Here's the beautiful cover New World Library is giving my next book, Kicking in the Wall. It's coming out in May. Right now I'm going over the final  edits for the manuscript and they've done such a good job on it that there's not a whole lot to do. It all looks so easy at this point. 

On the other hand, I'm writing a new essay for a book proposal and teaching myself – what feels like from scratch – to write an essay. I'm having fits over this essay. The good news is that I'm teaching a four day boot camp on writing the personal essay next week at the Writers Studio for UCLA Extension's Writers Program and I'll really  be in touch with what my students are going through.