For more information call the library at307.634.3561.

Author Brian Leung visits UW to speak about his novel based on 1885 "Chinese Massacre" in Rock Springs

From a UW press release:

Acclaimed author Brian Leung will visit the University of Wyoming Wednesday, Oct. 24, and Thursday, Oct. 25, for a reading of his work and campus visits.

His campus visit is sponsored by the UW MFA Program in Creative Writing, University Libraries, American Heritage Center and Multicultural Affairs.

Leung will give a free public reading at 7 p.m. Oct. 25, in William Robertson Coe Library, Room 506. A book sale and signing of his latest novel “Take Me Home” follows his presentation. A reception also is planned.

The book presents a fictionalized version of the “Chinese Massacre”-- the riot and killings of Chinese miners -- that occurred in Rock Springs in 1885. Leung conducted much of the research for his novel at the UW American Heritage Center and Coe Library.

Interested students and staff can meet with Leung Oct. 24, in the Wyoming Union’s Rainbow Resource Center (RRC) and the Multicultural Resource Center (MRC). The RRC will host an hour-long reception at 10:30 a.m. From noon- 1 p.m., the MRC will have a question-and-answer luncheon with Leung about his latest novel.

He also will visit with writing students in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at noon Oct. 25.

Leung was born and raised in California’s San Diego County -- a somewhat unlikely location, given that his mother was born in Battleground, Wash., and his father escaped from China in 1949. By coincidence, as a teenager in 1980, Leung took a train trip to visit relatives in Rock Springs -- the very town at the core of his “Take Me Home” novel, which won the Willa Award for Historical Fiction.

Leung’s other works of fiction, nonfiction and poetry have appeared in multiple magazines and reviews. His “World Famous Love Acts” won the Asian American Literary Award in 2005 and the Mary McCarthy Award for Short Fiction in 2002. He also has published another novel, “Lost Men.”

Leung’s short fiction, poetry and creative nonfiction have appeared in Indiana Review, Runes, Crazyhorse, The Connecticut Review, Gulf Stream, Mid-American Review and numerous other publications. Leung recently was the recipient of the Lambda Literary Foundation Mid-Career Novelist Award.

Since 2000, he has taught in Cincinnati and Los Angeles, and currently is a University of Louisville associate professor. Leung earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from California State University, and an M.F.A from Indiana University.

More information about Leung can be found at http://www.readbrianleung.com/.

For more information about his campus visit, call the MFA Program in Creative Writing at (307) 766-6453.

Photo: Brian Leung

"A Visit from the Goon Squad" author Jennifer Egan visits Jackson Nov. 30-Dec. 1

The Teton County Public Library's next Page to the Podium presentation will feature Jennifer Egan, 2011 Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “A Visit from the Goon Squad,“ for an evening talk at 6 p.m. on Friday, November 30, 2012 at Four Seasons Resort. Free tickets will be available beginning Thursday, November 15 at 5 p.m. at Teton County Library & Alta Branch with the presentation of a library card or library card number.

Teton County Library Foundation will also present an Breakfast Author Chat at 9 a.m. on Saturday, December 1, with Jennifer Egan in the Four Seasons Lobby Lounge. A continental breakfast will include an interview of Egan by local architect and music lover, Nona Yehia, who will also facilitate an audience Q & A with the author. Book signing to follow.

Tickets are $50 (with a portion supporting the Library Foundation) available by calling 307-732-5000, starting November 1. For a special overnight rate at Four Seasons Resort 11/30 and/or 12/1 call reservations: 732-5000.

Galapagos Islands finches topic of Sept. 27 UW speech by top evolutionary researchers/authors

From a UW press release:

Two of the world’s leading evolutionary researchers, Peter and Rosemary Grant, will speak at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27, in the University of Wyoming Berry Center auditorium.

They will discuss “Evolution of Darwin’s Finches.” UW Zoology Professor Craig Benkman will host their presentation as part of the L. Floyd Clarke Memorial Lecture Series.

The Grants’ research on evolution in the Galapagos Islands, where they have spent six months of every year since 1973, is well-known. Capturing, tagging and taking blood samples of the finches on the island of Daphne Major, the two Princeton University emeritus professors continue the evolutionary work of Charles Darwin in the place that inspired his theory of evolution.

"The Grants' three-year study of the evolution of Galapagos Island finches and their adaptive responses to environmental change is one of the classic studies in biology,” says Scott Seville, zoologist and UW Outreach School associate dean. “Their work has been featured in many documentaries and was the focus of the Pulitzer prize-winning book ‘Beak of the Finch’ by Jonathan Wiener."

In 2008, the Grants were among 13 recipients of the prestigious Darwin-Wallace Medal, which is bestowed every 50 years by the Linnean Society of London. They received the Kyoto Prize in basic sciences, an international award honoring significant contributions to scientific, cultural and spiritual betterment of mankind. They have written numerous articles and books on their discoveries.

For more information, call (307) 766-5627.

Photo: Peter and Rosemary Grant will discuss their research of the evolution of Galapagos Island finches. (Princeton University)

Jackson Community Book Discussion features Tracy Kidder's "Mountains Beyond Mountains"

Welcome to the fall line-up of literary events around the state

Temps are still in the 90s and it may still seem like summer but fall is just around the corner. As we get ready to swing into fall, it's time to give our readers a head's up about some new and continuing Wyoming events that feature writers and books.

Michael Lanza

Central Wyoming College will wrap up the summer with its first-ever Wind River Outdoor Writers Conference Aug. 24-25 at Sink's Canyon Center. Presenters include blind adventurer Erik Weihenmayer, who has climbed the summit of the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. He will be the keynote speaker for the conference with a free public presentation at Lander Valley High School Auditorium on August 25 at 7 p.m. Other presenters are outdoor writers Michael Lanza and Shelli Johnson and editor Max Phelps.

Wyoming has two big fall literary events. The first has a long title: the Casper College/ARTCORE Equality State Book Festival and Literary Conference. The book festival takes place during even years, such as this one, offering readings, book signings, craft talks, panels, school visits by writers and a poetry slam. In odd years, Casper College and ARTCORE continue a decades-long partnership by putting on the literary conference, a series of workshops and craft talks by notable authors.

Pat Frolander

Among the Sept. 14-15 bookfest participants are state and regional favorites: Pat Frolander, current Poet Laureate for Wyoming; Zak Pullen, Cat Urbigkit, Kendra Spanjer and Karla Oceanak who will be making school visits; Alyson Hagy and David Romtvedt, faculty from University of Wyoming’s MFA program, who will give readings and lead craft talks; and essayist and poet Linda Hasselstrom. From further regions, we are also joined by Rebecca O’Connor and Renee d’Aoust. The Wyoming Arts Council presents the Creative Writing Fellowship awards, which were judged by soldier-poet Brian Turner, and celebrates poetry this year. The 2013 fellowship recipients, Matt Daly, Claudia Mauro and W. Dale Nelson, will read from their award-winning work with Turner on Friday, Sept. 14, 1-3 p.m., in the Goodstein Foundation Library. Our friends at the Natrona County Library are sponsoring a visit from Iraq War veteran and author Luis Carlos Montalvan. Turner will join Montalvan at a panel about soldier-writers on Saturday, Sept. 15, 10 a.m.

Speaking of soldier-writers.... One of America's best writers, Tim O'Brien, will be a featured presenter at the annual Literary Connection at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne Oct. 5-6. O'Brien is a Vietnam veteran best known for his novel, “The Things They Carried.” He will conduct a free writing workshop on Friday, Oct. 5, entitled “The Things We Carry.” John Calderazzo, a nature writer and essayist from Fort Collins, Colo., and fiction writer Cat Valente, will conduct other free workshops.

Every county library sponsors a series of events throughout the year. Connect with your local library through the Wyoming Library Asssociation. 

Mark Nowak

UW's creative writing program has a full slate of visiting writers, including Maggie Nelson, Mark Nowak, CA Conrad and Brian Leung. The program's fall schedule culminates on Nov. 9 with “Listening to Nature: an Evening of Readings and Visual Art by Scientists and Artists” features great writing and art focused on nature and the environment. Readers will include Chris Madsen, Emilene Ostlind, and Kristen Gunther. 

Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs sponsors its “Friday Night Live” literary series sponsored by the Louise Wesswick Foundation. English Professor and writer Rick Kempa does a great job coordinating these events. In February, WWCC hosted Utah author Katharine Coles who will also serve as judge for the 2013 Blanchan/Doubleday writing awards sponsored by the WAC (more info coming soon).

We have two statewide writing groups – WyoPoets and Wyoming Writers, Inc. – and they each sponsor annual conferences. WyoPoets conducts a writing workshop each spring and the WWInc conference launches the summer season the first weekend in June. The 2013 conference will be in Laramie.

The Jackson Hole WritersConference is held in late June and has become one of the foremost conferences in the country.

These are but the highlights of the Wyoming literary year. We’ll keep you posted as new events arise, and as conferences and events solidify their plans for 2013. If you have a literary event to publicize, let us know here at the WAC. We'll spread the word via this blog, Facebook, Twitter and our print newsletter. 

Tim O'Brien leads a writing workshop on "The Things We Carry" Oct. 5 at LCCC in Cheyenne

Want to take a free writing workshop with one of America's best writers?

Tim O'Brien, author of "The Things They Carried" and "Going After Cacciato," will be at the Literary Connection at Laramie County Community College on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 5-6. On Friday, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m., he will join two other award-winning writers -- John Calderazzo and Cat Valente -- who will each conduct a free workshop. Tim is a Vietnam veteran whose work continues to explore the legacy of that conflict on the American psyche. Here are the workshop details:

Tim O'Brien: The Things We Carry

"In this workshop I'll be discussing my approach to writing fiction and will touch on such topics as the use of autobiographical materials in fiction, the principle of simultaneity, animating a story, thematic gravitas, etc."

Tim O’Brien received the National Book Award in Fiction in 1979 for his novel Going After Cacciato. In 2005 The Things They Carried was named by the New York Times as one of the twenty best books of the last quarter century.

Nina McConigley reads from "Cowboys and East Indians" on Aug. 2 at Wind City Books in Casper

Nina McConigley on Medicine Bow Peak, August 2010 (from Nina's Facebook photo album)

Wyoming author Nina McConigley will be reading from her short-story collection COWBOYS AND EAST INDIANS, at Wind City Books, 152 S. Center St., Casper, at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 2. She was the 2010 recipient of the Wyoming Arts Council’s Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Writing Award. She read from her work – and served as emcee – for the Wyoming Arts Council’s annual fellowship reading at the 2010 Equality State Book Festival at Casper College. Nina was born in Singapore and grew up in Wyoming. She holds an MFA from the University of Houston. She has received scholarships to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Sewanee Writers’ Conference. She also received a full fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center. She has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and for The Best New American Voices 2009. Her work has appeared in The Virginia Quarterly Review, American Short Fiction, Slice, Asian American Literary Review, Puerto del Sol, and others.

Author and visionary Ray Bradbury dies at 91

Ray Bradbury in his L.A. office in 2008

Gone is the author of the classics "Fahrenheit 451" and "The Martian Chronicles." See this article by Rick Schindler in Today Books: Ray Bradbury foresaw the future — and didn’t trust it. Excerpt:

Ray Bradbury was the last of the giants of mid-20th century American science fiction, a select fraternity that also comprised Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, and Isaac Asimov. The most literary of that pantheon, his work spanned many media, including science fiction pulp magazines, episodic television, and motion pictures -- but passion for the written word and fear for its survival may be his most enduring legacy.

Sara Wiles and Pat Frolander are High Plains Book Awards finalists

After the review of 86 nominated books, 19 finalists have been chosen for 7 categories in the 2012 High Plains Book Awards. The books were reviewed and ranked by volunteer readers throughout Billings, Mont. The books by finalists in each category have been send to professional authors in the US and Canada. The authors come from eleven different states – Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Texas, Maine, Washington, Iowa, Connecticut, Arizona and Montana as well as the Canadian providences of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Winner is each category will receive a $500 cash prize.

Two Wyoming writers made the final list of 19:

Best Art & Photography category: Arapaho Journeys: Photographs and Stories from the Wind River Reservation, Sara Wiles, Lander, Wyoming
Best Woman Writer category: Married Into It, Patricia Frolander, Sundance, Wyoming

Sara has been awarded the Wyoming Govenor's Arts Award and Pat is Wyoming's poet leaureate.

The High Plains Book Awards and BookFest will take place October 18-20, 2012. There will be a reception for the finalists on Friday, October 19, at the Babcock Theatre, followed by a public reading. All the finalists are invited to read at the Yellowstone Art Museum on Saturday, October 20 as a part of the 10th annual High Plains BookFest. The High Plains Book Award Banquet will also be held at the Yellowstone Art Museum later that night. Readings are free and open to the public. Tickets for the banquet will be available later this year.

The Parmly Billings Library Board established the High Plains Book Awards in 2006. The awards were established to recognize regional authors and/or literary works which examine and reflect life on the High Plains including the states of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan.

First book signings for "Butch Cassidy, My Uncle" will be held in Casper April 28 w/update

From Nancy Curtis at High Plains Press: On Saturday, April 28, Bill Berenson, the author of BUTCH CASSIDY, MY UNCLE, will be signing books in Casper. It will be the first signings anywhere for the book (official release date: May 1). Bill will be at Tomcat's Books at Sunrise Shopping Center from 9:30-11:30 a.m. and at Wind City Books in downtown Casper from 2-4 p.m.

UPDATE (4/27): Excellent front-page story about the book and author in today's Casper Star-Tribune. Read "Telling Butch Cassidy's Story."

"Endangered Alphabets" author Tim Brookes to speak at WWCC in Rock Springs March 22-23

 The Western Wyoming Community College English Department and the Arlene and Louise

Wesswick Foundation present

Tim Brookes

Writer and language scholar from Vermont

Thursday, March 22 at 7:00 p.m.

speaking on his “Vanishing Alphabets” of the world project, now on display at the Hay Library

Friday, March 23 at 7:30 p.m.

reading from his own creative work

Both events take place in Room 1302 on the Rock Springs campus, and are free.

Tim Brookes of Burlington, Vermont is the author of twelve books, including Catching My Breath: An Asthmatic Explores his Illness (1995), Signs of Life: a Memoir of Hospice (1999), A Hell of a Place to Lose a Cow: an American Hitchhiking Odyssey (2000), Guitar: An American Life ( 2005), A Warning Shot: Influenza and the 2004 Flu Vaccine Shortage (2005),Thirty Percent Chance of Enlightenment (2009), and Endangered Alphabets (2010). He is the Director of the Professional Writing Program at Champlain College.

Mystery novelist Robert Greer of Wheatland hits the road April 14 with new novel

North Atlantic Books, publisher of Robert Greer's new novel, "Astride a Pink Horse," sends this info on the Wheatland's author's tour schedule: 

Publication date: March 27, 2012; North Atlantic Books, distributed by Random House; Hardcover; ISBN: 978-1-58394-369-4 (1-58394-369-2); $23.95/$26.95 CAN; 6 x 9; 376 pages).

Group author signing

Saturday, April 14th from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Whistle-Stop Mercantile ~ Books, Espresso & Deli
200 S. 3rd Street
Douglas, WY 82633
(307) 358-3663

Author talk and signing
Friday, April 20th from 4-6 p.m.
The Thistle
1243 Rumsey Ave.
Cody, WY 82414
(307) 587-6635

Reading and/or signing (TBD)
Saturday, April 21st from 1-3 p.m.
Sheridan Stationery, Books, & Gallery
206 North Main St.
Sheridan, WY 82801
(307) 674-8080

Signing
Saturday, April 28th from 1-4 p.m.
The Storyteller
528 Broadway
Thermopolis, WY 82443
(307) 864-3272

New Joe Pickett novel from C.J. Box to be released March 20

New Joe Pickett novel from Cheyenne's C.J. Box. More info at www.cjbox.net

Author Abbie Johnson Taylor featured at three events in Sheridan

Sheridan author Abbie Johnson Taylor will sign copies of her new collection of poems, How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver, at Sheridan Stationery Books & Gallery on Saturday, January 28 from 1-3 p.m. and in the lobby of the Sheridan Senior Center on Tuesday, February 14, from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. She will read from her book at the Sheridan County Fulmer Public Library’s Inner Circle on Sunday, February 12 at 2 p.m. Books will be available for purchase at all events which are open to the public. FMI: http://www.abbiejohnsontaylor.com

Sheridan author Abbie Johnson Taylor reflects on her new book and her role as "family caregiver"

Wyomingarts picked this up from the Wyoming Writers, Inc., listserv. Abbie Johnson Taylor of Sheridan is a long-time member of both WyoPoets and WWInc. She’s a prolific writer, singer, full-time caregiver for her husband Bill, and an activist for the visually impaired. This info is about her new book, followed by a Q&A. Inspiring reading for the holiday season:

How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver is a book of poems just released by author Abbie Johnson Taylor of Sheridan and published by iUniverse. In January of 2006, the author’s husband suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed on his left side. After months of therapy in a nursing facility, he returned home in September of that year. Although he still had little use of his left arm and leg, it was hoped that through outpatient therapy, he would eventually walk again. In January of 2007, he suffered a second stroke that wasn’t as severe, but it was enough to impact his recovery. In August of that year, his therapy was discontinued because he showed no progress. He has never walked since.

The first five poems in the book tell the story of how Taylor found her husband when he suffered his first stroke, detail events in the first few months afterward, and describe Taylor and her husband’s reactions. The rest of the poems in the first part were inspired by Taylor’s experiences while caring for her husband. Covering such topics as dressing, feeding, toileting, their relationship, and his computer, 
they often provide a humorous outlook. Some poems are from the husband’s point of view. Poems in the next two parts cover childhood memories and other topics. The last section of poems was inspired by Taylor’s fifteen years of experience as a registered music therapist in a nursing home before marrying her husband.

Abbie Johnson Taylor’s novel, We Shall Overcome, was published by iUniverse in July of 2007. Her fiction has appeared in Magnets and Ladders and Emerging Voices, her poetry in Distant Horizons, her creative nonfiction in Christmas in the Country and SageScript. She is President of WyoPoets and secretary of Behind Our Eyes and is involved with other writers’ groups including Sheridan Range Writers, Wyoming Writers, and Explorations in Creative Writing. She also participates in a monthly poetry critique group. When not writing or caring for Bill, she facilitates a support group for the visually impaired, sings with a women’s group called Just Harmony, and participates in water exercise 
classes at the YMCA. Please visit her blog at http://abbiescorneroftheworld.blogspot.com and website at http://www.abbiejohnsontaylor.com

How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver, ISBN #978-1-4620-6794-7, is available from iUniverse, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon. Links to where the book can be ordered on these sites can be found at http://www.abbiejohnsontaylor.com/bettermousetrap.htm Copies can also be ordered from the author by calling (307) 674-6109.

Q&A with Abbie Johnson Taylor

Q. Where were you born, and where did you grow up?

A. I was born in New York City on June 1st, 1961. We only lived there for about a year. My parents had degrees in education, but they wanted to become actors. However, they realized that teaching careers would provide a more stable income. After a year in New York, we moved to Boulder, Colorado. When I was about four, we moved to Tucson, Arizona. In 1973, we moved to Sheridan, Wyoming. My grandfather died a couple of years earlier, and my grandmother needed someone to run the family’s coin-operated machine business. Since no one else seemed interested, my father felt obligated to take over. Sheridan has been my home ever since.

Q. Because of your visual impairment, were you educated in special schools?

A. In Tucson, I attended the Arizona State School for the Deaf and Blind for five and a half years. When my parents became dissatisfied with my education, they transferred me to a public school. When we moved to Sheridan, I completed my education in public schools.

Q. Where did you go to college?

A. When I graduated from high school in 1980, I thought I wanted to be a rock singer. I went to Sheridan College for two years where I majored in music performance and graduated with an AA degree. I then transferred to Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana, where I again majored in music performance and graduated with a BA degree after two and a half years. While I was there, a career counselor told me about music therapy, the use of music with a variety of populations including the elderly and mentally ill to achieve therapeutic goals. Since Montana State University had a music therapy program, I transferred there after graduating from Rocky Mountain College. After two more years of study and an internship in a nursing home in Fargo, North Dakota, I returned to Sheridan in 1988. Almost a year later, I found a job conducting activities in a nursing home where I used the 
music therapy skills I learned.

Q. You’re not working there now?

A. No, I quit so I could write full time.

Q. Was that when your writing career got off the ground?

A. No, I started writing a few years before I quit my day job. Several of my poems and stories were published in various journals and anthologies, and I wrote my first novel We Shall Overcome. When I 
married my husband Bill, he persuaded me to write full time.

Q. How much vision do you have, and do you use any adaptive devices to make your life easier?

A. I can see people, objects, places, and some pictures. I can read print if it’s large enough. I use a desktop video magnifier, and my computer has software that reads the screen to me in synthetic speech, allows me to navigate using the keyboard, and tells me what I’m typing. I use a white cane while walking around town.

Q. Where did you get the idea for How to Build a Better Mousetrap: Recollections and Reflections of a Family Caregiver?

A. In January of 2006, three months after we were married, Bill suffered a stroke that left his left side paralyzed. He spent months in a nursing facility where he received therapy and finally came home the 
following September. At that time, I found myself writing more poems about him and the trials and tribulations of being a family caregiver.

Q. Where did you come up with the title?

A. I’ll have to give our caseworker at the local senior center’s in-home services program most of the credit for that. Several years ago, one of the aides who gave Bill his shower three days a week claimed the process of transferring him from the bed to the commode was bothering her back. Our caseworker said, “I wish I knew how to build a better mousetrap.” That’s what being a caregiver is about. You 
sometimes have to find different ways of doing things, and it can be especially tricky when you can’t see very well. You often figure things out by trial and error.

Q. Are all the poems in the book about taking care of Bill?

A. No, the majority cover such topics as feeding, dressing, and toileting. Some are from Bill’s point of view. One in particular is from the point of view of his computer which he has trouble using because of his lack of short-term memory and use of his left arm. Some poems provide a humorous outlook on being a family caregiver. Others offer a heartwarming look at our relationship. Poems in the second and third parts of the book cover childhood memories and reflect on other topics. The last part contains poems inspired by my fifteen years experience working with nursing home residents.

Q. Bill is still in a wheelchair today?

A. Yes, when he came home in 2006, we hoped that through outpatient therapy, he would eventually walk again. But in January of 2007, he suffered a second stroke that wasn’t as severe, but it was enough to impact his recovery. In august of that year, his therapy was discontinued because he wasn’t showing any progress. He may never walk again, but that doesn’t matter. We love each other, and we’ll enjoy our life together for as long as we can.

Q. What do you hope to accomplish by publishing this book?

A. If anything, I want others in my situation to know they’re not alone. Fortunately for me, Bill is still relatively healthy and mentally alert. The only great challenges I face are the physical ones involved with his personal care, and I’m thankful for the help I get from the senior center’s in-home services program. But others are harder to care for because of Alzheimer’s’ or other more serious medical problems. Their loved ones should know that help is available. Our local senior center has a support group for caregivers and other services, and I’m sure senior centers in other communities have similar 
programs. Caregivers should seek out such help and not feel overwhelmed by their responsibilities.

Sign up now for Uinta Mountains Writer's Workshop March 10 in Evanston

Hats off to Ed Close, organizer of the first-ever Uinta Mountain Writer's in Evanston.
Find the event on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/groups/234753113262334/

Julianne Couch has a new publisher for her "Traveling the Power Line" book

Very good news from author Julianne Couch, formerly of Laramie and now an Iowan:

I am pleased to announce that the University of Nebraska press plans to publish Traveling the Power Line: An Electrical Memoir in spring 2013. The book title has changed a bit since I started this project and may still change again if the marketing folks can think of something better. The delay in publication since this project has transferred from Texas Tech press to UNeb has given me the opportunity to update much of my research. I'm currently at work revising and updating my chapter on wind. I learned that there is much more wind development in Wyoming on private land on public. That's because the regulatory environment on public land(state and federal, such as BLM) is vastly more layered than on private land development. I've also revisited the 2009 Harris poll on attitudes toward energy development in the United States. In the 2011 survey, respondents say much the same thing: while only 12 percent of Americans say they are "very knowledgeable" about energy development, 53 percent say they are interested in learning more.I hope a few of those folks are regular readers! I'll continue to post some of my new findings in this blog. The publication impasse lulled me elsewhere, but I'm back!

The Wyoming Arts Council played a small part in Julianne's book research, okaying an Individual Artist Professional Development grant to her a few years ago. If you're a writer, artist or performer requiring some funding for the next step in your career, call Mike Shay at 307-777-5234 at the WAC for more info.