Hi there everybody. I’ve never done this challenge before or used this website, so please be patient with me.

My name is Catherine. I am located in the thickly humid south of the US. Just got married last month. Encroaching on 30 and desperate for time to slow down. I spend most of my days taking care of my husband and our rambunctious Chihuahua named Lumpy.

I guess I could be considered “published” in the technical sense, but I don’t really. It was a short piece for a little known internet magazine. Won a couple of short story contests as a teen. I spent my years from 15 – 25 filling notebooks and USB drives with pages and pages of writing. And then I kept having to increase my dosage on my antidepressants and now I have no words and no sex drive. You can guess which my husband misses more.

Some of the things that will be influencing my poems for the challenge are mental health, my genetic disease, body positivity, religious trauma, and interpersonal relationships. I’ll try not to be too much of a downer.

Counting down the days. Can I get any tips from those who have completed the marathon before?