How Would Jesus Colonize Mars?

--I was up early this morning after collapsing into bed at 8:15 last night.  It's been an exhausting week at work, and the next few weeks will be exhausting too.  Yesterday was another afternoon of flooding rains, so it was good to stay inside, eat dinner, drink some wine, and not attend to household tasks, like grocery shopping.

--This morning, I decided to work on my short story about a colonist growing tomatoes on Mars before doing anything else.  Why don't I work in this order more often?  I wrote two pages.  I have no idea where this story is going.  My inner critic screams, "Where is the conflict in this story?"  But it intrigues me, and so, I will keep going.

--Perhaps I will write a poem about Jesus as a colonist on Mars.

--How would Jesus colonize Mars:  a variation on "What Would Jesus Do?"

--This week-end I need to make sure I've got a handle on my submission strategy for my book-length poetry manuscript.

--Soon the pace of my online classes will pick up, plus I'll be teaching my onground class in 2 and a half weeks.  I've got the first 3-4 weeks plotted out in my mind.  At some point, I need to plot it out on paper/pixels and upload materials.

--I've been enjoying a variety of NPR interviews as I've been attending to various tasks.  Two in particular spoke to my writer's heart:  this one with Mary Karr and this one with Thomas Mallon, who wrote a novel based on the Reagan regime.

--In these days and months when I don't have time to read longer books, it's wonderful to have these kinds of interviews so that I don't feel like my brain is turning to mush.