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August linkspam

Gee, Elizabeth, this newsletter sorta skipped a month. What happened to July?

Well, folks, there was this thesis… Only two years late! Technically not “late,” as one has six years from the point where one finishes the coursework to complete a thesis in order to get their masters degree. There was this pandemic, you see, and pivoting to teaching online, and then I launched a completely different masters program, and and and… 

But this summer, I dug in and finished the thesis. It is currently awaiting defense and final approval by the Graduate School. It is my sincere hope that by the next newsletter, I will be the recipient of a masters of science in media studies, and embarking on my final year of the MFA.

In the meantime, freelance nonfiction work is really picking up, and I’ll be returning as an adjunct professor and graduate instructor at two universities in the fall. I also had the pleasure of working with high-school students for two sessions at the SIUE Youth Writing Camp this summer, and continuing my usual appearances at book fairs, libraries, festivals and conventions. I also took another class toward the MFA, on teaching creative writing via memoir. What, me busy?

And there’s this other thing. Which I can’t share. Not yet. Once the contracts are signed, I can *mmmmmf* 
 

Publicity/Appearances

Reviewing June and July: I launched the summer tour at ConCarolinas in Charlotte, N.C., which was a terrific time and a great chance to see folks I haven’t seen since before the world ended. In July, I got to see practically everyone else on that list at Imaginarium in Louisville, Ky. I held two workshops there: the first on “So You Wanna Be a Writer” going through the creative process with an eye to publication, and “Don’t Quit Your Day Job,” on the business side of being a writer. These workshops went really well, and I may develop them further as I go into my “Writer in the World” project this fall in MFA-land.

I also spoke to the Plethora of Pens writers’ group in Glen Carbon, Ill. on July 11, and added the Collinsville Library Book Fair at the very last minute on July 30.

Coming up in August: It’s actually pretty light! Much of my schedule was cleared to deal with the thesis defense and whatever revisions will be necessary, and then the semester begins in about three weeks. So we’ll call that “free time.” 

Also: the latest issue of Quill Magazine referenced the controversy a few months ago when my chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists challenged the governor of Missouri to stop threatening prosecution of journalists for *checks notes* doing journalism. Here’s the report if you’re interested.

I was part of an author roundtable on Sean Taylor’s excellent writing blog in June, discussing how we balance ideas and projects. “I’ve been told that perhaps I focus too much on the salability of a project, perhaps to the detriment of the art. That’s possibly true, but there’s also a lot of privilege to the idea that we should do art first and market second. When you have the rent paid by other means, maybe you can do art first. But when you feed your family by the written word, you need to prioritize what you can sell and keep your work out where the eyeballs can find it.” Full column here.

Coming up:
• Edwardsville (Ill.) Book Festival, Sept. 17
• St. Louis SPJ Journalist Boot Camp, Sept. 24
• Archon, Collinsville, Ill. Sept. 30-Oct. 2
• SPJ National Conference, Washington, D.C. Oct. 26-29 
• ContraCon, Kansas City. Nov. 11-13 


Journalism/Essays

• Tharp sworn in as state senator (St. Louis Labor-Tribune)
• Highland residents to pay higher trash fee (Highland News-Leader)
• Judge candidates elected despite write-in ballot (St. Louis Labor-Tribune)
• HCS subscribers to get refund following outage (Highland News-Leader)
• Illinois moves to make ‘right to work’ illegal (St. Louis Labor Tribune)
• Highland police get three-year contract (Highland News-Leader)
• Highland passes $40 million school referendum (Highland News-Leader)
• Highland will open public restrooms during festivals – providing people behave (Highland News-Leader)
• Developer plans high-end apartments for historic hotel (Highland News-Leader)
• Highland votes to move forward on controversial storage facility (Highland News-Leader)
• New program allows low-income kids outside district to get library cards (Highland News-Leader) 
• Highland board declines proposal for storage facility (Highland News-Leader)
• Family tax relief from Democrat-sponsored bill (Highland News-Leader)

Note: Not all articles are available online, and some may be behind paywalls. 
 

Fiction

*mmmmmmf* I can’t tell you. Shh. Shenanigans afoot.


Patreon/Blogs

• A second life (Medium)
• The coffeehouse chairs (Medium)
• Freedom Day 2022 (Patreon)
• Hey new people! (Patreon)
• Kitty! (Patreon)
• Imaginarium is a wrap! (Patreon)
• The beauty halo (Patreon)
• Follow me, scribes (Patreon)
• So where do you get your ideas? (Patreon)
• Where are you from? (Patreon)

Are you a subscriber to my newsletter, which has this and much more, including photo of the month, coupons and freebies etc.? Well, you should! Don’t worry – I’m way too busy to spam you more than once a month. Click here to be assimilated.
 

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June linkspam

The summer is now in full swing, as the temperatures rise in concert with my desire to hide under an air conditioner until Halloween. 

What else is in full swing? My summer employment! I am fully launched at the St. Louis Labor Tribune as I continue with the Highland News-Leader (and pretty much any other publication that will pay me). I’m working with the SIUE Alestle and at the youth writing camp, which is an entirely new experience soon to be detailed for the Patreon. I’ve never taught kids younger than 18 before, and it is a different world.

I’m also in a class this summer: teaching creative writing with a focus on the memoir, which is now in its second week and quite interesting. Our first reading was The Bluest Eye, which is funny because I just read that for my Morrison class, but now we’re on to W.E.B. DuBois. 

In addition all the work stuff I’m doing this summer, my Relay for Life team is wrapping up its efforts this month. My team has been raising money for the American Cancer Society since 2005 and we’ve raised more than $47,000 for cancer research and support services for patients. This is going to be the year we break $50,000! The local Relay event happens on June 11, and I’ll be raising money before and after to help my team make its goal. If you know someone who has fought cancer or died from it (and really, is there any human who DOESN’T know at least one?), please consider supporting us with a donation. 

Finally, I want to remind you all about my Patreon. I really feel the pieces I’m posting there are some of the best work I’ve ever done, and to be frank, we rely heavily on the Patreon income each month. If only 5 percent of my Facebook followers subscribed at $1 a month, it would nearly double that income; 10 percent would be amazing. If you have the means, please consider subscribing, and enjoy the essays, travelogues, book and movie reviews, photography and fiction I’m posting there, along with the free books and chapbooks you get each March. 
 

Publicity/Appearances

This newsletter is delayed because the first weekend of the summer was taken up with ConCarolinas! A full con report is pending for the blog and Patreon, but the shorthand is that it was a fantastic time, with old and new faces and some wonderful opportunities that *mmmmmf* I can’t talk about yet. A gazillion thanks to Rachel Brune, publisher extraordinaire of Crone Girls Press, who was kind enough to share her table with me and room with me so we could both save expenses. Rachel is a great writer and a good friend and now she knows what my hair looks like first thing in the morning. 

May concluded with a signing at the Smithton, Ill. library, but unfortunately the Alton Market on May 21 was canceled due to weather. I hope to reschedule my appearance there later in the summer. 

Coming up in June: a guest speaker appearance at Plethora of Pens in the Glen Carbon (Ill.) Library on July 11 and Imaginarium in Louisville, Ky. on July 8-10. Literary Underworld will have a full booth at Imaginarium and yes, I’m bringing the bar and a henchman to assist. 

Coming up:
• Smithton (Ill.) Library signing, May 28
• ConCarolinas, Charlotte, N.C. June 3-5
• Imaginarium, Louisville, Ky. July 8-10
• Plethora of Pens speech, Glen Carbon, Ill. July 11
• Edwardsville (Ill.) Book Festival, Sept. 17
• Archon, Collinsville, Ill. Oct. 7-9 
• SPJ National Conference, Washington, D.C. Oct. 26-29 
• ContraCon, Kansas City. Nov. 11-13 (tent.)

Journalism/Essays

• Highland Library to launch Cards for Kids program (Highland News-Leader)
• Irish pub under way in Highland (Highland News-Leader)
• Highland tech director pushes for broadband access (Highland News-Leader)
• Highland superintendent pushes for construction funds (Highland News-Leader)
• Happy Pride! (Literary Underworld)
• But why does it always have to be political? (Medium)

Fiction

*mmmmmmf* I can’t tell you. Shh. Shenanigans afoot.

Patreon/Blogs

• The Coffeehouse Chairs (Patreon)
• Review: Firestarter (Patreon)
• Review: A Day Like This (Patreon)
• Toni Morrison: The Measure of Our Lives (Patreon)

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New gig!

So…. starting this month, I will be the Illinois correspondent for the St. Louis Labor Tribune, as Carl Green is handing over the baton to me. I’m looking forward to the challenge of a labor-focused beat.

(And yes, this is my sixth job. The seventh doesn’t start until June!)

i expect I’ll be writing a great deal during the upcoming elections, and I hope that the Illinois union folks will drop me a note when there’s something going on. Never fear, I will continue my work for McClatchy/Highland News-Leader as well as my other clients! Watch for links in the monthly linkspam.

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Journalists in fiction… again

I’m delighted to report that the St. Louis Writer’s Guild has asked me to talk to them about how to portray journalists in fiction.

This is pretty much my biggest soapbox, as you know if you’ve been following me for any length of time. The Thesis That Will Not Die is focused on journalists’ representation in film, ranging from Spotlight to Die Hard, under the cultivation theory of media consumption. Like most academic theories, it uses convoluted language to explain that which is patently obvious: watching media that portrays a group negatively leads to negative impressions of that group. Representation matters.

I’ve done this kind of talk before, usually to pop culture convention panels where we discuss how the movies have mangled us. I haven’t done it for a group solely comprised of writers before, and I’m quite happy for the opportunity. I’ve said many times at cons and writing panels: If you’ve got a journalist in your story, for the sake of Edward R. Murrow, talk to a journalist. You wouldn’t write a brain surgeon or a police officer or a deep-sea explorer without doing research; don’t assume that you know how journalism works because you’ve read the news.

At any rate, I’m looking forward to this opportunity, and thank the Writer’s Guild for inviting me. I’m not sure if it’s open to the general public or only Guild members, but I’ll be sure to let y’all know.

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December Linkspam

Happy holidays! I am delighted to announce that I will be an adjunct instructor at St. Louis University beginning in the spring semester. Yes, probably the last thing I needed was a fifth job, but I’m very excited to be teaching journalism again. Never fear, I am continuing in my assistantship at SIUE teaching English composition in addition to my MFA classes, editing work at the student newspaper, my freelance writing and reporting work, my volunteer activities… I think I forgot a job in there somewhere. 

Only one week left until the semester is over and the signings end for a little while, at which point I will… do more writing. And probably bake some stuff, seeing as how the holidays have enveloped us. I appreciate the patience of the Patreon people in particular, as pickings have been slim while I trundle through to the end of the semester. The Literary Underworld and Elizabeth Donald shops are bustling with the holiday orders, and please see the infobox at the end of this newsletter for deadlines to order in time for Christmas. 

That said, we just finished Thanksgiving, and if I haven’t done so up until now: Thank you. Yes, you, particularly. You stick with me and this newsletter, you support my work and many of you subscribe to the Patreon and/or buy the books. That keeps the lights on in my house and feeds my family, and I am always humbled by your continued support. As every year, I give thanks for you. 
 

Publicity/Appearances

November kicked off with ContraCon in Kansas City, which was the last Literary Underworld event for the year and at which we won Best Booze! This is an honor we have received before, and I can only assume it is our staggering array of bottom-shelf liquor and menu of geek-themed cocktails that wins us these accolades. Seriously, I am so pleased that the Traveling Bar brings so much joy to our guests at the cons, and it absolutely makes it worth hauling all those boxes of booze around the country.

Jim and I took a long weekend to Galena, Ill., which is a lovely little town with an old-fashioned Main Street and plenty of ghost lore that we’ve intended to visit since our first anniversary. On the drive up, I was pondering: when was the last time Jim and I traveled anywhere outside the St. Louis region that did not involve books, signings, public appearances or the kids? We’ve had family vacations and a few overnights in St. Louis and St. Charles, Mo., plenty of solo travel, sadly a few funerals, and more cons than we care to admit. But honestly, to meet those parameters, we’d have to go back to our honeymoon in Jamaica. It was a delightful weekend even if the ghosts were a bit of a disappointment, and soooo much food. 

I was delighted to return to Writers of the Riverbend in Alton, Ill., which is partly a sale and partly a networking opportunity for writers of the Alton-Edwardsville-St. Louis region. As always, there were familiar faces and new acquaintances, and I had a great time. Also, the charcoal mocha at adjacent Maeva’s Coffee cannot be beat. 

I was also happy to host write-ins all month long for the Eville Writers’ Nanowrimo, and the first-ever write-in for Sigma Tau Delta, the English honor society at SIUE. (See, I opened my big mouth and suggested it and thus I was put in charge. This happens a lot.) Two more holiday markets coming up in December, and then I’m staying home for whole weeks. 

On the publicity side, I (briefly) contributed to another author roundup for Sean Taylor’s Bad Girls Good Guys blog, on “The End.”

Coming up:
• Collinsville (Ill.) Winter Market, Dec. 11 – last of the year!
• Millstadt (Ill.) Library Author Fest, Jan. 15
• St. Louis SPJ Journalist Boot Camp, Feb. 15 (tent.)
• Conflation, St. Louis, Mo. Feb. 25-27
• Midsouthcon, Memphis. March 23-26 (tent.)
• AWP, Philadelphia. March 25-27 (tent.)
• AuthorCon, Williamsburg, Va. April 1-3 (very tent.)
• Imaginarium, Louisville, Ky. July 8-10
• Archon, Collinsville, Ill. Oct. 7-9 
• SPJ National Conference, Washington, D.C. Oct. 26-29 (tent.)
• ContraCon, Kansas City. Nov. 11-13 (tent.)


Journalism/Essays

• Substitute shortage forces Highland schools to cancel class (Highland News-Leader)
• New police chief sworn in (Highland News-Leader)
• Alhambra, Grantfork schools renovating for security (Highland News-Leader)
• SIUE investigates reports of frat racism (Alestle)
• Highland residents to vote on school referendum (Highland News-Leader)

Fiction

I’m delighted to report that my short story “Fever” will appear in the River Bluff Review literary magazine next spring. While ostensibly it seems like a COVID story, I swear I wrote it just before the Voldevirus hit, so the fact that it refers to a terrible illness is entirely coincidental.
 

Patreon/Blogs

• Writing the Adventure (Patreon)
• Body horror in MFA Land (Patreon)
• The Dance (poem) (Patreon)
• Job No. 5! (Elizabeth Donald and Donald Media)

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New job for the new year!

Now that all the paperwork is being filed, I am free to announce that beginning in the spring, I will be an adjunct instructor at St. Louis University.

I’m delighted at the opportunity to teach news editing at SLU’s communications department, and very grateful for the recommendation from my former-and-sometimes-current boss at SIUE. I’ve had several productive conversations with my new department chair, and spent a lot of time in the past several weeks planning out a syllabus and evaluating possible textbooks. It’s not a class I’ve taught before, but editing is a significant part of the newswriting class I taught for two years at SIUE and certainly I have enough professional experience in the topic. 

Never fear, I am continuing in my work as a teaching assistant at SIUE. I’ll be teaching English composition again in the spring, working in the Writing Center, assisting the editors of the Alestle, taking a full course load in my progress through the MFA, and continuing to write for my freelance clients, including the Highland News-Leader. The Patreon continues, as does the Literary Underworld and the ongoing tour/travel schedule (plus or minus pandemic cancellations). I am hammering away at the thesis for the first masters (more like driving a stake through the heart of a vampire, there…) I am still president of the St. Louis Society of Professional Journalists, running the Literary Underworld and the Eville Writers, and captain of a Relay for Life team. And somewhere in there I probably should write another book.

So if you’re wondering why I haven’t emailed you back, take note of the above paragraph and gently remind me to pull my head out of the books once in a while. Who needs sleep?

Silliness aside, it’s a terrific opportunity and I’m really looking forward to the challenge. 

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October Linkspam

Happy Halloween season! This newsletter is late! And that’s because we had such a spectacular time at Archon that we are still recovering three days later. Folks, I’m getting too old for these shenanigans.

Archon is our hometown con, and it was a delight to be back after last year’s cancellation and see so many familiar faces. Attendance was about half the usual throng, and yet we sold just as well as we did the year before the world fell apart! I think they missed us, and I know we missed them. Many thanks to everyone who came by the booth, who dropped by the Traveling Bar, and who came to my reading to hear me read happy stories about bunnies and unicorns*. It was fun! Official write-ups are pending on my various blogs, with plenty of pictures.

I’ve always said that if you’re a horror author in October, you’re working nonstop or you’re not working. That’s certainly the case this year, even if things are still a bit muted. I’m booked basically every weekend from now to November, though I’ve worked in a couple of moments to spend with my family. I hear they’re nice.

Don’t worry – we’re being very safe with masks and sanitizer and weekly COVID screenings to make sure we’re not contributing to this mess we’re in. The Traveling Bar had more precautions than we’ve ever had – not just badge and ID checks at the door, but a required hit with the hand sanitizer upon entry, masks and gloves for the staff (i.e. me) and masks on throughout the evening. Pull down the mask, take a sip, push it back up. It’s really not that hard, folks.

It was also our first outing for Frodo the Bookmobile! After eight looooong years as a one-car family, Jim and I finally purchased a new-to-us Honda Odyssey with an enormous space for hauling the booth. It was such a delight not to have to play car Jenga to get the booth into the Honda Fit. We are delighted with our new toy, and plan to put it to good use on the tour.

I hope to see you out on the road!

Publicity/Appearances

This weekend is the Edwardsville Book Fair! Again! This led off last month’s newsletter, but it was canceled due to cats, dogs and small barnyard animals falling from the sky. I am looking forward to finally attending this event in person, as it is usually cross-scheduled with other events to which I am committed or virtual.

Spied in the wild: Nocturne Infernum, a preferred recommendation at the Smithton Public Library! Apparently the earlier edition was recommended in their blog some months before.

And hey! I was in the news from the other side of the notebook! You’d think as many times as I have interviewed people, I wouldn’t feel awkward or weird when someone is interviewing me. Here’s a piece about Archon, with quotes from yours truly and a brief mention of the Literary Underworld, which gets press even more rarely than I do.


Coming up:
• Edwardsville Book Fair, Oct. 9
• ContraKC, Kansas City, Mo. Nov. 5-7
• Writers of the Riverbend, Alton, Ill. Nov. 20
• Edwardsville Winter Market, Dec. 4
• Conflation, St. Louis, Mo. Feb. 25-27 (tent.)
• AWP, Philadelphia March 23-26 (tent.)

Journalism/Essays

• Highland schools navigate politics, law and staff’s health (Highland News-Leader)
• ‘Difficult decision’ looming for Highland dispatchers (Highland News-Leader)
• ‘Heroic’ police officer saves two lives at Silver Lake (Highland News-Leader)
• Artist at work creating new mural in Highland (Highland News-Leader) 
• More students test positive for COVID in Highland (Highland News-Leader)

Fiction

• Flashback: Sanctuary (Patreon)
• Not (Patreon)

Patreon/Blogs

• Archon ahoy! (Patreon and blog and DM)
• Wheels (Patreon)
• MFA: What the fractal (Patreon) – with fiction 
• Freedom for women, sexual and otherwise (Patreon)
• Hello from totally not New Orleans! (Patreon)

*not really

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Finally: The Edwardsville Author Fair

I’m delighted to finally attend the Edwardsville Author Fair in person!

They’ve been holding this festival of the written word for a few years now, and each year it has conflicted with another major event: Dragoncon, the Society of Professional Journalists, etc. Then last year the event was virtual, of course, because the Voldevirus required all such things to be in Zoomland. Thus I was actually able to participate after a fashion!

I thought I was going to have to bow out this year again, because I am president of the St. Louis chapter of SPJ and will be representing them as delegate at the annual conference next weekend…. which was supposed to be in New Orleans. Sadly, the Voldevirus strikes again and I will not be chowing down on beignets at Cafe Du Monde. The SPJ conference will be entirely virtual. (Of course, it’s likely it would have struck a landmine anyway, since Hurricane Ida is aiming at the Gulf Coast with a fury.)

But that leaves me home and free-ish to finally participate in my hometown’s book festival! I’ll be stepping in and out of the festival to participate as needed in the SPJ conference events, but my husband will be on our booth selling our books and my art throughout the day. Look for us in the author section of City Park 9am-2pm Saturday, Sept. 4.

 (Crossposted with elizabethdonald.com)

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August linkspam – better late than never!

The above image is Setting Suns, the first book of mine to appear in print. I’d had a novel out before it and a second one was pending, but both were released in ebook-only in an era when ebooks weren’t really considered “real books,” so it was only when Setting Suns came out that I was considered a real live author. (Seriously, one of my first cons changed my bio to call me an “aspiring author” because I was in ebooks.)

But beyond what the publishing industry thought… Setting Suns was the first book where I opened a box and saw my name on the cover, and any author will tell you that’s a life-changer. See the links below for my essay on this moment.

Setting Suns was in print for 15 years, which is something of which I have always been proud. It’s a great run for a small press title, and I am always grateful for it and for the doors it opened for me. That run came to an end on July 31, and the book is now officially out of print. (I do still have a couple of copies, so if you were thinking of snagging it, click here and grab them before we run out.) 

In other news, I finally got the new author website going. I bid farewell to the moldy old website I’d been maintaining since the mid-2000s using iWeb, of all things. The demise of Setting Suns hastened its launch and I’m not entirely done with the design, so please feel free to offer feedback. Gently. 

In other other news, progress is actually… progressing? on Ye Olde Thesis and even on some fiction. By the time next month’s newsletter comes out, school will have started. Thus much of my time the next three weeks will be taken up with preparing my syllabus for the two classes I am teaching, as well as Year Two of the MFA. And finishing that thesis.

So… why is this newsletter super late this month? Because my Bungee Tour is undergoing constant changes! See below for details on how we might actually see each other in meatspace this weekend!

Publicity/Appearances

The Bungee Tour kicks off this weekend! I’m sorry to say a return to Louisville is off the menu, as the author fair I hoped to attend has been postponed to April. As of this writing, I plan to be in Nashville, Tenn. on Saturday, Aug. 14. The coffeehouse stop has been canceled, but I’ll be shooting in and around the Opryland area, so if you’d like to meet up and snag a book, contact me ASAP and we’ll make it happen! Then I’ll be at the Tamp & Tap Coffeehouse in Memphis, Tenn. at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 15 with books in hand. At this time I’m not planning to bring art unless I get a special request, so if you want some, look at elizabethdonaldphotography.com and let me know!

Imaginarium was the highlight of July, with a new venue and hybrid format that worked really well. It was delightful to see many authors and publishers from the con circuit and to share a few (dozen) drinks. I always come away from Imaginarium reinvigorated with new ideas, and this one was no exception. Many thanks to my publisher Seventh Star Press and the terrific gang at Tomorrow Comes Media for hosting us, and to LitUnd henchman (new title!) David Tyler for hauling all the boxes of books and booze and standing as bouncer for the Traveling Bar, not that we need much security among the friendly folk of Imaginarium. That’s not always the case. Some of y’all get rowdy!

Sadly, the other event this month had to be canceled due to weather. The Alton artisans’ market may be rescheduled at a later date when the skies aren’t raining cats, dogs and small barnyard animals. 

The current schedule is:

• Bungee Tour, various. Aug. 14-17 
• Edwardsville Book Fair, Sept. 4 
• Archon, Collinsville Ill., Oct. 1-3
• ContraKC, Kansas City, Mo. Nov. 5-7
• Writers of the Riverbend, Alton, Ill. Nov. 20

And don’t forget I will be in New Orleans Sept. 1-6 for the SPJ National Conference. I am not presenting this year and there isn’t a signing scheduled at this time, but I will bring books if anyone local wants to meet up. EDIT: Never mind! SPJ has been converted to an all-virtual conference, so I will be attending from my comfy home office. Sorry, N’awlins!

Journalism/Essays

• Highland students to go maskless (Highland News-Leader)
• Highland reduces support for Madison County Fair (Highland News-Leader)
• Mask mandate remains unclear for fall (Highland News-leader)
• Town Square finishes renovations (Highland News-Leader)
• Freedom Day (Patreon)
• Farewell, old friend (blog)

Fiction

• Excerpt: The Cold Ones (Patreon)
• Excerpt: Tanglewilde (Patreon)

Patreon/Blogs

• Review: Old (Patreon)
• Review: The Alice Network (Patreon)
• Review: Black Widow, finally (Patreon)
• On the road again… (Patreon)
• Pardon our dust! (blog)


Photography

• Happy Independence Day! (Patreon)

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June Linkspam!

Once upon a year, my husband graduated from college. We planned this big celebration, with a huge party and barbecue followed by a trip to Disney World, which is a very special place from my family’s history with Disney and because my husband proposed to me there.

But lo, the Wicked Witch of the West visited a plague on the world, and we all had to sit inside for a year. No graduation, no party, no Disney. 

Now that the world is apparently starting to come back to life, we all got the vaxx, my husband’s long-delayed graduation ceremony finally happened, and we finally got to go to Disney World after four reschedulings. Per the request of some of my Patrons, I chronicled each day of our trip as “The Masked Mouse,” which turned out to be even more bizarre because the nationwide mask rules abruptly changed halfway through the week.

So that’s what ate May! Here’s the rest of what I’ve been up to:
 

Publicity/Appearances

I’m pleased to announce that I’ll be returning to Imaginarium this summer! I’ve been at every Imaginarium from its launch up until last year, and it’s always a great time. Jim will not be able to join me due to his new job at the university, but my minions and I will be there (and serving the booze, if allowed!). 

The Cuppa Words local author group has a heavy calendar of events this summer, and I’m happy to be joining them after having to take most of last year off and hide. First up is the Melting Pot in Granite City, Ill., taking place on the town square on June 5.

Next I’ll be at the Route 66 Art Fair in Edwardsville, Ill. as a solo act, June 12 in the city park beside the library. 

The current schedule is:

• Melting Pot with Cuppa Words, Granite City, Ill. June 5
• Route 66 Art Fair, Edwardsville, Ill. June 12
• Imaginarium, Louisville, Ky. July 9-11
• Alton Market, Alton, Ill. (tent.) July 31
• Peach Fest with Cuppa Words, Pere Marquette (tent.) Aug. 8
• Edwardsville Book Fair, Sept. 4 
• SPJ National Conference, New Orleans, Sept. 2-5 (tent.)
• Apple Fest with Cuppa Words, Pere Marquette (tent.) Sept. 19
• Archon, Collinsville Ill., Oct. 1-3
• Leclaire Parkfest, Edwardsville, Ill. (tent.) Oct. 17
• ContraKC, Kansas City, Mo. Nov. 5-7
 

Journalism/Essays

• Highland approves former police chief as city manager (Highland News-Leader)
• Survey shows Highland businesses recovering from pandemic (Highland News-Leader)
• Highland ramps up efforts to help local businesses (Highland News-Leader)
• Highland approves new budget with electric rate increase (Highland News-Leader)

Fiction

• Fiction: A Matter of Honor experiment (Patreon)
• Poem: A Single Tear (Patreon)

Also: Patreon subscribers finally received their annual bonus! The print limited-edition chapbook of Yanaguana went out in May, only two months behind schedule. There are a few extras, and I’ll be deciding soon what do with them… 
 

Patreon/Blogs

• Travelogues! At last! (Patreon)
• The Masked Mouse: Preshow (Patreon)
• The Masked Mouse: Arrival Day (Patreon)
• The Masked Mouse: Disney on Wheels (Patreon)
• The Masked Mouse: Eating Around the World (Patreon)
• The Masked Mouse: A Galaxy Far, Far Away (Patreon)
• The (Un)Masked Mouse: “Rest” Day (Patreon)
• The Masked Mouse: Animal House (Patreon)
• The Masked Mouse: Last Call (Patreon)
 

Photography

Memorial Day: Nashville National Cemetery (Patreon) 

It looks like all the other photos this month center around a big castle ruled by a giant rodent! Never fear, I hope to get some good shots in the coming weeks now that the semester is over. 

I haven’t had the chance to process art photos from Disney yet, but I hope to get to them shortly. Also on the list of potential shoots: the life-size origami at Missouri Botanical Gardens, a possible trip to Marceline, Mo. and a definite trip to Louisville, Ky. As always, the travelogues go to the Patreon first, but will eventually appear at elizabethdonaldphotography.com.