slow news days, plus reminder about Italian Souvenir Contest

I have been shamefully lax in updating this blog over the past week, but wow, no matter how hard I tried to keep up with things while I was traveling last month, I still came home significantly behind. I'm writing a short story and doing essay edits while taking care of non-writing business ... little things like, oh, renewing my lease so I actually have a place to live next year, which I kind of had to do in a hurry. Ironically, when I'm busiest with the things you guys are most interested...