life goes on at a much quicker pace. i have figured out how to finish my novel and publicize it; because people are reading my work i no longer feel like i am dropping my work in a sea of self-published work (basically, i am dropping my work in a sea of self-published work, but now i have a plan to rise out of this hazy purgatory)....so basically, with my work cut out for me, and having my first stab of vaccine behind me, i'm on my way.

the first stab of vaccine was actually kind of cool, because my favorite substitute teacher was there right in front of me in line. it took them a long time to get organized, and explain everything to me, and run people through the system, but she was doing the same thing, and i talked to her a while. she grew up in carrizozo up by where they dropped the bomb on new mexico in the forties, and she is probably old enough to have been alive when it happened, though probably just barely. she was a great substitute because she didn't let it get to her. she just did what she was supposed to do and the kids all liked here because she wasn't excessively mean or punitive. she liked the kids and they liked her.

she's not in great shape now, so that was hard, to see her in one of those wal-mart go carts and really not all that good at maneuvering it. that's how my dad was at one point. he really needed the go-cart to get around but kept having trouble backing up, etc. that was sad. but i felt like it was my role in life to tell her caretaker that she was the best substitute the alamo schools had ever seen. the caretaker totally believed me.

my first novel is almost done. hallelujah, it's been a whole lifetime trying to finish a single novel; this is actually my third, but all three had gone unfinished and finally i just up and finished this one. i had to conjure up the urge to relate the true story of the nineteen seventies in iowa city, iowa. but i did. it documents both the actualist poetry movement, and the earliest days of stone soup restaurant and morning glory bakery. i left a huge part of my heart there, otherwise i'd have trouble finishing that novel.

it's a crime novel, so i had to make up some crimes. the place is full of petty crime, it being a student town, so i put some of those in there, but in my mind, the biggest crime in iowa is allowing the state to be soaked up with roundup in the process of trying to pull more corn out of the land. now this is only a crime if you think roundup is bad, but i do; i consider it nerve gas and i think everyone will pay the price. i didn't want to hit the reader on the head with it, so i threw in those other crimes just to throw them off track a little.

not to give it away though. if you like it, watch out for it....The Corn State, it's called tentatively, and should be out in about a week.