So one thing I found out is I will be paid $35, not $30. I don’t know how you are with math but in case you are not good at it, first of all, it is not your fault; so much of education is designed and implemented terribly and I will never judge you for that. Second, that is nearly 17% higher than my prior expectation. I was already committed to spending under $30 for my modest celebration lunch, though, so I will use the extra amount to leave a better tip.

Another interesting thing is yesterday I started reading a book called Writing Poetry in the Dark. This title is not intended to be taken literally, although if I wanted to, I could write poetry in the literal dark, because I write on a Macbook. The book is about the craft of writing speculative poetry. The author of this book is Stephanie M. Wytovich, who will be one of three featured poets in the Horror Writers Association Poetry Showcase Volume XI. In fact, her poem will be first in the anthology. (Mine will be sixth.)

Writing Poetry in the Dark contains essays from several different poets. Among them, I found two others who are contributors to Showcase XI: Christina Sng and Sara Tantlinger. If there are others that I missed, I apologize; it’s just that I haven’t gotten to your chapters yet.

I do recommend Writing Poetry in the Dark based on what I’ve read so far. It has a lot of fresh ideas.