Though I have really only been trapped inside for a couple of months, and the weather has only truly been wintry for a few weeks, I feel the distinct mildewed talons of cabin fever slowly sinking into my soul.

The only reading material to arrive in the past week was the new issue of Poetry Magazine, which I hope to read before the end of the year. I have an idea that, instead of books of poetry, for National Poetry Month (April) I will read all of my unread back issues of Poetry and other literary journals.

In reading news, I finished S.A. Chakraborty‘s Empire of Gold, and it was fantastic! Definitely one of the best genre fiction reads of the past few years.

Having finished reading a six book run of fantasy and science fiction, I just picked up Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, by Kristin Kobes De Mez. Though I am barely through the introduction I can already see that this will be quite an informative and infuriating book.

In writing news, I am probably two hundred words from the end of the short story I have been working on for the past four months, and at over 7,000 words, it either needs to be trimmed by a couple of thousand, or turned into a novel. Or maybe both. Then the 7,000 word version can be the Director’s Cut.

That’s it for literary news for the week. Next week is Editing Week for the month, so I expect to find myself awash in heavily marked up piles of paper for a few days. Assuming I can keep up the momentum.