It has been nearly a month since I returned to Colorado after having finished a month--long residency program in Banner, Wyoming. The residency was set amid a pretty desolate, and semi-arid, high desert landscape. Not a scrub juniper to be seen! But plenty of white-tailed deer, antelope, and mule deer. Also, no mountain lions or bear.

What I think I enjoyed the most, besides the uninterrupted writing time, was the companionship of other "creative" folk. I miss them!

This past Friday, I had the honor of reading from a Haitian anthology, So Spoke the Earth, which was published by Women Writers of Haitian Descent (WWOHD). I was honored to be asked to read at this year's AWP conference in Seattle on the panel titled: The Haiti I know. As some of you know, I have several poems about Haiti in my book, Compositions of the Dead Playing Flutes. I have them in there because it was such an important part of my life for many years and has always stayed in my heart.

Dear Readers: You can access two interviews I gave to two wonderful writers: Rachel Dacus and MJ Fievre. Both of these women asked sublime questions and then formatted the interviews so well! Click on links below to read. Enjoy!

http://www.fringemagazine.org/lit/features/barbara-ellen-sorensen-an-uncomfortable-closeness-to-god/

On January 19th, one of the poems from my book Compositions of the Dead Playing Flutes, "Song from the Deep Middle Brain," was featured on the VerseDaily website. You can read the poem by clicking on the link below:

http://www.versedaily.org/2014/deepmiddlebrain.shtml

I think I've told everyone at least 10x that the former U.S. Poet Laureate (2004-2006) Ted Kooser is going to reprint my poem "The Pelican," from my new book, Compositions of the Dead Playing Flutes. So please forgive me if you have heard this before!

What I may not told you is that I have a reading tonight in Westminster at Ziggi's Coffee House and that I think a lot of Denver people may be coming. 

A few other important things are in the works that have much to do with the marketing of my book:

It was my new daughter-in-law, Kristin, who came up with the idea that I read for our Meetup group. Now, granted this is a group that hikes and reads books. Not at the same time, of course. But the premise of the group is that we read one book (assigned by Kristin) and then she chooses a trail and date and we all meet, hike, and discuss the book.

I will admit that I like long titles. My first book of poems was a chapbook published by Main Street Rag. Because the page count was at 44, it was allowed into the Colorado Book Awards in 2011 and became a finalist. The title of that book was taken from a poem with the same title that also won a finalist position in the Joy Harjo-judged Cutthroat poetry contest back in 2010. It was called "Song from the Deep Middle Brain." I still get compliments on that title.''

I haven't had time to take a breath, really, since my son's wedding in August. Yes, yes, I know it is December and the holidays are fast approaching, but we DID have a flood that interrupted our lives pretty drastically. Now that the roads are once again passable, I can start lining up readings for my new book, which you can order on this website.